Tanya O’Rourke

When FC Cincinnati officially kicks off its season with its inaugural season home opener Saturday night at Nippert Stadium, I’ll be there.

I’m not covering the game, I will be enjoying it as a spectator. My husband and I decided shortly after ticket details were announced for the team that we would buy season tickets.

Quite frankly, neither of us are avid soccer fans. I played soccer as a kid and loved it and we have thoroughly enjoyed watching the World Cup tourneys recently.

But no one would ever say that we were big soccer fans. Football? Yes. Baseball? Yes. College hoops? Sure! But not soccer.

We decided to support FC Cincinnati for a couple of reasons; first a foremost, we love Cincinnati.

Our Queen City is on the rise. You’ve probably heard that a lot and for good reason. Because Cincinnati is a very cool place to live. The city is vibrant — go downtown, even on a weeknight, and it’s electric. The sidewalks no longer roll up at dark. On the contrary, they come alive and seem to hum with energy.

Having major league sports is a key ingredient to having a vibrant town. The Reds and Bengals ensure that we (the city) are part of the national conversation when it comes to sports. Monday Night Football means our city shines to millions of people on television. Adding a professional soccer team can’t hurt our image.

Forbes recently wrote about Major League Soccer’s avid fan base as the fastest growing of any sport. Sure, FC Cincinnati isn’t an MLS team (yet), but it could be and with 10,000 seats sold for the team’s first game, this club has the potential to rise quickly in a fast growing sport. We figured, why not be there from the start?

Plus, with the Lindner family behind the team, it has a real chance. With the backing of a family with deep pockets, a love of the sport and with a proven track record in business, this seems like the best opportunity for pro soccer’s success our city has ever seen.

When you consider the cost of being a season ticket holder for the Reds or the Bengals, the price for FC Cincinnati season tickets was tiny in comparison. We have teenagers who would probably enjoy going to the games and consider we won’t make every single one, that’s a nice way to share the tickets.

But all of those reasons really pale in comparison to the thing that clinched it for us. We just happen to live on the best street in the city with the greatest neighbors. These neighbors not only love soccer, they also love to tailgate. So, when I floated the idea of buying season tickets, well, it was a golden opportunity to have one more golden opportunity to hang out with these people and have fun. I mean, what is a sporting event without the tailgate? The shared excitement? Add up all these things and being part of the FC Cincinnati ‘team’ just made sense.

GO TEAM!