A local semi-professional soccer team wants to showcase the best local talent as soccer surges in popularity, and it’s adding more seats, sponsors and staff this season to do just that.
Christos FC, a 28-year-old soccer club based in Anne Arundel County, kicked off its season in May and will play all of its home games at stadiums with capacities of more than 1,000 people this year, after playing at a 300-person high school stadium last season.
In addition to the larger stadiums on the schedule, including four games at Under Armour’s stadium at Baltimore Peninsula, the club has signed prominent new sponsors like Johns Hopkins University and Jimmy’s Famous Seafood and hired its first-ever employees after running on volunteer work for years.
The changes signal a formalization of Christos’ business operations as amateur soccer becomes a major moneymaker, especially for clubs like the nearby Annapolis Blues.
“The Blues have brought more attention to the amateur level of the sport, and that has given more exposure to clubs across the state,” said Eric Bathras, a member of the Christos FC board. “This rivalry is going to be great for both organizations, and it will help promote the game altogether.”
The Blues will compete alongside Christos in the Chesapeake Division of USL League Two, the third tier of the United Soccer League. The Blues changed the way minor league soccer clubs operate, having broken attendance records regularly in the club’s first two years.
Christos, with its new resources, expects its revenue to grow from $40,000 to almost $300,000 this year. Much of that will come from season ticket sales, which the club has never sold before, and tighter ticket policies to make sure fans have paid. The team also signed a deal to once again become an Under Armour-sponsored club, granting access to the company’s 1,000-person stadium at its new headquarters in Baltimore Peninsula. The team will play four games there and three at UMBC’s 1,400-person soccer stadium.
The team also has six new sponsors for the upcoming season, including LifeMed Institute, which will be the team’s jersey sponsor this year, Play N’ Learn Playgrounds, consultant Bowler Pons and The Isak Law Firm.
Christos president Darius Taylor said it became clear throughout the past few seasons that offering a platform for local players was going to cost the club more money.
“We aren’t doing this to make money, we just want to help local players play at the highest level,” Taylor said. “We aren’t chasing dollars. We just know to play at this level, we need better infrastructure.”
The Blues launched in 2022 with investors and immediately hired full-time staff in an effort to create a professional club. Taylor and Christos’ board, even before the Blues moved into their league, started to ramp up the club’s operations to increase the club’s revenue and give the organization more spending power. The club’s three new employees, the first in its history, now manage marketing, operations and finances.
Despite limited resources, Christos for years has given local soccer players a shot at the next level. Christos alumni include Ben Bender, who was taken first overall in the 2022 Major League Soccer SuperDraft, and Jon Bell, a member of the Jamaican National Team who plays for the MLS’ Seattle Sounders.
Christos’ return to the Under Armour brand, which it was with until 2017, will allow the next up-and-coming pros to play on a larger stage close to home. The team’s first match was May 17 and Christos played at Under Armour Stadium for the first time four days later.
“I mean, what is better than a Baltimore team playing at a stadium built by a Baltimore company?” Taylor said.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Christos FC
Originally published June 18, 2025