Greetings!
Welcome to Chromatic FC. Chromatic – a very good coffee roaster in San Jose, CA, a cool band that Schoolboy Q sampled and now a weekly newsletter. I wanted to start this newsletter for a number of reasons. The first one being for myself. I don’t usually venture out and do things on my own but with San Diego FC playing in their first game in just two days, I wanted a new way to follow a team that I like. I love history and we’re approaching a historic moment. A new team will take the field and San Diego will finally have a team playing in the MLS. I do feel that when the time comes, when I’m old and grey, I will appreciate that I found a way to write about the team and I shared my thoughts with others.
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The second reason why I wanted to start a newsletter, comes from the perspective of the casual fan that may not know a whole lot about the MLS. It’s a league that’s been around for 30 years and it’s not going to be an easy one to follow. Will there be a dedicated beat writer coming from the San Diego Union Tribune, will there be a radio broadcast or even a pregame or post show? I don’t have the answers to any of those questions. From my experience, this league gets their attention through fan driven media of podcasts, newsletters and blogs than your traditional media. I’m going to try my very best to cover everything that is happening with the club. Whether that’s matchday, events, kit releases and even go in on the gameday experience. With all that said, let’s talk about how we got here.
A Brief History
Soccer has always been around San Diego. When you talk about the history of the sport in this country you have to start with the North American Soccer League. NASL first season was in 1968 and San Diego had a team in their inaugural season. The San Diego Toros. The Toros only lasted one season but it was actually a very memorable one in which they made it to the final and lost. After the 1968 season, the Toros folded. It wasn’t until 1976 when the San Diego Jaws were introduced to the city that we had another NASL club. Again, only lasted one season with the highlight being that the Jaws played the New York Cosmos at Balboa Stadium in front of 18,000 people. They all went to see one man play and that was Pele. After 1976 you have different iterations of the San Diego Sockers that came in the NASL and out of NASL and in indoor soccer and outdoor soccer. One of the best Mexican soccer players of all time in Hugo Sanchez played for the San Diego Sockers in 1979-1980. Also, you can’t forget the recent Landon Donovan stint with the Sockers back in 2018-2019. There has always been soccer in San Diego. From the professional clubs to all the youth clubs like the San Diego Surf, Nomads, Albion and all the clubs from Chula Vista to Escondido that have kept the sport alive within the county.
We are a team?
For decades, there have been talks about bringing MLS to San Diego. Back in 2003, Jorge Vergara owner of Chivas Guadalajara wanted to bring a club to Southern California. That club would be named Chivas USA. San Diego was on MLS’s radar back then and was the “preferred choice if a stadium can be agreed upon.” As we could assume that a stadium was never agreed on and Chivas USA went to Carson California to share a stadium with the LA Galaxy. Chivas USA would eventually fold in 2014 and in that same year a new team would rise from the ashes in LAFC. For San Diego, it would be about another decade in which serious discussions would happen about bringing MLS to SD. Soccer City happened right after the San Diego Chargers decided that they wanted to move to Los Angeles. Soccer City’s vision was not only to bring MLS to San Diego but to turn Qualcomm, Jack Murphy Stadium, The Murph, into a soccer specific stadium. In 2018, that vision would be placed on the hands of the voters and Soccer City lost and San Diego State won. Many people, including myself, thought MLS would never come back after that vote. In the meantime, we had San Diego Loyal in division two of the American pyramid. We had 1904 FC/ Albion SC, playing in division three. It wasn’t until 2023 that we heard the news that the Mansour Group along with the Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Nation was going to help bring a team, through expansion in MLS, to San Diego. This new team was going to play at the San Diego State owned, Snapdragon Stadium. At this moment, a soccer community was divided. Loyal fans felt that their team should have been promoted to MLS. You also have another fan base in San Diego that follows Liga Mx and Club Tijuana not that far away.
How difficult can it be to unite a fanbase that’s so passionate about following a sport locally or through other leagues like Liga MX, La Liga, Premier League, etc, to follow your brand new team? San Diego FC has an uphill battle trying to attract as much attention as it can. When it came to the brand and crest roll out, it felt very lackluster. The name San Diego FC is very simple. One positive so far was The Chrome Ball Tour that started last year. It was a great showing of community outreach. The organization went to all 18 cities in the county and made a huge event of it. SDFC tries to be at as many community events around the county. Even this week, SDFC is out buying coffees, donuts, tacos and beer and putting it on their tab. I hope they can continue their community outreach during the season because it can go a long way in bringing fans together. The fanbase, along with the supporters group, have to be a team amongst the team on the field.
What’s next?
Match #1 against the LA Galaxy. The most successful club in MLS with 6 MLS Cups and the current defending Champions. With that said Galaxy are heavily favored to win the match. What I’ll be looking for is seeing how dynamic the wingers will be for SDFC in Lozano and Dryer and hoping the backline will be strong enough to not embarrass ourselves out on the pitch. First time seeing the full squad in a real match, so let’s hope for a good one. My best guess is that this will be a game with a lot of goals (this is the MLS). Best outcome might be a 2-2 draw and both teams share the points.
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