Letters to the editor

The Enquirer's reporter and headline writer missed the mark with last week’s story, "Major League Fight," suggesting the Cincinnati Reds and FC Cincinnati are battling each other for sponsors and fans.

If FC Cincinnati had been called for comment ahead of the story, we would have shared how the Reds have enthusiastically supported FC Cincinnati since its inception. The Reds have openly shared best-practices with FCC, including Phil Castellini himself taking FC Cincinnati’s chosen architects through the Reds premium seating areas.

More:Major league fight: Reds, FC Cincinnati go head-to-head for fans and advertising dollars

Furthermore:

FC Cincinnati has shared owners with the Reds, including the Lindner family. Our owners want the Reds to succeed on the field and have the business support to make it happen;

FC Cincinnati executives include longtime Reds season ticket holders, who are personal friends of Reds ownership and management, and together the two organizations have supported each other with joint promotions, player appearances and community support;

FC Cincinnati, with our promotion to Major League Soccer, offers a third major league sports franchise for local businesses to advertise with, but our different fan demographics mean that companies have a team for reaching a new potential customer base. Therefore, support not as opposed to the Reds but in addition to the Reds;

The majority of our games are not played at the same time where fans have to choose one team versus the other, allowing fans to attend both team’s home games – and where in those instances games are in Cincinnati at the same time, a market of over 2 million people can surely support 30,000 people for each. When fans have a great time at Great American Ball Park, we believe that leads to them investing more time at sporting events (both teams) for their entertainment dollar.

The fact is that FC Cincinnati was founded to create something new and exciting for Cincinnati. It is also fact that Cincinnati would not be the great city we love without the Cincinnati Reds, baseball’s first professional team.

Having our sports teams win represents an expression of our civic pride. Therefore, we will always root for the Cincinnati Reds, and I know firsthand that they will root for FC Cincinnati. When the Reds win, Cincinnati wins. When FC Cincinnati wins, Cincinnati wins. And from Carl Lindner through all of FC Cincinnati, we are about Cincinnati winning.

As a kid in Westwood, I grew up on the Big Red Machine, and my desire for winning – for Cincinnati – is rooted in Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and those great teams. So to put it bluntly, there is NO fight between the Reds and FC Cincinnati. Our teams are for Cincinnati – together – working hard to represent, inspire and unite while making life here more fun.

Jeff Berding is the president and general manager of FC Cincinnati.