Zac Electrifly

They are planning on building a 5,000 seat stadium. The complex will include three fields, a futsal court, and a pool. I think that is good for Reno. This is good for the growth of the sport here in Northern Nevada. In 2019 and in 2020 I expressed to multiple people how I thought that USL League One would be a better fit for Reno 1868 FC. That had nothing to do on field performance but attendance and finances. Reno 1868 FC was not drawing in 10,000 to 15,000 people a game like some of USL Championship clubs were prior to 2020.

I am excited for this. My biggest drawback was the location since there isn’t really anything near by. There is some industrial stuff near by so maybe something like the Reno Public Market can be built near by. Other than that I think this is going to be great.

The first question I heard about this was who is paying for it? Every time a stadium project comes up people have concerns about how much is of the cost is going to be put on the citizens. While I have not seen too much talking about the finances of the project, it looks like Battle Born FC are paying for it themselves. Back in 2021 when Battle Born FC first joined the United Premiere Soccer League, I had heard that they had a plan for the future including a project like this. At that point I did hear that the ownership had the funds to build something like this.

It also did not take too long before a bunch of old drama resurfaced. I shared the post from Battle Born FC and in the comments people were already arguing. On the matter of Reno 1868 FC attendance, despite management blaming the attendace as a factor of the team folding I do not think it was the attendace that caused the team to fold. I place all of that on management. Not having enough revenue away outside of ticket sales is what I think ultimately doomed the team but there was a few different factors at play that caused the team to fold. The rumor that they folded because they couldn’t build a stadium is just a rumor. I really don’t think they were pushing that hard to get anything built nor do I think the USL terminated the club because they didn’t have a stadium in the works yet. Looking at attendance, Reno 1868 FC had an average of 4,313. Thats under half of what Greater Nevada Field can hold but they came in 17th of the 36 teams. They were right in the middle of the league attendace prior to 2020. Looking at that a 5,000 seat stadium would have fit the team (and I think it will fit the area) pretty well. Comparing the Reno 1868 FC attendace to the Reno Aces, the Reno Aces averaged 4,803 in 2019. The Aces only had a few hundred more for their average attendace. But they also have a lot larger schedule. The Aces played 140 games in 2019 compared to 1868 who played 34 games. The attendace averages are really close. The Aces find ways to stick around so I think you can’t blame the attendance.

The next thing that got brought up was the front office. When I talk about the front office I am not talking about the anyone who has to do with on field team operations. I am not talking about the players, staff, coaches or general managers. I am talking about the marketing team, the sales team, the president and those people. Some people said that the front office was not controlling the marketing but the front office was in control of every aspect of the team. They had weekly meetings where the president of the team was told what was going on. If he didn’t like something he could have had it changed or if he wanted something to happen he had the power to make it happen. Why do I bring this up? Because the team folding is on the front office. The front office was responsible for the team therefore it was their fault the team folded. A big conversation is the marketing. In the end the marketing was not doing what was needed to attract more fans or sponsors. I personally think they focused on the wrong target audience. They spent a lot of time marketing to people who didn’t care or had events that no one cared about. They spent a lot of time marketing to Mexicans and Mexican Americans. The thing with the Mexican soccer culture is that it is Mexico first. The best example I have of this is that some of the Mexican supporters came into the stadium for the Reno 1868 FC game but stayed in the upstairs of the ballpark to watch a Liga MX game missing the Reno 1868 FC game. Their loyalty is to Mexico and Liga MX above local pro teams. Another example I have of this when the team hosted a friendly with Liga MX alumni. They had a sellout or near sellout crowd to watch the Liga MX alumni play just for most of the crowd to leave before the Reno 1868 FC game that started right after. It felt like sixty to seventy percent of the marketing went towards people who didn’t care. The team also spent a bunch of money to have events like an Oktoberfest event that less than fifty people went to. The front office had control over all of this. Instead of shifting towards trying other things that might work they doubled down on a lot of it.

Then the real drama got brought up. To start off the San Jose Earthquakes were not going to continue to send players to Reno. MLS Next was in the works and at the end of 2019 there was a lot of pressure from their own fans to cut ties with Reno 1868 FC. During that time the team and large number of fans were harassed as the team was as being called racist. I wish we could move on from this. I don’t think that will ever happen. It happened to all of us. I don’t think we should be here four years later still attacking people online for bring it up. It’s one thing to say hey thats not what happened and it’s another thing to call people names for bring it up.

Anyway I am excited for the new stadium. I think the future of soccer in Reno could be bright. I think there is a lot of drama and bagage that comes along with it. I would like to cover Battle Born FC like I did with Reno 1868 FC but I haven’t had the time or resources to do it since Reno 1868 FC went away. If that is something you would be interested in seeing please let me know.