By Garrett Dvorkin | Baltimore Business Journal
After breaking attendance records in two different amateur soccer leagues, the Annapolis Blues have their sights set on going pro.
The Blues men’s team moved over to USL League Two, the fourth tier of U.S. soccer, this year after two seasons in the National Premier Soccer League, where the Blues drew the five largest crowds in league history. The Blues drew 12,853 fans to a game this year at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium, shattering the USL League Two attendance record.
That success has forced the team’s executives to consider potentially becoming a professional team, which wasn’t part of their original plan, according to Blues general manager Fred Matthes.
“Initially, we wanted to create a local amateur team and would’ve been happy to draw a crowd of 3,000 to 4,000 people,” he said. “But we blew that out of the water, and every time we draw more than 10,000 fans, the question is about going pro and charting a path for us to do that.”
There are major obstacles to the Blues going pro, the biggest being real estate. Matthes said that to become a professional team, the Blues would probably need a new stadium and a year-round training facility. They would also need access to more players and a higher level of talent. Both would require more investment in recruiting.
Despite those obstacles, the team’s revenue passed the $1 million mark this year, and Matthes said the foundation is in place to build a pro club.
“This isn’t going to happen tomorrow, but down the road, if the opportunities present themselves and we have the right finances in place, absolutely it would be a step we would take,” he said.
The Blues might be in one of the lowest levels in the U.S. soccer pyramid — there are two more tiers between them and Major League Soccer — but the team has been drawing crowds that many professional squads would love. The team averaged more than 8,700 fans this season, which was not only more than any other USL League Two team but also more than any team in the professional USL League One.
If the Blues moved up two levels to the USL Championship, the tier directly below the MLS, they would average the fifth-most fans in the 24-team league.
The Blues also have a record-breaking women’s team that joined the amateur USL W League earlier this year. The team averaged almost 5,000 fans per game and broke the league’s single-game attendance record this season with 7,289 fans.
The large crowds have helped the club attract dozens of sponsors, which has resulted in a revenue boost for the Blues. Matthes said the team added a dozen new sponsors this season, and some existing sponsors booked “bigger and bolder relationships” with the club. The Blues also hired an employee this season to help with sponsorship activations, bringing the club’s staff count to six.
One reason the two Blues teams have been able to draw large crowds and attract sponsors is their stadium at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium, which can hold up to 34,000 people. If the team were to go pro, however, Matthes said the Blues would probably need to find a new home. Professional leagues have longer seasons than the amateur leagues the Blues have played in, and Matthes said the Naval Academy’s stadium would be too busy for a pro schedule.
“Those seasons go into November, and Navy has a lot of events going on, especially Navy football, which we would need to take a back seat for,” Matthes said. “Then you have graduations and lacrosse tournaments, and it would be really hard to get dates secured.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Annapolis Blues