Kylie Gumpert

Special for The Republic | azcentral.com;

Kyle Eng, CEO and founder of Arrowhead Advertising, now owns Arizona's professional soccer franchise

Eng pulled from his pool of 88 workers at Arrowhead to kick-start the team's marketing strategy.

Eng said the main reason he got involved with acquiring and launching a soccer team was because he didn't want Arizona to lose its only professional team.

Arizona was on the verge of losing its only professional soccer team, but thanks to a local advertising professional, that has changed.

Arizona United Soccer Club, a new professional team that is part of the United Soccer League Pro, is now in Peoria, and it has a very convenient support system.

Nearly two months ago, Kyle Eng, CEO and founder of Arrowhead Advertising, bought the new soccer franchise that has taken the place of Arizona's previous professional team, Phoenix FC, which was struggling under its ownership.

"They've given us no reason to doubt them. They are the opposite of what the previous ownership was," said Kevin McLaughlin, director of La Furia Roja 1881, a support group of the Arizona United team. "The previous ownership, there was a lot of empty promises, it felt like they weren't being completely honest with us … there was a situation where they owed players money from the previous season, and that rubbed us wrong."

Eng, who launched the team on March 13, has used his advertising connections through his company to support Arizona United SC's first moves. He's pulled from his pool of 88 workers at Arrowhead, which has such clients at Hyundai and Nationwide Vision, to kick-start the team's marketing strategy.

The team already has its own website, Wikipedia page, promotional video and Facebook and Twitter accounts. With those comes an impressive number of followers for a team that, with the exception of a couple of players, had practiced only 10 days together before its first match on April 12 against Oklahoma City Energy FC. Arizona United SC's Facebook page has more than 1,000 followers, and Eng said his Twitter followers grew from about a dozen to more than 350 after the team's launch.

Brittany Penny, a former professional golfer who is the sales and marketing coordinator for the team, said ticket sales were 2,888 for its first game. With its home at Peoria Sports Complex, there's definitely room to grow from there to the complex's roughly 12,000 seats, although for now it's able to fit only about 5,000 for Arizona United games.

"Honestly, for the first game we didn't know what to expect, so our goals changed dramatically," Penny said.

Arrowhead Advertising was one of Penny's sponsors when she played professionally on the Symetra Tour, a development tour for the LPGA. The advertising business approached her to take on sales and advertising for the team, and she was one of eight new additions to Arrowhead to specifically run Arizona United SC.

The operations team helps cover aspects like game operations, the fan experience and equipment management.

"I think it helps working inside an ad agency," Penny said. "(Eng's) a great, great guy, and when he does things, he does them for the right reasons."

Eng said the main reason he got involved with acquiring and launching a soccer team was because he didn't want Arizona to lose its only professional team.

"When USL approached me for partnering or buying the team … they told me if they didn't find the ownership, they were going to pull the ownership from Arizona," Eng said. "I thought, 'Here's an opportunity to bring fans to the complex 14 times a year, to continue to have pro soccer in one of biggest cities in America, and this (is) our opportunity to give back.'"

For La Furia Roja 1881, Eng's offer to pay Phoenix FC players what he said was roughly $32,000 in back pay was the right thing to do.

"It was a sign to us that this guy's quality, he's got moral character, and that was a big deal," McLaughlin said. "In the past four to six weeks, they've met with us several times to make sure we feel like a part of this. It's really been refreshing."

While Eng was not obligated to pay the players of the terminated team, he said he thought it was important as the team's new owner.

"A lot of them are playing in other leagues and will probably never play for us, but I think it's creating good karma," Eng said.

Eng and his Arizona United operations team don't plan to stop with the United Soccer League.

"Over the next 18 months, we are planning to put together a PDL (Premiere Development League), and eventually we'd like to form an academy," Eng said.