Geared for Growth: Flower City Union Celebrates National Championship and Record-Breaking Attendance Numbers in Greater Rochester
Flower City Union is still in its infancy as a team in Greater Rochester and is already celebrating a national championship and expanding to work with more athletes. General Manager Casey Catlin was on Geared for Growth on Wednesday, April 24th as part of Greater Rochester Chamber’s ongoing partnership with FOX Rochester/13WHAM. Catlin discussed the organization’s background, why fans should care about the resurgence of soccer in Greater Rochester, and what his expectations are for the clubs over the next five years.
Flower City Union began playing in the National Independent Soccer Association for the 2022 season. In just their second season on the field, they won the
NISA National Championship, bringing a professional sports national title to Greater Rochester for the first time in decades. Last year, they additionally launched a women’s team, Flower City 1872, named after the year Susan B. Anthony voted in a federal election. The community response to these teams has been exciting. Catlin shared that this year, women’s season tickets pricing will be comparable to men’s pricing. “Slowly we’ve grown our attendance over the past two years,” Casey explained, “Last year in August, we had three home games, each breaking the highest attendance in team history. This year we’re hoping for even better.”
Flower City Union has invested in the gameday experience and atmosphere for fans. “Nothing beats a soccer gameday,” Catlin shared. The organization has collaborated with other businesses in Greater Rochester to bring food trucks to the stadium and create a fun party deck for fans of all ages, with a Strangebird beer partnership and Nancy’s fried dough throughout. Games themselves also promise to be action packed, with two 45-minute halves and no time outs. Casey explained that the quick, non-stop nature of the sport makes games easy for individuals or families to attend and have a good time.
Over the next five to ten years, Casey explained how he expects to see a resurgence of professional soccer throughout the United States and is prepared to capitalize on that right here in Greater Rochester. “The World Cup is coming to the US in 2026, which will be a turning point,” he shared, “We’ve already seen a crazy rise in soccer recently.” He explained how Rochester has long had an interest in professional soccer teams, and they’re excited to return to that point. “The Lancers in the 70s were bringing 20,000 people to games, we’re hoping for steady growth to get back to where Rochester soccer was and should be,” Catlin said.
To learn more about the teams and organization, please visit FlowerCityUnion.com.
Be sure to tune into FOX Rochester each Wednesday morning at 8:45 AM to hear growth stories from members throughout Greater Rochester on every segment of Geared for Growth.