Gotham FC Governor Carolyn Tisch-Blodgett Talks Growth in NY Soccer

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
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**Carol Massar** (0:07)
Hey, against the back of the World Cup, something that caught our attention, and that is the Gotham Football Club announcing that the club will play their home matches at New York City's football club's new stadium. It's Etihad Park, it's starting in the 2028 season. The club's initial lease at the venue last five years, options to extend it up to 15 years, according to some reports. That makes it the first women's professional sports team with a permanent home in New York City. I love that. I do too. A major milestone that reflects a long-term vision of building one of the world's most iconic women's sports clubs.
And we have some other news. Gotham also recently announced it signed one of the world's top women's soccer players in Australian striker Sam Kerr playing for the club from 2015 to 2017 before leaving the NWSL to play for Chelsea in the UK. So there's a lot going on. Let's get to it, because with us is our own Vanessa Perdomo Maglione.
She is Bloomberg News Sports Business Reporter, co-host of the Business of Sports podcast. She joins us out there in our Bloomberg Newsroom in Princeton, New Jersey. Delighted to have two back with us. Carolyn Tisch-Blodgett, governor and lead owner of Gotham Football Club, National Women's Soccer League team, of course, founder and CEO of Next 3 Ventures. That's an investment firm in sports, media and entertainment. Also co-owner of the New York Football Giants, a member of, of course, the Tisch family. That has long owned the team. She joins us from remotely in New York. Vanessa, I'm going to let you kick it off because, man, this is your world.

**Vanessa Perdomo** (1:35)
You know, thanks, Carol. And Carolyn, it's great to talk to you always about everything going on in Gotham. Next week is going to be a huge week, you know, kicking out in Queens for the first time with the Queens Classic.
Almost 40,000 tickets have been sold already. 70% of those is first time purchasers, I'm really interested to hear your take on why you think that is. Is it because of all the excitement of the World Cup? Is it because the World Cup finals in the market a couple of days later? Is it New York versus New Jersey? What is it for you, Carolyn, do you think?

**Carolyn Tisch-Blodgett** (2:10)
Yes, well, it's so good to talk to you again. I really appreciate you having me on the show.
So a few things. So, yes, just to explain what we're talking about with the Queens Classic. So Gotham will be playing the first ever professional women's soccer game in New York at City Field on Wednesday night. That is a few days before the finals, as you said. And when we made the decision to play this game, we knew that we didn't have access to our current stadium at Sports Illustrated Stadium in New Jersey because they're having a watch party. But we said, you know, the World Cup is coming to New York. Everyone, all eyes are on soccer right now. We want to be a part of it. We want to lean in. And so we created the first ever Queens Classic. This will be our first time playing there. And as you said, the excitement, the momentum around it has been tremendous. So just to put the... So right now, as of this morning, we're at 38,000 seats sold.
We set out to break the New York Women's Sports Record, which is 28,000. So we are on track to beat that. And just to put those numbers in perspective, our average attendance when we came in as new owners two and a half years ago was about 4,000. So to get a stadium almost full, hopefully sold out by Wednesday, full of 38, 42,000 people all watching a women's professional soccer game, it's really part of the vision that we set out to from the beginning, but it's a bit of a pinch me moment when it happens.

**Vanessa Perdomo** (3:32)
Carolyn, we've talked a lot about how, having the World Cup in this market, how do you capitalize on all the attention that's happening on soccer? Sounds like you're kind of doing that with the Queens Classic already, but how do you take those first time purchasers and turn them into lifelong fans?

**Carolyn Tisch-Blodgett** (3:47)
Yeah, absolutely. That is, I think, that is the goal of every team, every league. That is really our duty, is to take these national global moments, like a World Cup, every few years and turn them into lifelong fandom. The Queens Classic is certainly part of it, but I'd say it's just the beginning. I think, you know, as you said, 70% of the people that are coming to the Queens Classic are first-time buyers. So now it is on us to bring them to, first of all, show them a great product, show them a great experience, show both the players on the field and the fan experience around it, and then bring them into the fold, have them understand, you know, you don't have to wait another four years to see World Cup Soccer. We have many players on our team that are World Cup winners and World Cup competitors every few years. So that's really on us as team owners and league stewards to then bring that fandom back into the teams and leagues.