Former Charlotte 49er Bronico making a name — and a new brand — with Charlotte FC
4-year-old fan visits practice, defender Adam Armour out for season and more
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Bronico launches BB13 clothing line
Bronico has started his own clothing line. (Photo montage from www.brandtbronico.com.)
Midfielder Brandt Bronico is living out his dream with the Charlotte FC, playing its inaugural season in the city where he starred at UNC Charlotte, earning a starting spot in the midfield, and as of this week, launching his own clothing line.
And why not?
As Brandt Bronico pointed out on Twitter: “You can’t spell Brandt without Brand!”
“It’s something that I've always really wanted to do, especially after I became a professional,” said Bronico, who played his first four seasons for the Chicago Fire. “What better time to start one when I’m back in Charlotte, around my friends and my family with the new club in its inaugural season. I just thought the time was now. And it’s a unique way to personally connect with the fans. Now they’re oriented with a team mostly, but this is this is a way to individualize myself with them.”
The Brandt Bronico line features eight “athleisure” pieces including a hoodie, T-shirts, a backpack and baseball hat. The look is simple and sleek with a black, white and hint-of-Charlotte FC blue color scheme. Each piece comes with the “BB13” logo, with B’s in italics and a blue “13” with a narrow font making it look like a third “B.”
BB13 hoodie. (Photo from www.brandtbronico.com.)
Bronico has worn 13 throughout his life, with the exception of when he wore No. 10 as a standout for the Charlotte 49ers.
He teamed up with Fox Ellis, a marketing agency out of Boston, to create the line. They’ll continue to add new pieces, possibly some in 49er green, and Bronico said he’ll eventually join with a local charity to share proceeds.
Bronico has taken some kidding from teammates for this — don’t tell them he’s got a photo shoot next week — but they’re also ponying up for some sportswear to show their support. He’s OK with all of it. This is all part of Bronico’s vision.
The day Charlotte announced it was getting an MLS franchise on Dec. 17, 2019, Bronico saw the news scrolling on social media at his parents’ house in Wilmington, N.C. He immediately called his agent.
“I said, ‘Hey, Charlotte’s getting a team — we need to do what we can to get there,’” said Bronico, who grew up in High Point.
He was playing for Chicago at the time but got the trade he wanted at the end of the season. Charlotte announced the move on Dec. 18, 2020, almost exactly a year later. Bronico remembers the date well because that’s also the day he was in New Orleans getting married to his college sweetheart, Rebecca Beatty, who also played soccer at UNC Charlotte.
Photo from @bronibro13 on Instagram.
“Charlotte is obviously a special place for us,” Bronico said. “We met here. We got engaged here. We played our collegiate career here. And then to come back after we got married and start our lives here just feels like it was meant to be.”
Rebecca Bronico, now working in Charlotte as a mental health counselor, played “holding” midfielder, as Bronico does.
“She likes to critique me on my game,” he said. “So it’s nice having her around.”
It is? Don’t you get enough of that at work?
“It’s good,” Bronico said, laughing. “It keeps me in check.”
4-year-old fan kicks around at Charlotte FC practice
Graham Young scores past a “diving” Swiderski. (Photo by Taylor Banner, Charlotte FC.)
Charlotte coach Miguel Angel Ramirez makes a point to interact with fans after every game, shaking hands, taking pictures and saying thanks, but his relationship-building hardly stops there. Ramirez is getting to know Charlotte fans face-to-face. He has taken to extending personal invitations, like one he made to the Young family this week.
Charlotte’s Brian Young had posted on Twitter about taking his 4-year-old old son Graham to his first Charlotte FC game last month against Cincinnati. Ramirez got wind of it, and the photo was included in a montage Ramirez posted later in the day. He had a staff member reach out and invite the Youngs to a Charlotte FC practice.
Ramirez made good on that invitation this week, hosting Brian, his wife Amanda and their son Graham at a training session at the Matthews Sportsplex.
“Everyone was incredible,” said Young, a season-ticket holder who played goalkeeper at Georgia Southern in the mid-2000s and now is director of business development for The Dunstan Group. “The players. The staff. The team personnel. All of them were top class and it really showed how much they care about the fans and this community. It was an awesome experience!”
Graham got to kick the ball around — and past — Karol Swiderski, Charlotte FC’s star striker. Swiderski was doing some impromptu goal-tending, while also showing the tender side of a father with a young son of his own. Graham also got to high-five defender Jaylin Lindsey and try on goalkeeper George Marks’ gloves.
Young tries on Marks’ gloves. (Photo courtesy of Brian Young.)
From the sounds of it, Ramirez got as much enjoyment out of the encounter as the Youngs did. He said he loves watching young fans getting engaged with the Charlotte FC.
“That’s normal in South America or even in my country, Spain,” Ramirez said. “When you are a child, you have already your club, and you wear 24/7 the T-shirt of your club, and that’s something that maybe this country didn’t have. But now people are wearing soccer T-shirts, and it’s something that touched me a lot. It’s so powerful. When we play at home and we see families, boys, girls with a T-shirt, with a scarf, with everything Charlotte FC, and when you go outside in the streets and you see the same, that’s amazing. It’s an amazing energy.”
Ramirez said he wants to make it routine to have fans and families with small children out to practices. Don’t be surprised to see him do it, either.
Amanda (left) and Brian Young (holding Graham) with Lindsey and Swiderski. (Photo by Taylor Banner, Charlotte FC.)
Adam Armour out for season with knee injury
Adam Armour, the 19-year-old defender who scored the first goal in Charlotte FC history, injured his left knee during Charlotte’s U.S. Open Cup game in Greenville. He is headed for meniscus surgery that will cost him the remainder of the season. Ramirez explained that Armour was born without an anterior cruciate ligament in that knee, so he was already at risk for injury.
“We knew that this could happen in any moment,” he said. “[In] professional football, the demand is very high always on your joints. The turf doesn’t help, or changing surfaces: now grass, now turf. Now he has a big injury in his meniscus, and he’ll lose the season. Hopefully, they can also fix the ACL problem, but we will lose him until the next preseason.”
In Armour’s absence, Ramirez said he would approach sporting director Zoran Krneta about trying to sign a defender, given how thin Charlotte FC is now at left back behind captain Christian Fuchs. Major League Soccer’s first transfer window closes on Wednesday (when teams are allowed to sign players), and the next window doesn’t open until July 7.
Up Next: Charlotte (3-5-1) at Orlando City (4-3-2)
When/Where: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Exploria Stadium, Orlando, Fla.
How to watch: WAXN (Channel 64), Telemundo or live stream at www.charlottefootballclub/live or on the Charlotte FC app. Local restrictions apply.
Notable:
Charlotte is still looking for its first win on the road this season as it wraps up this three-game road swing (or four, including the April 20 U.S. Open Cup game in Greenville). CLTFC did come away with one point in a 0-0 tie last Saturday night in Colorado.
A non-Covid-related virus kept new Polish striker Kamil Jozwiak out of action in Colorado and will have defender Joseph Mora sidelined in Orlando. Ramirez, who also missed a day of practice this week with it, said Jozwiak is not yet 100% but is available to play. He pointed out that given recent illnesses and injuries (Ben Bender has missed time with a sore calf, Yordy Reyna is out until next week with a lower leg injury) he’ll use players in 45-minute or even 15-minute increments as needed.
The future of Bank of America Stadium
In case you missed it, Charlotte Observer columnist Scott Fowler wrote a telling piece about Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC owner David Tepper’s thoughts on renovating Bank of America Stadium, rather than building a new stadium — at least in the near future. The article pointed out that whichever way Tepper goes, he plans to keep soccer and football in the same stadium and not build a soccer-specific stadium, as many MLS franchises seek to do. Fowler writes:
If the Panthers do eventually build a new stadium, the plan is to still have both the Panthers and the MLS team play their games there, rather than to also build a separate soccer-specific stadium as many MLS cities have done.
Previous editions of Fútbol Friday
You can find previous issues of The Charlotte Ledger’s Fútbol Friday newsletter online.
Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now cutting her teeth on soccer and the Charlotte FC just as fans in Charlotte do. She would love to hear from you. E-mail her with questions, suggestions, story ideas and comments!
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project