Patrick Brennan

pbrennan@enquirer.com

The Enquirer's FC Cincinnati beat writer Patrick Brennanwill be in San Jose covering Major League Soccer, the United Soccer League, the MLS All-Star Game activities and FC Cincinnati front officer members' time in San Jose.

Futbol Club Cincinnati has been the story of the summer in local sports, and club executives can tell Major League Soccer officials all about it this week during the upcoming MLS All-Star Game festivities in San Jose.

FC Cincinnati President and General Manager Jeff Berding, along with Chief Financial Officer Sarah Huber, will travel Wednesday to San Jose for the United Soccer League's Thursday board of governors meeting. While in town, the two-person FC Cincinnati delegation will attend Wednesday's MLS Homegrown Game, Thursday's All-Star Game and other social events, Berding said.

The MLS also will convene a Wednesday board meeting in San Jose during which league expansion will be discussed, a league official previously told The Enquirer. This confluence of events presents FC Cincinnati with an opportunity to sell itself to U.S. soccer's leaders in social settings.

"That's what these league meetings are for. That's what the MLS All-Star Game is for. I always look for opportunities to promote Cincinnati as a great sports town and a great soccer city," Berding told The Enquirer Monday.

Berding attended the USL meeting and MLS All-Star activities last summer in Denver as FC Cincinnati prepared for its launch last August.

MLS: FC Cincy making bold statement to entire soccer community

The extent to which MLS discusses expansion this week remains unclear, although the topic is typically on the agenda for MLS board meetings. This includes brief updates on potential markets, Dan Courtemanche, executive vice president of communications for MLS, told The Enquirer via email.

The timing is certainly right for Berding and Huber to discuss their club's successes as any conversation about potential expansion markets would seem likely to include the Queen City.

FC Cincinnati, the USL's latest darling franchise, hosted more than 71,000 fans over three games at Nippert Stadium last week and has already broken the single-season attendance record with four regular-season home games remaining. On the field, the first-year club is turning heads with its play. Cincinnati currently sits in third place in the USL's Eastern Conference standings and dismantled conference-leading Louisville City FC Saturday.

As for the USL's board meeting agenda, Berding said he's "looking forward to hearing from league leadership on future plans and opportunities."

"I think that San Jose is known to have a great stadium with a terrific soccer match environment. I look forward to seeing that," Berding said. "I think we have a great facility at Nippert Stadium and a great environment of our own, but we're always looking to improve. I think we're going to look for opportunities where we can build upon our inaugural season."

Wednesday's MLS Homegrown Game kicks off at 6 p.m.

Thursday's All-Star Game, which pits the MLS's best against Arsenal FC of the English Premier League, begins at 7:30 p.m.