Jim McPhilliamy, CEO & Managing Partner, Carolina Ascent FC & Charlotte Independence

Jim McPhilliamy, CEO and managing partner of professional soccer team Ascent FC, spoke with Invest: about the growth of women’s sports, Charlotte’s advantages as a soccer market, and the role of technology in building a modern club. “AI is better than humans at recognizing patterns, and that applies across both the business side and the soccer side,” McPhilliamy said.

What trends or changes in women’s sports are having the greatest overall impact?

The biggest trend over the last couple of years is that people are starting to consume women’s sports for what it is. They are no longer constantly comparing it to men’s sports or judging it against that standard. They are watching women’s sports because the competition is excellent, the athletes are outstanding, and the product stands on its own. That is the biggest change I have seen in the marketplace. People are consuming women’s sports for what it is, without comparing it to men’s sports.

How has the business environment changed as women’s sports attract more investment and attention?

On the business side, I have both a men’s team and a women’s team, and people are much more interested in the women’s team right now. The corporate community is really behind women’s sports, and that is fueling a large part of the growth.

It has been great to see. About three-quarters of our corporate partners are companies we reached out to, but about a quarter are people who called us and said they wanted to be involved. I have been around sports for a long time, and you do not get many inbound calls from people saying they want to be involved. That has been exciting for us.

What made Charlotte and the Carolinas the right market to build this soccer club?

The biggest factor was the investment that Mecklenburg County made in American Legion Memorial Stadium. If you are starting a women’s soccer team, the largest expense outside of the expansion fee is usually building or securing a stadium.

Mecklenburg County decided to renovate American Legion Memorial Stadium — the project was completed in 2022. It is an outstanding stadium, and it opened the door for us to field a top-level professional women’s soccer team there.

How has the region’s population and business growth influenced your long-term plans?

We hear a lot about the influx of corporations coming to Charlotte. There is also a significant international business community here, including German and British companies. Many of those people are already predisposed to soccer, which helps create a natural audience for the club.

The population growth is also important. Charlotte has a young population, and there are many young families here. Families represent about a third of our business. We hear from mothers and fathers who want to bring their daughters to games so they can see professional athletes as role models and see opportunities that may not have been available when those parents were growing up.

How important are community engagement and the fan experience to building long-term value for the club?

Our players are wonderful, and they are constantly involved in the community. I have been around sports for a long time, and often in sports you have to ask players to attend events. With our players, they often come to us and say they are already going to something in the community and ask how they can support it more.

They are involved, accessible, and they do not say no. They are always out there, and that matters. That type of engagement helps build the club because fans can connect with the players not just on the field, but throughout the community.

How are digital platforms, streaming, and technology changing the way sports organizations connect with fans and grow audiences?

Technology has been embraced quite a bit over the last year. Underlying a lot of it is that AI is better than humans at recognizing patterns, and that applies across both the business side and the soccer side.

We are using technology in three main areas. The first is identifying and developing talent. The second is analyzing our competition on the field and understanding what they are doing. The third is on the business side, where technology helps us automate and become more efficient.

I like to call it giving our employees an Iron Man suit. We are not trying to replace employees. We are trying to make an employee five times more productive by giving that person an AI suite or a technology suite. That makes them more efficient, and I think it also makes the job more enjoyable. We are deploying that across the entire organization.

How are broader economic pressures affecting attendance and operations?

For us, our pricing model is family-friendly. The biggest impact on our attendance is not so much the economy as it is our schedule. This year, we had three home games in February, and that is not the ideal time for us to have three home games.

Our games in March, April, and May have done well. Because we are family-friendly and affordable, we are seeing a lot of families come to games. It is a fun night out for the whole family, and people do not have to spend heavily on tickets, parking, and concessions. That makes us an attractive option, and a lot of people are taking advantage of it.

With soccer continuing to grow in the United States, what opportunities do you see for clubs like Carolina Ascent?

The United States is consuming soccer in a different way now. I have been doing this for about a decade, but on Saturday mornings, I wake up and watch the Premier League. I am a West Ham fan, unfortunately, but I watch those games early in the day.

That experience has become more common. It used to be that people would wait for other sports to come on. Now, people are watching soccer from the beginning of the day, and they are starting to understand the sport more deeply.

They are learning to recognize the spacing on the field, how a turnover can create a counterattack, and when something is about to happen. More people are getting into the sport at that level, and that is exciting for soccer.

How are you approaching recruiting and retaining talent on both the business and soccer sides?

That is an interesting challenge. In women’s soccer, we have the NWSL team in Raleigh, and there will be a new team in Atlanta. That creates more competition for talent in the Southeast.

The southeastern United States has strong soccer talent, but those organizations are going to have robust scouting networks in our backyard. We are going to have to stay ahead of that and remain on top of the talent in our region.

We will also need to broaden our reach beyond the region. That means looking to the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, and building channels beyond just our immediate market. There is going to be a lot of competition for regional talent, so we need to think more broadly.

What should readers understand about the club’s long-term opportunity in Charlotte?

We are in an outstanding market in Charlotte. For us in particular, because Mecklenburg County made the decision to invest in American Legion Memorial Stadium, we have a real platform.

About 70% of the Charlotte market population is within a 30-minute drive of the stadium. That makes it an outstanding place for us to be, and it is a wonderful venue. That is the central piece of our investment thesis.