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At a typical Centennial 38 tailgate, a live band or DJ blasts music out to a packed parking lot, an impressive array of food and drinks line rows of tables, and supporters mingle against the backdrop of the picturesque Rocky Mountains. This on its own, is perfect. But in the big picture of the Colorado Rapids fan experience, this is one of the few bright spots, as the club itself continues to underachieve in virtually every aspect, on and off the field.
That neglect from the club drove supporters to their breaking point last season, sparking a protest and walkout that was celebrated by many other SGs around the league. Now, ahead of the 2024 Major League Soccer season, Rapids supporters are cautiously optimistic, and just hoping that their love and devotion won’t be pushed to the brink again.
On paper, soccer in Denver should work. It’s a young, exciting city that embraces its sports teams and celebrates its vibrant food, beer and cultural scenes. But instead, the Colorado Rapids, an original MLS club, often appear to be stuck in MLS 1.0. On the field, the Rapids have won only one MLS Cup, back in 2010, and have qualified for the playoffs just 3 times in the past 10 seasons. Dicks Sporting Goods Park, one of the older stadiums in the league, is located in Commerce City, an obscure municipality 20 minutes outside of downtown Denver, and its years are starting to show. The club has also not put forth a clear long term vision, or showed any true signs of progress in building a winning club, with each strong season often followed up by another dud. These issues are largely down to the club’s ownership, Kroenke Sports and Entertainment (KSE), which also owns the L.A. Rams, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and Arsenal.
Unlike some MLS owners, KSE has shown little interest in investing in the growth of the Rapids, something many supporters have grown tired of.
“It is a generally frustrating experience to support a club whose leadership are as opaque as the Rapids,” said Austin Reynolds, a member of Centennial 38, the official supporters group of the Rapids. “They consistently make grandiose promises which perhaps a marketing team somewhere decides is ‘good optics’ or something, but have completely shattered their credibility with Rapids supporters and have turned off countless local soccer fans from even participating at all.”
But despite all that, Centennial 38 still brings the party. Formed in 2013 when three individual SGs, Bulldog Supporters Group, Pid Army and Class 6 merged, the group is completely volunteer based, and prides itself on its community involvement and lively tailgate.
“We like to bring our Rapids community together to have some food and a couple pints before heading into the stadium to chant, play drums and wave flags in support of the team,” said Nina Rice, a member of C38. “Our gameday experience is open to anyone and includes buses from downtown to the stadium where you can enjoy a beer and some pre-game chanting. At the tailgate we have enough food and drinks for a few hundred people, and either a DJ or a live band.”
But there’s a limit to the good vibes that supporters can create around a club that constantly lets them down, and those frustrations led to a tipping point in 2023.
Last September, when it was clear the club was headed for another finish in the basement of the Western Conference, members of Centennial 38 had enough.
On September 14th, C38 issued a strong statement against Rapids ownership. It began with a heater:
This is without question the worst year we have experienced as supporters in our Colorado Rapids history.
After outlining the many ways that KSE has failed the fanbase, the statement ended with a simple plea for competence:
We are not demanding a team that wins MLS Cup every year. We are not demanding record sums spent on players. We are not demanding signing a Lionel Messi. What we are demanding is a team that is competently run, has a genuine connection with the fans and community, provides an enjoyable stadium experience, and strives to be relevant in the local Colorado sports market.
This indifference from ownership must stop. We can no longer be silent like our owner, and it is long past the time to say so. We await a response from KSE acknowledging our frustrations. The badge, the players, and the fans deserve better.
They followed it up with an in-person protest two days later. At the club’s September 16th home match against the New England Revolution, supporters wore black and walked out of the supporters section early in the match, leaving only a tifo, which read “The Badge, The Players, The Fans, Deserve Better” visible. Supporters around the league applauded C38’s protest, including fans from rival Real Salt Lake, who brought their own “This Rivalry Deserves Better” banner when the Rapids hosted RSL in October.
“We seemed to enjoy wide support in the community and especially around the league, and even our fiercest rivals on the wrong side of the Rockies showed solidarity with us during this protest,” said Reynolds.
Now, as the Rapids prepare to kick off their 29th season, C38 is still waiting for the majority of their issues to be addressed. The club did land a few high-quality players this off-season, including Zack Steffen, Djordje Mihailovic and Omir Fernandez, and have a new coach, Chris Armas at the helm. But there are no updates regarding new facilities or a long-term vision.
“While we have been happy to see the monetary investment for some higher profile signings, there are many more issues cited in our open letter that need to be addressed for us to consider that the ownership is actually invested in the team,” said Rice.
“Armas met with some of the supporters privately in mid-December, and honestly he seems very enthusiastic and driven to succeed here, and before these signings were announced he implied that some exciting changes were coming,” said Reynolds. “While we rolled our eyes at hearing the same thing yet again, it feels like he is actually being enabled to deliver on what he says, which is very exciting. He seems like he is going to be a great fit here and he is another piece which I think a lot of folks are allowing themselves to be cautiously optimistic about.”
But no matter how the 2024 Rapids season goes, C38 knows it’s got a good thing going amongst themselves.
“I’ve been involved in a couple of different supporters groups over the years and I’ve always been blown away at how well C38 operate behind the scenes to deliver such a consistent and quality experience week in and week out.” said Reynolds. “The ups are easy…The downs are what separate the fans from the supporters - who else would stand in the rain and snow to suffer through a drab 0-0 for the 12th time in a season but a lover of the club and their fellow supporters? It makes those highs so much more special and memorable.”
“We have so many people dedicated to making C38 events a great experience and doing what we can to improve our community,” said Rice. “C38 is a family that is there for each other. We’re defined by more than just how the club is doing, and that’s what keeps us coming back season after season.”
Great article. I'm a Portland fan, but was in Denver back in 2017 for a conference and figured out how to get one of those buses out of downtown to get to the match. Everyone from the bus riders to the tailgaiting crew was incredibly welcoming and friendly. Great group of people and great supporters. They have always deserved better. Don't have much nice to say about the stadium, though. It legitimately felt like I was at a high school match in that regard.