Roughly an hour drive west of the Windy City, you will transition from bustling metropolis to the birthplace of barbed wire and the namesake of a Revolutionary War Major General. A suburban city of roughly 40,000 nestled within sprawling farms fields with a rich history that got a little richer in 2016.

A couple clubs (Elgin Pumas, Aurora Borealis FC) popped up roughly 30 minutes from Dekalb that John Hall sent his players to develop. “After the second team joined in our little neighborhood, I thought Man…I didn’t know this level of amateur soccer existed,” said Hall. “And I just thought Man, our community could use something like this.” After this epiphany, Hall went to work in late 2016 and into early 2017 putting the pieces together to make Dekalb a community staple.

It Takes a Village

Hall knew that he could not do this alone, so he started floating the idea across some eyeballs and eardrums. “First of all, it was to obtain a few people to ride along with me,” Hall explained. “And to see If some of those who I knew that I thought would be onboard, kind of thought it was a good idea.” The reception was very positive with some individuals quickly agreeing to join Hall’s brainchild. An initial group of five was formed and they began the conversation with their friends, family, and citizens within their community. All it took was a google doc to plan the birth of one of the most popular clubs in the MWPL today.

“He talked about bringing a semi pro team to the area, I’m pretty passionate about soccer myself, I played for a very long time and played against John for a very long time. It just sounded like a cool project. I think one of the reasons I was brought in was my financial background, not with soccer per se…but as a profession, so that was something I was able to bring to the table,” said DKCU Founder & Treasurer Brian VanBuren.

As Troy United experienced, the initial inquiries into garnering sponsorships were met with cautious skepticism, any business would be smart to ask themselves if the financial kernels were worth the harvest. If you focus on the ear at the end, you miss the journey from sprout to kernel. Hall & company wanted these entities to focus on the seed, be a part of the growth and enjoy benefits that come with that. “I think it has grown into something much better now, we are consistent, and people do know us, so it makes it easy for repeat sponsors to come back,” VanBuren explained.

Well Tats New

“We went through a gentleman here in Sycamore, who was a local artist who my wife actually went to school with,” Hall explained. With a portfolio that includes designing painting helmets for the Chicago Blackhawks, Hall knew who could give him a brand that encapsulated Dekalb and bring the club to life. “My wife said, ‘Lets call Mike and see if he can come up with something’ and he was doing tattoos at the time. We went and sat with him and told him we wanted to do this agricultural thing.” At this point in time Hall was aiming to join the now defunct Premier League of America so the crests and imagery revolving that operation were shared and Hall’s request was to make it “DeKalb County-ish” compared to what was already in existence at the time. “It’s really drawn some good feedback from the soccer community both locally and sort of on the Twitter-national scale as well” Hall said

You can forget about Photoshop and all the new age programs that are used to generate the club badges and designs we see today. The rustic pen and pencil style designs that were steppingstones to the badge we know today reflect the close-knit and original feel around Dekalb. Hall still has those original designs in his possession and if the Dekalb faithful are lucky, they might get a look into the infancy of the club they are so passionate about. “I have always teased maybe at our ten-year party I’ll show some of those original concept drawings he gave us.”

The Youth Movement

One budget challenge that does not affect DKCU is their youth relationship. With them not being legally attached to the club, those burdens do not fall on VanBuren and DKCU. Even though they are not linked on a budgetary scale, there are still investments being made. “The best investment we have made in them, is them using our logo and our brand. That had some carrying weight when they first merged those two teams together.”

VanBuren mentioned that Dekalb had been around roughly four or five years before the merge happened, noting that the club’s brand and image had time to infiltrate the hearts and minds of the community, so it was a natural progression to make the Dekalb family bigger in a financially uncommon fashion. Another facet to the unique relationship is that the youth clubs took it upon themselves to join forces with Dekalb. “We are linked in a sense that; we are part of the community, and we want to do good things for the community. This just happens to be the youth version.”

The hope is that his academy will improve the level at the respective high school programs that will lead to educational and athletic opportunities at the collegiate level. By that time, they will know they have a home in the summer months with a solidified club eager to help them improve and showcase their talent. “I think it’s massive,” said Sporting Director Eric Luzzi. “We have to maximize the resources that we have within our population base. The people that created the Academy, they do a phenomenal job running a highly professional, organized, competitive youth club that tries to develop players at a good level for a community of Dekalb/Sycamore.”

“The hard part is we don’t have the population base to support a high-level amateur just with people from Dekalb County. We try to construct the roster and ways that reserve some roster spots for kids that played at Delkab High School, or Sycamore High School, or played in the DKCU Academy that maybe now are playing at Division III schools.” “The last couple years we kind of had a bit of a pivot and it’s been about three-quarters college guys and 25 percent more local Dekalb County guys.”

The end goal is the academy will improve the level at the respective high school programs leading to educational and athletic opportunities at the collegiate level. By that time, they will know they have a home in the summer months with a solidified club eager to help them improve and showcase their talent.

Onwards and Upwards

Luzzi joined Dekalb fresh off his time as Head Coach at Northern Illinois University in the winter of 2016 and at first, the club swung and missed having him part of their cohort. “We sat down and offered me the head coaching job and with my new job in the club world, I just wasn’t able to do it,” said Eric.

In Fall of 2021, Brian Van Buren played for Eric at NIU and used some verbal sleight of hand to get his former gaffer folded into the ranks of cause. “He called me over, Hey there’s Premier League on this weekend and I got a sweet setup in my backyard. You want to come and hang out? So I went over there just under the idea we were just going to hang out and watch some Premier League,” Eric explained.

But that is where a VanBuren had Luzzi in his sights and popped the question…

“They were looking for someone to kind of hire the coach and along with that, get more of a philosophy on the soccer side,” said Eric. He went on to add that this position is great for him personally as he can manage his other obligations.

Unlike other teams in the Midwest Premier League, DKCU cannot draw talent from a major population, so they have formulated their future sporting goals to align with a more of a hometown flavor if able. “The hard part is we don’t have the population base to support a high-level amateur just with people from Dekalb County. We try to construct the roster and ways that reserve some roster spots for kids that played at Dekalb High School, or Sycamore High School, or played in the DKCU Academy that maybe now are playing at Division III schools…The last couple years we kind of had a bit of a pivot and it’s been about three-quarters college guys and 25 percent more local Dekalb County guys.”

As a former college and ODP coach, Luzzi drew upon resources from previous stops to supplement his new soccer endeavor. The adage is that you can’t win if you don’t play, and Luzzi hasn’t skimped on his trips to the proverbial sandbox.

Greener Fields Ahead

The struggle between amateur operations and the need for ticket revenue is no secret and VanBuren was not shy when he explained attendance struggles were not unexpected. Whether it is anticipated or not, the reality of the ripple effects was felt, nonetheless. “John and I spend a lot of time putting these budgets through test. ‘What if this happens? What if that happens?’ We have pretty good records from our financial history in the sense of our tax filings, to know what we are making.”

One group that DKCU steadily has at their side is the loyal supporter’s group, Dekalb Local 815. Growing up going to Chicago Fire games and having been an avid soccer supporter since 2108, Founding Member and Vice Chairman Benjamin Holda has been seen the transformation over the years. “When I discovered in 2017 a club was coming to the town I lived in, I knew that I was going to be a supporter,” Holda explained. “We’ve seen some minor league stuff try and survive in the Dekalb area before (a moment of silence for Dekalb County Liners) and I knew that if it didn’t have locals who were passionate about the sport supporting it, then the club would only last a couple years.”

“Fans are a huge driver, and the thing that John has always said in the past: ‘If you can be net positive on gameday, theoretically you could exist forever. As long as people are coming and supporting the costs that it takes to host a match…then why can’t you just keep sticking around?”

VanBuren shared that the dollar arrow is trending upwards for DKCU in experiencing a club first, coming out in the black after every home game this season. In the world of lower league soccer, that is one of the biggest victories you could have as a club. “It used to be, if we made a profit 2-3 games a season, that’s a big success,” VanBuren added.

Lower league soccer merchandise offerings are all over the spectrum. Some offer a few shirts, a scarf, and a hat while you have others who have product lines and quality that make you wonder if they are truly amateur. Don’t expect annual strobe shows, abstract zoom ins or catchy taglines for new kits from Dekalb, but that is more based on reality than desire. “You would think it would be a revenue generator but unfortunately in my experience I would say it’s not,” VanBuren said. “The cost to produce things at the scale we are producing them at, the cost per unit is too high. For us, it’s great to sell merchandise and it adds a little bit to the bottom line.” This practical mindset regarding merchandise is not all doom and gloom, however. The club is spreading their name into the world and with limited inventory makes their offerings for all intents and purposes collectible, a common biproduct of exclusivity. By approaching this facet of the club, the way Dekalb does, it nearly eliminates offseason overstock and corresponding logistics because MWPL team warehouses aren’t exactly a “thing”.

When asked about attendance numbers and the positive impact the club has seen, Van Buren was very happy with the gate numbers. “ABSOULTELY. We are getting to the point where I feel that we can reliably count on a certain number of attendees at each match,” said VanBuren. The proof is there for all to see as Dekalb has seen consistent growth year over year, with attendance numbers compared to the past. “If we can keep getting that growth, what it lets us do is spend more money on gameday experience which is so important to our fans.”

At the end of the day for Van Buren, Hall and Luzzi, it all revolves around the community they decided to further involve themselves in. “The goal for me out of all this has always been giving something positive to the community. That’s really where my focus has been, and I feel like we are achieving that in a lot of ways,” Van Vuren said. The impact he has helped make is revealing itself in the community year by year and none bigger than their #MaggieStrong campaign that reached far beyond the city limits of Dekalb. “You see those jerseys around town. I coach AYSO soccer too and I was coaching one of my teams and sure enough, comes wearing the #MaggieStrong jersey,” VanBuren shared. “It’s like Wow! That’s cool, I contributed to that and brought awareness to something very important. We played a small part in potentially helping that family through a really difficult time.”

If you build it. They will come.

- Rich Schenck