The Boar Sport hits America: The MLS experience in 2025

Just before 10 o’clock on the evening of Friday 7 March, referee James Bell called time on an appalling game of Championship football between Norwich City and Oxford United at Carrow Road, the final score one apiece.

Yet, for me, the evening was still young. I was not making the short hop to Prince of Wales Road and Popworld Norwich – I was, in fact, jumping straight on the National Express coach to Heathrow to catch the early morning flight to Newark.

After having my deodorant confiscated and paying five pounds for a bottle of water, I boarded the plane having not slept for 24 hours. I may also have been allocated row 44, the very back of the plane – “scum class” if you were to ask Jeremy Clarkson – yet I really didn’t care about any of this.

That evening, I was to be in attendance for my beloved Orlando City’s first road fixture of the new Major League Soccer season at Yankee Stadium, The Bronx against New York City Football Club.

I first began supporting Orlando in 2017 having been to a game against the New York Red Bulls whilst on a family vacation in Central Florida, falling in love with the atmosphere and the city’s culture. It took me five years to return, but since then I have tallied a combined 18 games home and away supporting the Lions from the surprisingly agreeable winters of Vancouver Island, British Columbia to the rain-soaked misery of an empty Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

I touched down in Newark and, to my surprise and great relief, had disembarked and was through customs in a matter of minutes.

There was, of course, still the small matter of meandering across the remainder of New Jersey on the slowest commuter rail service I had ever encountered, crossing the Hudson River, and scaling the length of Manhattan to my hotel in The Bronx. Once I reached the hotel, though, the festivities of an Orlando away day could begin.

There is always a sense of freedom, I find, in being at a game in the United States – especially during term time and with the knowledge I really should be at my Friday morning seminar.

Instead, I was back on the subway train heading south again for Manhattan and drinks at Legends Bar and Grill on sixth and 33rd, having met up with a friend from Orlando who had also travelled up for the game.

American beer tends to be accompanied by quite an unwelcome reputation in the United Kingdom, and this may be true of its macrobreweries – your Budweisers et al – but its craft beer scene is among the best in the world and a major attraction of American sports.

It was soon time to head for the game, and that meant a short detour back to the hotel to acquire another layer of clothing to tackle the subzero temperatures of a windy, still early March New York evening. I hadn’t, of course, packed a coat, but three shirts, a hoodie, and my customised flag – a common accessory for British football fans – would have to do.

One positive aspect of sports in New York City, rather atypical of the United States as a whole, is that its arenas are generally easily accessible by public transport: Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, Madison Square Gardens, and Barclays Center are all accessible on the subway. Far too many Major League Soccer stadia, though, such as Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (Colorado Rapids) and Gillette Stadium (New England Revolution), are miles from downtown and where locals and tourists are likely based.

It was only a short walk from our hotel to Yankee Stadium, and some of the views of the stadium’s facade are genuinely breathtaking. The stands and floodlights rise above most of The Bronx, while the stadium’s architecture resembles that of a Roman amphitheatre. It’s a shame about the multi-storey car park which is actually attached to the stadium.

Yankee Stadium, naturally home to the New York Yankees during the baseball season, is one of many multi-purpose stadia in Major League Soccer. While these stadia, another example I have visited being Chicago Bears’ Soldier Field, are typically the most impressive in Major League Soccer, they are marked by a lack of atmosphere – far too many seats for the fanbases of most of the league’s clubs. Yankee Stadium when used for football is no different.

The atmosphere, though, was not the only letdown. Orlando had not won at Yankee Stadium since 2017, and this game was to be no different. Despite creating by far the better goalscoring opportunities of the night, two goalkeeping clangers from Peruvian international Pedro Gallese meant that Orlando fell 2-1 to continue what had been a worrying start to the new Major League Soccer campaign.

I really hadn’t expected anything to the contrary, and my love for the club has never been defined by winning games. Mostly because when I’m in attendance, winning is almost unheard of.

Many people say to me that it is ludicrous to even support a team in the United States, let alone part with however much money it takes to go to game. The quality of Major League Soccer compared to that of Europe, the attendances, the atmospheres, and the prices demanded for the privilege of all this is often cited as reason for dismissal of the league.

What makes sports in the United States so enjoyable, though, is not what makes them so different to football here, it’s what makes them so similar. Fans will turn up to games hours early to drink and eat, they’ll almost certainly watch their team lose, and then afterwards they’ll return to the drinking and eating to scrutinise the game for as long as the evening allows.

I have made some fantastic friendships supporting Orlando, especially in these last couple of years, and enjoying games with others is what makes supporting a club, whether in Britain or in the United States, such a rewarding experience.

A slightly more restful Sunday succeeded what had been a hectic two days, and soon I was on the way home to Norfolk for Tuesday’s home encounter with Sheffield Wednesday. With any luck, Norwich might start giving me something to shout about.