Four years ago, our first FC Cincinnati booklet of season tickets arrived in the mail…

We reserved our season tickets on forty-five minutes after it was announced that USL soccer was coming to Cincinnati.

To me, these were the FC|C glory days, back when they were in USL. They were just this little upstart second division club from Cincinnati that drew 25,000+ fans to their home games. They were competitive on the pitch. They had friendlies with major European squads like Crystal Palace, Valencia, and Espanyol. It was all so exciting and soooo much fun. During the 2016 and 2017 seasons, we didn’t miss one home match. Every friendly, every scrimmage, every single match, we were there. The 2018 season we missed three matches because of my hip surgeries and one match because of a family vacation. The 2019 MLS season started off well but by the end we skipped some of the  matches during the week because the team was so bad.

And before each season started, we would go out and each buy the new FC|C home jersey for the season and sweatshirts so we had new gear for each new season.

We were all in on FC Cincinnati. Until now.

Here comes the diatribe…

Fast forward four years, FC Cincinnati is the worst club in MLS. I mean, it’s not even close. in 2019, they earned just 24 points from 34 matches, and finished with a goal difference of -44. NEGATIVE FORTY-FOUR. They currently find themselves without a head coach. Again. Before the start of this season, they eliminated general admission tickets. And that drove the ticket prices up. Again. Every year it keeps getting more and more expensive just to watch a team that’s terrible. We decided at the end of last season that we were not going to be renewing our season tickets.

And we have YouTubeTV. On YouTubeTV, you can’t stream any of the FC|C matches…

We also subscribe to ESPN+. MLS enforces strict black-outs of even the on-demand replays of ALL FC Cincy matches…

The only way for us to watch any of the FC Cincinnati matches, home or away, is by using an over-air antenna.

And to top it off, I think their 2020 home kit is an absolute mess. But to be fair, their away kit is pretty sweet. Over the last four years, FC Cincinnati’s home kit has gone from horizontal blocks to hoops to stripes to halves. It’s ridiculous. I’ve watched a lot of soccer throughout the years and I can’t recall another side that has varied the overall design for their kit so dramatically. Usually just little details change.

With the rising ticket prices and the TV black-outs, what FC|C and MLS are telling me is this… we don’t care if you watch Cincinnati soccer matches. And I’m fine with that. I’ll wear the gear I have. But I’m not dropping another dime on this team.

I’ve really fallen in love with Minnesota United in MLS. They are a competitive side. I like their coach. Love their logo and kit. And I can watch all their matches on ESPN+. I’ve also begun really supporting Louisville City in USL. I can also watch all of their matches through ESPN+. As soon as the COVID-19 crisis is behind us, we’re planning weekend trips to both Minneapolis and Louisville to see their stadiums and watch matches. And to me, that seems like a much better use of my money.

I’m not saying I’m done with FC Cincinnati for ever. But I’m definitely over them for right now and into the foreseeable future. #AllForCincy 😐⚽️❤️