McIntyre: Fans add life to NYCFC vs. Red Bulls

Whatever the outcome of Major League Soccer’s inaugural New York derby, first-year strugglers New York City FC will accomplish something on Sunday that their instant rival Red Bulls have struggled to do for two decades: Get city-based soccer fans — the ones who flat refused to make the long trek to New Jersey to support what for 19 seasons was the area’s lone topflight team — to cross the Hudson River for a match.

NYCFC has won just once in nine tries so far in its maiden season. Its off-field rollout was an embarrassing series of missteps. But there is a success story so far: the fans. And if NYCFC’s average home attendance of almost 28,000 (third best in the league after Seattle and fellow expansion side Orlando City) is any indication, the newbies should have a sizable traveling contingent for the historic first meeting between the locals.

“The atmosphere at our home games has been fantastic all season,” NYCFC president Tom Glick said Wednesday in a release announcing that the club would open Yankee Stadium’s upper deck for the next derby on June 28. “We are pleased with the momentum we have had in tickets sales and that so many New Yorkers continue to get behind our club in our inaugural season.”

It’s way too early to declare NYCFC a popular success, of course. After all, the Red Bulls, originally known as the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, were among the best-supported teams in MLS during the league’s early years before a decade of middling (at best) results and terrible front-office decisions made them one of the worst.

The club alienated more fans when it was purchased by Austrian energy drink manufacturer Red Bull GmbH in 2006 and re-branded. Even building the best soccer stadium in the country and signing World Cup-winning and living legend Thierry Henry, who spent 4½ seasons with the club before retiring last year, wasn’t enough to win many of them back.

No, the real test for NYCFC will come later. When the honeymoon is over, will fans still show up at the ill-fitting, too-large, rented Yankee Stadium for a team already falling out of playoff contention? Still, the early, organic support has been surprising — not least because in a town built on first impressions, the newcomers couldn’t have made a poorer one.

Adopting a look that barely distinguishes it from parent club Manchester City, delaying the arrival of marquee import Frank Lampard six months, and lacking a viable long-term venue (or even a plan for one) to play in have made the club seem tone-deaf, at best, right from the start. But the desire of city-dwelling 20-somethings to have a team of their own seems to have trumped all of that. Even if there has been some friction between NYC fans who also support Man City and those loyal to Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United, they’re all still buying NYCFC’s light blue jerseys and showing up to the games.

As always, it comes down to location. Anyone who has ever lived in the five boroughs will tell you that a sizable portion of the population, particularly the 18-34 demographic all sports teams covet, refuses to go to New Jersey under any circumstances. Whether it’s a house party in Hoboken or a chance to watch Henry in the flesh, it’s just not happening.

It can take two hours to travel via public transportation from the Upper East Side of Manhattan to Red Bull Arena on a weekend, for a fare of $5.75 each way. Getting to the Bronx, on the other hand, costs about half as much and takes a quarter of the time.

To his credit, MLS commissioner (and New York City native) Don Garber understood this. His belief that the market — two separate markets, really — would support two teams explains why the league took a chance on NYCFC two years ago. (The league’s expiring TV contracts had little to do with the MLS’s desire to fast-track a second New York-area club, multiple sources told ESPNFC.com.)

Cashing a $100 million check from City Football group, one of the richest sports organizations on the planet, might not seem like much of a gamble. But as the club’s early foibles showed, handing a foreign ownership group the keys to a high-profile team in the country’s most important market wasn’t without risk.

It also wasn’t the first time MLS sold a slice of its soul for the chance to be relevant in the Big Apple, either. Garber pleaded with the Red Bulls not to change the MetroStars name, one source told ESPNFC.com, but relented when it became clear that the deal wouldn’t happen otherwise. (Attempts to discuss this story with MLS went unanswered.) And in the years since, the Red Bulls’  owners have proved just as out of touch as those at NYCFC, as shown by their handling of the firing of beloved coach, and native son, Mike Petke in January. After all, it’s hard to have your finger on the throbbing pulse of the city that never sleeps from half a world away.

The truth is neither brand — and that’s what they are, first and foremost — truly represents the people of New York or New Jersey. For a start, the Red Bulls’ obvious purpose is to market a heavily caffeinated soft drink — the decisions to sign Rafa Marquez (in 2010) and Tim Cahill (2012) weren’t made to fill pressing on-field needs, but rather to help Red Bull sell its product in Mexico and Australia, a source who was with the team at the time told ESPNFC. With regard to NYCFC, it exists primarily to broaden the global profile of Manchester City and further the business interests of principal owner Sheikh Mansour and the Abu Dhabi royal family.

The area’s millions of soccer fans deserve better. Nonetheless, real passion has been on display leading up to Sunday’s game, with plenty of trash talk from both sides. The atmosphere Sunday promises to be a genuine spectacle.

That’s thanks to the supporters. Fans are the heartbeat of any club, and it’s the fans alone who have provided some soul for two organizations that can’t seem to keep them away no matter how many mistakes they make.

Doug McIntyre is a staff writer for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @DougMacESPN.