GRAND RAPIDS - Billed by its owner as a "proper footie pub," the SpeakEZ Lounge hosted arguably the most anticipated minor league soccer uniform reveal in West Michigan history on Saturday.

"I had 60 people in here at 7 in the morning for Asrenal and Tottenham and then over 100 for Liverpool-Everton," said owner Eric "EZ E" Albertson on what the crowd was like before the Grand Rapids Football Club's event at 6 p.m. "We're not a sports bar and not trying to be ... and I always loved the beautiful game."

The Grand Rapids FC's blue home, white away and red goalkeeper uniforms were unveiled to a standing-room only crowd of supporters, players, family members, kids and even a few stragglers from the early-dinner crowd.

Jessica Weber, 27, and Ian Bergel, 23, had a front-row table to the stage where brothers Mark and Domenic Barone, along with goalie Jesse Guevara-Lehker, wore the full kit.

"Classical," Weber said. Bergel added that the look of red, white and blue tied well into the color scheme already shared by the Grand Rapids Griffins and Drive.

The classic look was the prevailing opinion, cited again by Rodger Garner, head of soccer outreach at Gazelle Sports in Grand Rapids.

"The (design) fits with West Michigan's style," Garner said.

It is standard practice to put main sponsor's name on the chest of each jersey, or kit. The SpeakEZ logo is flanked by the Nike "swoosh" on the upper right and the GRFC team crest on the upper left.

GRFC owner Matt Roberts said to the crowd that one of the reasons the club decided on a more basic uniform was to potentially save funds for other needed expenditures down the road.

In addition to the kit models and coach Geroge Moni, Jeremy Stacy, Noble Sullivan, Nick Abdoo, Tyler Fischer, Aldony Mendez, Lito Esquivel and Tony Deakin were on hand to mingle with supporters throughout the event.

A lot of them, however, still needed time to get to know each other. A majority of the signed players knew of each other before joining, but were often members of rival colleges like Calvin and Aquinas or Michigan and Michigan State.

A few new players were announced after January's initial core group, including Beau Prey, Brandon Bye, Cam Jensen, Ryan Scott and Joe Sweet.

Dave Lehker, father of Jesse, was one of the standing crowd and said his son just got back from playing in Germany.

"Being a parent and seeing Jesse extend his career with some good players is just fantastic," Lehker said. "The support over there is so involved and it would be nice to see that begin to happen here."

Building A Great Support System

It's no secret that soccer reaches a fever pitch during the World Cup. Even Grand Rapids hosted a viewing party in Ah-Nab-Awen Park that attracted over 1,000 fans in July.

The worry for owners like Roberts and sponsors of these clubs, however, is how sustainable the fan base will be when soccer isn't in the national spotlight.

One of the largest hurdles the U.S. soccer community faces is the lack of wide media coverage the sport has compared to football, baseball and basketball. GRFC already pulled in donations of over from over 400 "founding members" and sold hundreds of season tickets from the local community.

"I think through word of mouth we have over 3,000 Facebook likes and we don't even have a team yet," said Roberts on the social media progress the FC has received. "A few different people have helped out with (social media) ... people much smarter have volunteered and have been fantastic."

Games at Houseman Field will cost no more than the typical high school game and not as expensive as some of the other minor league teams in the area.

The cost of operating a team, even an adult amateur team, is more than Roberts expected.

"Travel is the big one," he said. "It's a lot more expensive than I thought we were going to have to spend. Plus training times, training facilities, uniforms, gear ... there's just so much that goes into operations.

"As long as it's sustainable for Year 2 I'm excited about it. I didn't really get in this to make money. We started it with the intention of starting a team and I think that's why people have been willing to back it."

Other sponsors include Gazelle Sports, Wordhouse Wealth Coaching, KCI, BTM Industrial and 616 Dental Studio. Roberts said he has a contact at Nike who was able to provide deals on training gear and equipment.

Five years from now, players like A.J. Dufendach, who was not in attendance due to the birth of his baby daughter Eloise early in the day, want GRFC to expand the soccer appreciation in the community.

"I want to bring my kids out and watch some of the best talent in the area when we're beating up on the likes of Detroit and Lansing," Dufendach said. "For all the club teams we have here, more and more athletes are being recognized. Grand Rapids is a huge area and for us not to have a soccer presence is a shame."

Roberts said he had no plans to reapply for the NPSL. Interest for the Great Lakes Premier League has surpassed his interest in conforming to the financial needs of another league.

"We've been in contact with about 20 teams around the Midwest," he said. "Some have said they'd love to look at it for 2016 once the league gets going. If we can grow this hopefully it will grow in new markets.

"I want to see soccer spring in the United States and this is the next thing for Grand Rapids. You look at Europe and there's a team in every city. We just don't have that ... yet."

Jon Rzepecki is a high school sports writer for MLive. Email him at jrzepcki@mlive.com, and follow him on Twitter.