Metro FC: A Pro/Rel Story (part 2)
This is part 2 of this story. For part 1, here’s the link.
“The way that you win is just as important as winning itself. I’ve seen different clubs make their way up in their own way, and that’s fantastic, but the way that I hope that we can grow as an organization is just very organically and naturally and just without cutting any corners.”
San Francisco Metropolitan FC kicked off its 2021 SFSFL season on June 6th against Mezcala SC, a storied club who has been competing in the league since the ‘70s. Metro would lose its first match in the Premier Division 2-0. The club continues its run towards a championship season against San Francisco Italian Athletic Club, another historic SFSFL side who won the U.S. Open Cup in 1976.
What’s Next?
Mirror, mirror on the wall. What happens if Metro wins the SFSFL in the fall? This is the biggest question for a club whose stated ambition is to rise through the ranks of the US Soccer pyramid. Metro FC currently plays in the San Francisco Soccer Football League’s top division and if crowned champions would have to expand into another league to fulfill its ambitions. Langbein and Metro are currently looking into what that next jump would be, whether it UPSL, NPSL, NISA Nation or USL League 2, but are more focused on the organic growth of the club, rather than its next league. “In order to field a fourth division team you really only need about $18,000 to $30,000 dollars to field a successful [team], as far as money is concerned,” said Francis Langbeing, when discussing taking that next step. He added “that you enter the world of starting to pay for things. And that's where you have to bring in sponsors, you have to bring in interest, you have to make it more of a business and that's where we've started to grow things out a little bit more.”
The sponsorship from Zenni Optical has now given the club an opportunity to bring in money to use towards growth. It is a boost for this season, but also help drive money into the team as it prepares for a future in a new league, with higher costs. Francis also sees the partnership with Zenni as adding another layer of legitimacy to the club's future. “Continuing to bring in Zenni and just building different partnerships within the community, I think we'll build interest as well,” said Langbein, who continued on to say that “ there's so many different revenue streams which are interesting, and you just have to do all of them. You have to build out a youth club. You have to build out 7v7 teams, and you just have to keep building and there's a lot of ways to make money.”
Metro FC is currently in a partnership with San Francisco Elite Academy, a youth organization whose boys and girls sides compete in the MLS Next and Girls Academy systems. This partnership grants access to youth players and fans from four years old till they are ready to partake in the first team. Metro is also a club whose catching on to the trend of creating a 7v7 league to help build revenue. Metro’s last 7’s league raised over $6,000 which helped in the clubs development. SF Metro have also begun to tap into the merchandise game with the introduction of its newest kit with blue and white checkers and a well fit Zenni logo across the chest.
The evolution of this club is not just with the revenue streams that it is continuing to build, but also with the developing partnerships it is seeking. Partnerships started with SF Elite Academy and now is building out into the various colleges and universities in the area, “ because a lot of what we offer is a great experience for working professionals in San Francisco to also have a community and a thing to do, like playing soccer three times a week and then also being a full time worker,” said the Metro FC Owner. The club has created a hub for individuals who love soccer to network, which has helped many teammates find new jobs. In the last five years the club’s players have helped refer about 12 individuals to jobs in the bay area, a trend that Francis wants to see grow exponentially, by building partnerships with colleges like University of San Francisco and telling them “ here's a network of 45 people that are working in the Bay Area. Let's get them a job and Let's get them on the Metro squad,” Langbein continued to say that “ at the same time [we] can set up partnerships with different companies in the area in order to make those kinds of things happen, and the stuff can grow really organically. So I think that's an offering that I don't see in San Francisco, and we are uniquely positioned to offer across our team just because people frankly, like being on the team and also like each other and they're willing to make offers like that and do collaborations with each other on a very consistent basis.”
While the club hasn’t picked a league for the future, it does know that its ambition is to not just stay competing in the SFSFL, but to search for other options on the National scene. While the club has already made a few inroads with the local businesses, soccer organizations and colleges/ universities it still has to build out its national presence if it really wants to be impactful at the next level. How does Metro FC plan to show its historic rise in the oldest league in the nation? “ Just being able to document that whole thing. Being able to consistently show how we do some things on Twitter, on all kinds of social media and just getting our story out there from a public relations perspective is something that is really interesting to me,” said Francis Langbein, who went on to say “but I've been really fortunate that Arti Mansbach has joined on and has a lot of experience with that type of growth marketing to lead us that way.”
From the third tier of the SFSFL to the first, Metro FC are on its way to creating one of the most unique pro/rel stories in US Soccer history.
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We are not just the stereotypical American team that bought its way to the top, but we strengthened, like soccer globally.”
- Steven Ramirez