Cincinnati, May 29, 2018 – After shattering attendance records and completing an innovative plan to build a new, state-of-the-art soccer stadium, Cincinnati has been awarded a Major League Soccer expansion team, Commissioner Don Garber announced yesterday!
Since its first season in the USL in 2016, FC Cincinnati has tremendous fan support, setting attendance records including three crowds of more than 30,000 fans during the club’s run to the semifinals of the 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. During its first two USL seasons, the team has shattered league-records for total attendance, average attendance and single-game attendance. The attendance of 32,250 for FC Cincinnati’s semifinal match against the New York Red Bulls is the second-largest in Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup history, and a club-record 35,061 fans attended a friendly against Crystal Palace in 2016. In 2018, the club has surpassed 17,000 season tickets and has so far averaged almost 24,500 fans per game.
The club, which will continue as FC Cincinnati when it joins MLS in 2019, will play at Nippert Stadium until the club’s 21,000-seat soccer stadium in Cincinnati’s West End neighborhood is completed in 2021. Dutch Lions Capital Group FC is part of the current FC Cincinnati ownership group.