Angel City Football Club made its way into a crowded sports scene in Los Angeles this season.
After a first season that saw some ups and downs on the field and narrowly missing out on the NWSL playoffs, Angel City proved that it is here to stay.
“This has been so satisfying to see,” Angel City co-founder and leading investor Alexis Ohanian said of the season. “The team had a vision at the start of the season, I’m talking on the pitch as well as off the pitch, and we’ve accomplished so much.
“Every time I’ve been able to make it back for a home match, it hits another level. The energy in the stadium, the feelings, the normalcy … when we started, we sold out opening night and I think a lot of us felt a feeling of, ‘Oh my God, we did it in a stadium (Banc of California) that feels like it’s worthy of some of the greatest athletes in the world and an environment that makes them feel worthy of this.’ Because they are, but haven’t usually been given that chance.”
Angel City certainly won at the ticket office. The club played in front of four sellouts and averaged 19,105 fans for its 11 home games. The club’s season-ticket list topped 15,000 before the first game and increased upwards of 16,000 by the end of the season.
Off the field, according to the Wall Street Journal, Angel City brought in $11 million in sponsorship revenue.
“With every single match, especially at home, we’re now entering a different phase,” Ohanian said. “No one loses their minds when the Lakers sell out because they know, it’s just another day, as we can repeat this over and over again, I think it starts to change the conversation that makes it impossible to ignore. I’m excited for it. No one feels complacent, but we’re definitely proud.”
On the field, Angel City finished in eighth place (8-9-5, 29 points), four points behind Chicago and the sixth and final playoff spot. Injuries limited Christen Press (torn ACL) to just eight games. Sydney Leroux (ankle) played in only three games after coming over in a trade with Orlando. Defender Sarah Gorden (knee) went down in the early days of training camp. Defender Vanessa Gilles played only seven games due to injury and national team call-ups before she was eventually loaned to Lyon.
There were some surprises like defender Megan Reid joining the club after being cut from San Diego Wave FC. She ended up playing every minute (1,980) of the 22-game season. Savannah McCaskill picked up the scoring slack (seven goals) with Press and Leroux sidelined. Goalkeeper DiDi Haračić anchored the defense with a goals against average of 1.19.
“Exceptionally proud and hopeful even for the future,” Angel City general manager Angela Hucles Mangano said. “Very excited about what was accomplished in this first season, especially as an expansion team, especially as we had a brand new group of players and staff all across the board in this first season and being very close to reaching our goal of making the playoffs. I think that’s one that stings a little bit for us, which from a competitive perspective, I’m glad our players are going to have that going into next season because I think that’s going to be helpful to push us further.”
Missing out on the playoffs certainly stings, considering just how close Angel City was.
The painful reminders are the four occasions when Angel City lost a late lead and, instead of a possible 12 points, the club managed just three.
July 1: Angel City led the Portland Thorns 1-0, but the Thorns scored an equalizer in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
July 30: Angel City had a 2-0 goal lead over OL Reign, but the Reign tied it at 64th minute and scored the winner in the 89th.
Aug. 7: Angel City led Orlando 2-1, but a 90th-minute own goal left ACFC with just a point in a 2-2 draw.
Aug. 19: Angel City took a 1-0 lead in the 78th minute, but Kansas City earned a penalty and scored in the 82nd minute for a 1-1 draw.
“There are elements of little details here and there where even in the review process, players are saying in that one moment in this game, in this minute, we had an opportunity and we should have done ‘X’ differently or ‘Y’ differently,” Magano said. “Every little moment, especially because of how close it was in terms of the points, there were probably individual games that we can go back to and point to different reasons or opportunities that we could have had a different outcome and a point here or there changes the entire narrative of the season.”
With the NWSL season having wrapped up Sunday with Portland’s 2-0 title-game victory over Kansas City, the focus on 2023 will soon become into focus for Angel City. Last year, the club didn’t trade or cut any players, but Magano doesn’t expect that to be the case for Year 2.
“That was the strategy coming into the season as building out the team, looking at providing players an opportunity to have a bit more security,” she said. “Knowing that it was an expansion team and allowing that space.
“I’ve communicated to the players that moving forward, that’s not going to be that kind of policy or procedure that we will follow. It’s a positive response from many of the players in terms of how we can be competitive, how we can look at evolving and growing. All across the board in our first season, whether it’s staff, whether it’s process, whether it’s players, there are opportunities that are going to be different, looking forward into the next season. We want to make sure we’re not putting limits on ourselves.”