When FC Cincinnati launched, principal owner Carl Lindner III believed the sense of pride the city’s residents have for their home would come to the fore.

With the club having set USL records for single-game and single-season attendance in its first season in the league in 2016, Lindner’s faith was certainly repaid. In the cover story for the February/March edition of Cincy Magazine, Lindner told writer Peter Bronson the spirit around the club had even impressed Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber when he visited late last year.

“[Garber] said that something like this could never happen in a place like New York City,” Lindner told Bronson. “To me that’s a microcosm of what’s happening. Our city is coming alive, with a rising entrepreneurial and collaborative spirit.”