Every MLS fan has an origin story—and as the league grows, those stories are becoming as varied as the people who are increasingly drawn in.
The league’s first 20 years have brought in all manner of supporters. Some have known nothing but MLS all their lives, while others were well on the way to (or arrived at) adulthood when the Clash and D.C. United first kicked off in San Jose. Others boast even more peripatetic soccer stories.
We visited with six fans around the continent, starting with the simple question, “How did you find your team?”
Here are their stories. What’s yours? Share them in the comments:
Raul Jimenez, 43
Chef, Ferrara Candy Co.
West Chicago, Illinois
Stands With: Chicago Fire
When Jimenez’s son began playing soccer, they started watching more and more games together on TV. They then took the next logical step, and attended their first Fire game together in October 2011.
By the start of the following season, Raul officially identified as a Fire fan. But he took it a big step further. He found an ambulance for sale in Minnesota via Craigslist, crossed state lines to buy it, and transformed it into a tailgating wonder he calls the Fanbulance.
“I really wanted to do it for my son,” he says. “I also wanted something that created a great tailgating experience. This brings fans together, and makes an event out of being together in a parking lot.”
The Fanbulance’s features include working sirens (that get turned on after Fire victories), Fire memorabilia on the inside walls (and turf on the floor), a flat-screen TV, a kegerator. There’s also a beer bong—labeled “Fire Medi-Bong”—hanging off the back door that can be employed in fan emergencies.
Jimenez typically tailgates in the section of Toyota Park’s lot where Section 8 Chicago congregates, and as he puts it, the Fanbulance provides a hub for fans interested in “cheering, good music, and some beverages.”
“Everyone who comes to the Fanbulance is happy, enjoying each others’ company, and is excited for the game,” he says. And when the Fire earn the right for Jimenez to fire up the sirens, it’s the result of something that makes the jovial crowd even happier."
John Richards, 42
Associate program director and morning show host, KEXP
Seattle, Washington
Stands With: Seattle Sounders
KEXP is a Seattle-based radio station. But its innovative, indie-leaning programming (like an epic, 12-hour show last July, featuring the Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique and all its myriad sampled songs) brings a global audience together.
This makes John Richards, the station’s morning show host, a cultural ambassador of sorts for Seattle. And in recent years, that’s included on-air discussions about his beloved Sounders.
Though he became aware of MLS even before Seattle landed a team, it was 2011 when the impact of the team on the city struck him, via his son Arlie’s first grade class. “I noticed a majority of these kids were wearing Xbox jerseys,” he says. “I thought, ‘Wow, either Xbox has them wearing all these jerseys, or it must be the Sounders.’” The team then contacted him and invited him and his son to a match after he talked about this on-air.
“They gave us a couple of scarves, but we had them in a bag–I wasn’t going to wear a scarf, because I just wasn’t that guy. But then we randomly walked by the March to the Match, and were blown away by how many people were in Pioneer Square,” he says.
“I’d never seen anything like it. Then we got there, saw the marching band, saw crowds like I’d seen in games in Europe on TV. We were there five minutes and we were in line, getting head-to-toe Sounders gear, and then changing in the bathroom. I said, ‘I’ve got to do this.’”
Since then, the team and the station have partnered on a series of KEXP nights, an alliance that makes sense given the crossover between indie music fans and soccer fans. Richards also continues to take Arlie, now 11, and the family’s newest Sounders fan, 3-year-old Henry, to games.
He documents it all, still, via radio. It’s thrown a new dynamic into his relationship with Portland KEXP fans, he admits: “I’ve been hearing a lot from those listeners over the last few months.”
Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, 46
Online media company VP for audience development
Bloomfield, New Jersey
Stands With: New York Red Bulls
Guy’s a lifelong sports fan, backing both the Mets and Jets from an early age. He arrived to the MLS party more recently, but still considers himself all in.
“As a 2014 World Cup convert, I wanted more after Germany claimed their victory,” he says. “So I latched on to the tail end of the 2014 MLS season, and lucked into the Red Bulls' impressive late-season push for the playoffs, which also happened to be Thierry Henry’s swan song. Red Bull Arena is 15 minutes from home in good traffic, and my son and I caught four games in that amazing stadium, all but one of them impressive wins full of energy and fight.
“Even the loss, in the first leg of the semifinal vs. the New England Revolution, was more exhilarating than any game I’d watched on TV, not [to mention] experiencing the nonstop energy of the South Ward in person. I was hooked.”
LeCharles Gonzalez and his son, now 15, have moved their season tickets from Section 225 to 227 to be even closer to the South Ward energy, and he’s contemplating making the leap to Viking Army membership.
“As a fan of the Red Bulls, I'm way more engaged with the larger community on social media than I ever was with the Mets or Jets. One of my earliest thrills was having my email read and responded to on the Seeing Red podcast early last season!” he remembers. “This season, I'm way more likely to attend a social event outside of matchday and start putting faces to Twitter accounts.”
Joan Dobrzynski, 70
Software Engineer (retired)
Denver, Colorado
Stands With: Colorado Rapids
Dobrzynski’s story of how she became a Rapids fan started with the team’s proudest moment. “I’ve been involved in youth soccer since my daughter was five and her dad and I coached her YMCA team. She went to South High School two years ahead of [then Rapids player] Conor Casey and played on a team with his sister,” she recalls. “When I found out Conor was on the team, I went to a Rapids game and fell in love with it.”
That was a lucky year—2010, when the Rapids would lift the Cup. But Dobrzynski says she fully committed to the team when she attended a practice. “I was delighted that I could watch, and after that, I became a season ticket holder who attends every open practice.”
At that fateful practice, she met two local girls’ coaches, who were looking to pick up ideas for their own team. They’ve since formed a Three Musketeers-style bond, she says.
In the past year, Dobrzynski was chosen to present Centennial 38’s Fan Favorite award to goalie Clint Irwin (now recently departed to Toronto FC). She also just spent nine days in Tucson watching preseason matches, and will head out to Avaya Stadium for the Rapids’ opening day tilt against the Quakes–her second-ever road game.
Thinking back to the challenging 2015 season, Dobrzynski expresses optimism for this season and beyond. “The love affair,” she says, “even with all the frustration, continues.”
Leslie Chavez, 28
Customer representative, City of Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Stands With: L.A. Galaxy
It was 1996, and Leslie Chavez had just recently immigrated to Southern California from El Salvador. “My family are huge fans of ‘fútbol,’” she says, “so it's in my blood.” Luckily, her move coincided with the launch of MLS, and the LA Galaxy making its home in the Rose Bowl.
“When I saw the L.A. Galaxy roster for its opening season, I wasn't attracted to the team just due to its proximity,” she said. “I was enthusiastic about the team because it represented me. It represented my culture. I especially felt the connection with Mauricio Cienfuegos, a Salvadoran player. The team was composed of players from multiple background, races, ethnicities.”
Chavez says her fandom has grown considerably since she started attending more frequently in 2008. She’s since become a season ticket holder, an L.A. Riot Squad member, and has traveled to away games in Orlando, San Jose, Portland, and hated Seattle.
“There are more Galaxy fans in the stands then there were in 2008, and the stadium’s more vibrant now. We’ve had 18,000 for preseason games this year for a weekday game, and those are usually harder to go to because the traffic in L.A. sucks,” she says. “Also, when I go to fan events now, I’m no longer the first one to show up.”
Sarah Swenson, 29
Newspaper editor and photojournalist
Wetaskiwin, Alberta
Stands With: Toronto FC
When Toronto FC entered MLS in 2007, Sarah Swenson was among the Canadian soccer fans who rejoiced. She quickly pledged her allegiance to the new team, even though they were more than 1500 miles from her home.
“I watched the whole first season from my folks' basement in Moose Jaw, but was connected to the TFC community through message boards and have been a card-carrying Red Patch Boy for forever,” she says. “The biggest reason I've stayed a TFC supporter is the community I've found within the club.”
Her journey as a fan includes going to Toronto’s second season-opening match in Columbus, a shorter drive from her home than if it were a home match in Toronto. It also includes a stint in the Netherlands, where fandom meant finding online streams in order to catch matches at 3 am.
Later, she returned again to Western Canada to root for TFC in a province “where football means gridiron, and there is a strong anti-Toronto sentiment.” But she notes that soccer fans are easier to find compared to when she first adopted her team, and there’s still a sense of what she calls “instant connection” at the discovery of a shared love for the sport.
