David Harden has spent sufficient time writing and producing TV content material to know that few reveals actually observe the script. So he had little expectation his first foray into funding a males’s soccer workforce would go as deliberate.
And it didn’t.
“It’s way better than I thought,” he mentioned final week. “For the first 16 months, before the stadium was finished and before we had a team that we could see on the field and the community in the stands, it was an idea, numbers on a spreadsheet.
“But once you come to a game, you know it’s real. And so we pinch ourselves.”
Right here’s how actual: 5 weeks into its historical past AV Alta FC, a fledgling membership within the third-tier USL League One, is 5-3-0 in all competitors, two of its three losses approaching the highway, adopted by 5 straight wins at dwelling.
Final week the membership knocked out Orange County SC, a perennial playoff workforce within the second-tier USL Championship, from the U.S. Open Cup and subsequent month it’ll journey to Texas to play FC Dallas, an authentic MLS membership, within the event’s spherical of 32.
The AV, by the best way, stands for Antelope Valley, which hasn’t had knowledgeable sports activities franchise since minor league baseball’s Lancaster Jethawks had been disbanded in 2020. The valley has by no means had knowledgeable soccer workforce.
However the reception Alta FC has acquired suggests this one was lengthy overdue: The workforce bought greater than 2,000 season tickets and bought out the stadium’s 11 suites earlier than it had performed a sport. And within the final 4 months it bought $250,000 in merchandise, together with $85,000 on the day of its first league dwelling sport — one which drew greater than 5,433 followers to its 5,300-seat stadium.
It has averaged 4,500 for its three league video games, about 85% of capability for a workforce that didn’t exist two months in the past.
“It feels pretty good to have some kind of home pride again,” mentioned Andrew Montez, who has attended three of the workforce’s first 5 dwelling video games. “I’ve always been a soccer fan. Now you only have to drive a few minutes to go.”
AV Alta’s fan group, The 661, marches by way of Lancaster Municipal Stadium earlier than a sport.
(Jose Lucha / AVFC)
Subsequent to him stood Carlos Madrigal, who was holding a inexperienced Alta FC flag. Madrigal has made the 115-mile spherical journey to BMO Stadium to see LAFC play however is contemplating throwing his allegiance to the native membership.
“It’s awesome. We have a home team now. It brings the community together,” he mentioned. “The crowd here, the ambiance, the fans — all together they become something much bigger.”
The workforce was the brainchild of John Smelzer, a longtime sports activities and media govt who served on the 1994 World Cup organizing committee earlier than occurring to work with the NFL, then Fox Sports activities and NBC. Within the fall of 2023 he started proselytizing concerning the want for a workforce within the Antelope Valley, rapidly gaining the assist of Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris — whose regulation agency purchased the sponsorship rights to Alta FC’s uniforms. Harden, together with Bob Roback, chief govt of the United Expertise Company, a sports activities, leisure and advisory agency primarily based in Beverly Hills, helped Smelzer increase the membership’s working capital whereas Harden and his spouse, Sarah, put greater than $1 million behind the hassle, making them the workforce’s majority homeowners.
The Hardens had been additionally among the many early traders in Angel Metropolis, the NWSL enlargement membership that grew into the dear ladies’s sports activities franchise in historical past in lower than 5 years.
“John’s passion was important,” David Harden mentioned. “As an investor, you want a founder who’s not going to lose interest. You’re looking for grit and a real measure of grit is passion. But I was most attracted to the opportunity.
“Soccer is growing. Live sports is a super sexy investment category. So we’re just riding a lot of trend lines in the right direction.”
AV Alta midfielder Jimmie Villalobos controls the ball throughout a win over Westchester SC on April 5, 2025.
(Jose Lucha / AVFC)
As Smelzer and Harden regarded out on a Tuesday evening crowd of greater than 3,200 on the Jethawks previous stadium, which town spent $17 million to retrofit for soccer, every looked for proof to show their investments of money and time had been clever ones.
“Look at those kids,” Smelzer mentioned, pointing to a few grade-school boys, cheering fanatically from their front-row seats late within the second half. “They’re still into the game.”
What extra proof? When a U.S. Open Cup sport with LAFC’s NextPro workforce went into further time late on a cold weeknight, few within the crowd left. When the sport with Orange County went to penalty kicks final week, a whole lot of followers crowded behind the south objective, which probably intimidated the guests and buoyed the house workforce.
These followers had been cheering for a workforce that features nationwide workforce gamers from El Salvador, Benin, the Philippines, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago in addition to homegrown gamers reminiscent of former MLS winger Miguel Ibarra and three different gamers from the Antelope Valley, who had been signed to academy contracts. The thought was to point out children there was a path from right here to there; that skilled soccer had a pathway for gamers from the valley to the professionals.
Sean Franklin performed at Highland Excessive in Palmdale then gained two MLS Cups, two Supporters’ Protect, was named the MLS rookie of the yr and made an all-star workforce with the Galaxy. If he can do it, anyone can do it.
AV Alta followers cheer on the workforce throughout a match towards Westchester SC at Lancaster Municipal Stadium on April 5, 2025.
(Jose Lucha / AVFC)
However the market may very well be a much bigger issue than the roster within the workforce’s probabilities at success. The valley’s inhabitants of roughly 500,000 makes it concerning the dimension of Sacramento and Kansas Metropolis. And whereas placing an NBA or NFL workforce in that market could be bold, a third-tier soccer workforce looks like an excellent match.
“When John first came to me, I thought that I would come to a couple of games. I thought I would write him a check and wish him good luck,” Harden mentioned. “But as weeks went by, I was more involved, writing a bigger check. I can’t get enough of it. The community that’s up here, they’re amazing. And they have embraced us and what we’re trying to do in ways that go beyond our expectations.
“Antelope Valley is this lost little diamond in L.A. County. And there’s not a lot of competition for people’s attention.”
AV Alta FC has actually drawn the folks’s consideration. The query now’s can they maintain it.
⚽ You’ve gotten learn the most recent installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a highlight on distinctive tales. Take heed to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Corner of the Galaxy” podcast.
