CASE STUDY 004: Homecomings - Brooklyn FC

Getting Brooklyn back in Brooklyn.

Launched in the summer of 2024 under the ownership of North Six Group, with celebrity investment from NYC’s own and Juventus midfielder Timothy Weah, Brooklyn FC currently sits atop the USL superleague at the time of their Spring home opener in Coney Island, BK. 

With an experienced ownership group (currently holding Italian 3rd division clubs Ascoli FC and Campobasso FC in their portfolio), a team packed with some of the most exciting talents in the USL, and a possible championship around the corner, you could be excused for thinking all is going to plan at Brooklyn FC. The thing is, Professional football in NYC is never a straightforward business. Pele’s former employers, The New York Cosmos would be the first to affirm that sentiment (the last professional game they played was in Long Island, before the COVID-19 pandemic). 

After being forced to move their home matches from Maimonides Park to Columbia’s Rocco B. Commisso Stadium due to an issue with the turf on the field, it seemed as though Brooklyn FC was already succumbing to the curse of NYC’s professional football clubs. Would the sporting gods or zoning laws ever let an NYC team play where their fans are? The NY Red Bulls play in Edison New Jersey, NYCFC plays in Yankee Stadium (isolated from their primary fan cohorts in Queens, BK, and Manhattan), Queensborough United (despite investment from Spanish legend David Villa) never even got the chance to select a stadium before being bought out. 

And so, while Maimonides Park may still be a baseball stadium, getting Brooklyn FC back in Brooklyn felt special. With the Atlantic Ocean winds picking up on an early Spring evening, it was showtime. Brooklyn FC’s ownership group opened the pre-kickoff proceedings with an address for everyone in the stadium, thanking their investors, partners, staff, players, board members, and fans for being so bought into the project and for playing their part in bringing professional soccer back to Brooklyn. With the essence of “still figuring it all out”, it was evident that Brooklyn FC has already developed a familial relationship with their fanbase. The small (but growing) cohorts of fans pocketed around the stadium appeared as though they had season tickets for decades, cozy, engaged, and excited for the match ahead. 

While the home opener ended in a deserved 2-0 win for the visitors, Fort Lauderdale FC, a proper case study of Brooklyn FC requires so much more depth. A complex club, in arguably the world’s most challenging professional sporting market, and an intriguing style off and on the pitch merits a proper follow-up. Brooklyn FC, you are fascinating. More to come here.