United we stand behind N.M.’s soccer nomads

New Mexico United’s season may have ended Saturday night (Oct. 17) in El Paso but it’s safe to assume that, should the team survive the economic catastrophe that was the 2020 season, it has earned a place in the hearts of sports-loving fans across the state.

And, yes, that includes all you non-soccer types.

The club that burst onto the scene in 2019 by averaging a USL-best 12,693 fans through 17 matches at Isotopes Park, played all 17 of its matches this season away from home thanks to health restrictions that prohibited mass gatherings amid the coronavirus.

Long before the ‘19 season, owner Peter Trevisani said the team’s business model projected a need for at least 8,000 fans per game. At the time it seemed a wildly optimistic goal considering the Albuquerque Isotopes, one of the top draws in all of minor league baseball, averaged 7,948 in 2018 and 7,983 last year.

For an unknown entity like the United to get anywhere close to that over the course of a six-month season seemed like a long shot, at best. But they did it, and then some.

The groundswell of support was so strong that it started a legitimate conversation about the need for a soccer-only stadium, one that would further energize the fan base and stimulate economic growth with the development of restaurants, pubs and retail space around the facility.

Then came the ‘rona and, along with it, the state-mandated health guidelines that gave coach Troy Lesesne and his club every excuse to mail it in, tank the 2020 season and claim that life as a soccer nomad was no way to do business. All they did was make it to the playoffs for the second straight year, record their first postseason win last week and get within a single penalty kick of reaching the USL’s final four. The United lost at El Paso Locomotive FC on PKs after being tied at the end of regulation and overtime.

Considering the team did it all on the road is amazing. It brings to mind the NFL’s Saints and NBA’s Hornets did after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans in 2005, forcing both teams to play every game outside the city.

The United will be back and, pandemic guidelines notwithstanding, the fans should be lining up to see them.

IVAN PIERRE AGUIRRE EL PASO LOCOMOTIVE FC New Mexico’s Devon Sandoval, right, jockeys for position against El Paso Locomotive FC’s Leandro Carrijo during Saturday’s (Oct. 17) United Soccer League Western Conference semifinal in El Paso. The United scored a late goal to force overtime but lost 5-3 on penalty kicks.