We're adding another local newsletter ⚽️
'Fútbol Friday' coverage of Charlotte FC will start this week; you'll need to sign up for it if you want it
Dear Ledger reader:
I’m writing to share some exciting news about The Ledger’s ongoing growth.
We are adding a fourth newsletter to our lineup of Charlotte-focused publications. And “lineup” is an apt word, because this new weekly newsletter will be on the topic of Charlotte’s new pro soccer team, Charlotte FC. We are calling it “Fútbol Friday.” (It will come out on Fridays.)
Moving into sports reporting is a different move for The Ledger. We think it fits squarely into our mission of delivering smart, locally focused information for Charlotte. It also exposes a new audience to The Ledger and provides more value to our readers, who will now be able to select among four local newsletters we offer: the main Charlotte Ledger (business/general), Transit Time (transit/transportation), Ways of Life (obituaries) and, starting this week, Fútbol Friday.
➡️ If you are already receive Ledger emails and want to add Fútbol Friday, you’ll need to sign up for it on your “My Account” page — it’s free.
➡️ If you do not receive Ledger emails, you can sign up here.
Ready for kickoff: Charlotte FC’s first home game, or “match,” is on March 5 at Bank of America Stadium. (Photo by Kevin Young/The 5 and 2 Project)
We sense strong interest in Charlotte’s new soccer team, which has sold 20,000 season tickets and could set the Major League Soccer record for attendance at its home opener on March 5. Yet following news about the team and the phenomenon of pro soccer in Charlotte can be a frustrating experience because it is spread among so many places, including TV, radio, national publications, Twitter, The Charlotte Observer, Axios Charlotte and more. You can drink from the fire hose of news and social media to try to collect a few drops of information here and there about Charlotte FC. Or you can read Fútbol Friday, where we’ll deliver the most important points in a single vessel — a convenient weekly email that lands in your inbox.
Each week, for those who sign up to receive it, Fútbol Friday will deliver the highlights from multiple media sources mixed with originally reported insights. Our goal is to appeal to casual fans as well as to harder-core soccer aficionados. We’ll cover the action on the field (or “pitch,” if you prefer) but also the buzz in the stands and the reaction in the city. And we’ll do it with the characteristic Ledger integrity, authority, plain-spokenness and humor. (This is soccer we’re talking about.)
Led by experienced sportswriter: Even better, The Ledger has signed on an experienced sports journalist to lead us through Charlotte FC’s first season: Carroll Walton. Carroll grew up here, moved to Georgia and covered a baseball team called the Atlanta Braves for a newspaper called the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She co-wrote a New York Times-bestselling book with Braves third baseman Chipper Jones. Now, she’s back in Charlotte and is The Ledger’s first sports correspondent. Despite her longtime connection to Charlotte’s rival city, I’ve been impressed with her ideas, her energy and her commitment to explaining pro soccer to a city that’s not widely considered a soccer hotbed.
Carroll explains:
I grew up in Charlotte playing soccer on Saturdays at Freedom Park and played the first two seasons my high school had a girls’ team. I loved watching college soccer when I went to Duke, and now, just as my three young sons are dabbling in the sport, I get to pretend introducing them to the FC is my primary motivation. But c’mon, Mama is going to enjoy this ride!
This is my chance to dive back into a sport that got lost in the shuffle of covering baseball and football during my 22 years in Georgia, mostly chasing around the Atlanta Braves. By the time Atlanta got its MLS franchise in 2017, I had moved back to Charlotte to get married and raise a family. I’ll admit I’ve been a little jealous watching my Atlanta friends lock on to the United. It’s our turn now.
My goal with our weekly Ledger coverage is to give you an easy place to check in and see what’s new with the team or what you might have missed. To help you figure out who’s who — is midfielder Sergio Ruiz the one who looks like Freddie Mercury with good teeth? — and learn terminology and strategy for what you might see on game day. All the while, we can’t help but cultivate an appreciation for what it looks like when players from 15 different countries and cultures arrive in Charlotte to give us something to rally around.
Singer Freddie Mercury of Queen; Midfielder Sergio Ruiz of Charlotte FC
Well said. If you have ideas for Carroll or want to say hello, email her at carroll@cltledger.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @CarrollRogers.
We will also pair Carroll’s reporting with visuals from a source Ledger readers know well: Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project. Kevin will provide Fútbol Friday with regular photos and videos as the team’s season moves forward. You might have already seen some videos he put together, like this one of the team’s first practice.
Fútbol Friday should be a fun adventure for all of us, especially for our readers.
‘What if I don’t like soccer?’ Just because we are enthusiastic about starting a new newsletter on Charlotte soccer doesn’t mean we’re forcing you to be interested by spamming your inbox. We don’t want to send you emails you don’t want. Our other newsletters will continue as usual and, over time, we will add newsletters that might interest you. You might see occasional mentions of Fútbol Friday from time to time in our existing newsletters, but you probably won’t see long profiles of Croatian goalkeepers or Polish strikers, or a deep analysis of a thrilling 0-0 tie, if what you really want is The Ledger’s coverage of business.
➡️ But if you do want this new newsletter, you will have to sign up for it. We are not going to send Fútbol Friday to our existing readers unless they indicate they want to receive it. You can do that by going to the “My Account” page and checking the box that says “Fútbol Friday.”
You always have the option of opting in or out of any of our newsletters. We prepared a short how-to video on that topic a couple months ago:
More details: Fútbol Friday will be available for free to all, but it is not free to produce. We intend to pay for it through the sale of newsletter sponsorships, as we currently do with our existing Monday and Saturday main Ledger newsletters. If that interests you or your company, please reach out to Brie Chrisman at brie@cltledger.com.
Join us: If you like what we are doing and building with The Ledger, I invite you to join us as a paying member to support this expansion and future ones, and to receive access to the full range of our original, Charlotte-focused work.
Like our other newsletters, Fútbol Friday will be independently produced, with The Ledger maintaining full editorial control. While we prefer Charlotte sports teams to win, we plan to cover soccer the way we cover everything else: fairly, objectively and, when appropriate, skeptically. That includes the team’s ownership, Tepper Sports & Entertainment, which is in ongoing negotiations with the city of Charlotte over a new stadium. We will continue to cover that important issue, as well as owner David Tepper’s business dealings, in the main Ledger (not in Fútbol Friday).
Thanks. I hope you enjoy it!
—Tony Mecia, The Charlotte Ledger
Need to sign up for this e-newsletter? We offer a free version, as well as paid memberships for full access to all 4 of our local newsletters:
➡️ Add or drop different newsletters on your “My Account” page.
➡️ Learn more about The Charlotte Ledger
The Charlotte Ledger is a locally owned media company that delivers smart and essential news through e-newsletters and on a website. We strive for fairness and accuracy and will correct all known errors. The content reflects the independent editorial judgment of The Charlotte Ledger. Any advertising, paid marketing, or sponsored content will be clearly labeled.
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Sponsorship information: email brie@cltledger.com.
Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project