FC Cincinnati looks to ride World Cup wave

FC Cincinnati hopes World Cup fever turns casual soccer viewers into soccer die-hards.

Why it matters: The club regularly fills its 25,513-seat home stadium, but executives see the once-in-four-years tournament as an opportunity to broaden its already passionate fan base.

• Wednesday's home match against Vancouver is its first since May 23 because of the World Cup break.

State of play: FC Cincinnati and other MLS teams have spent the summer taking their clubs into the community through watch parties and youth clinics.

• The FC Cincinnati Foundation also continued building neighborhood mini-pitches to make the sport more accessible to young players.

What they're saying: "FC Cincinnati is a very passionate fan base, but it's more narrow than we want," says FCC co-CEO and president Jeff Berding.

• "We want more casual fans — maybe passionate Reds and Bengals fans or people who aren't big sports fans but they're watching the World Cup — to pay a little more attention to FC Cincinnati."

Case in point: Jeff Garner, 68, is a big sports fan but only started watching the World Cup out of boredom.

• By the tournament's end, the Monroe resident found himself cheering for the United States and later for Argentina to repeat as champs.

While Argentina came up short, Garner's newfound soccer fandom continues.

• He plans to watch FCC on TV this week and to eventually attend a match downtown.
• "I definitely caught the fever."

By the numbers: FC Cincinnati drew only about 11,000 fans for its mid-World Cup exhibition against English club Burnley FC, Berding says.

• Yes, but: The nearly 900 first-time ticket-buyers represented an "unusually high number," Berding adds.

What's next: FCC and other MLS clubs hope to keep lowering the barrier through the new "First Match on Us" initiative.

• First-time attendees can receive two complimentary tickets to select home matches.

The bottom line: FC Cincinnati won't measure the World Cup's legacy by TV ratings or watch-party attendance, but by whether fans like Garner start showing up.