AC Boise aims to turn the supporting, Spanish influence into a long-term USL success

When you think of sports in Boise, Idaho, the first thing that comes to mind for many is the iconic blue “Smurf Turf” of Boise State, but starting this year, there’s a new game in town as head coach Nate Miller takes the lead. The Athletic Club Played in USL League One. It is their first season in attendance, but the club has already set multiple USL and USL League One records for attendance and season ticket deposits right out of the gate, with more than 6,700 deposits before kick-off and 7,211 for the club’s home opener on April 4 against the Spokane Velocity.

But, as they prepare to face Portland Hearts of Pine on Friday night on CBS Sports Network, this is more than numbers, especially when it is always easy to find something new and exciting to reach the fans; it’s about the authenticity of keeping this going for so long, considered Boise football by Boise. When the expansion club was awarded in 2024, it was important to get the Idaho community involved in building the product, and that, of course, is easy to do when members of the ownership group, such as Sofia Huerta and founder Brad Stith, are local and understand where they are trying to make this happen. Both described the time to bring soccer to Boise as a series, and even with an impressive career in the National Women’s Soccer League and beyond, being a part of bringing soccer to Boise will be one of the things Huerta sees as the biggest accomplishments of her storied career.

“Now that I’m sitting and thinking about it when my work is done,” said the singer Seattle Reign Defender and owner of AC Boise said. “Like, I think I’m probably going to be proud to represent my country and bring Boise football back, and it’s not going to be anything math-wise or, you know what I mean? Like, it’s a lot deeper than that.”

This is the all-time leader in assists in NWSL history, he said, but if you think about it more, AC Boise not only provides the level of representation on the field, but it provides something that Huerta didn’t have when he was growing up, more opportunities for young soccer players, and it’s things like this that help improve soccer infrastructure in America as a whole. That level of team representation has always been important to the club, so it should come as no surprise that the first signing in the club’s history was Blake Bodily in the middle of the field, who came with Major League Soccer experience, and even his first team game was a moment that gave goosebumps.

“The support has been unbelievable,” Bodily said. “The thing before the season started, they talked about it a lot, and they’re like, ‘Oh, the season tickets are sold out, you know, it’s going to be poppin’. But you never really know what to expect until the first game. And that first game was unbelievable.”

That first game may be one of the club’s fondest memories, but it’s up to the ownership and front office to make sure there are more memories to be made. American Soccer certainly knows a thing or two about new clubs entering the market, but there is also a laundry list of clubs that are gone, and Stith recognizes how important it is to build something sustainable in Boise. He has participated in USL development programs and also spent time working for the Portland Trailblazers, all of which translate even down to knowing the times needed to start a team, although he admits that there is no such thing as having enough time to do everything, but if the right people are there, it will happen.

“It always helps to bring in the right people, have the right team, the right community support, give back to the community as much as possible, make sure that communication is full and, you know, incredibly honest about where you are, where you are, and where we’re going,” said founder and CEO of the group Stith.

Community building

To know where Boise is going, he must also understand where he is, and some of that goes back to the European-centric name. On the other hand, USL has very different names in American football, look at their opponents on Friday, Portland Hearts of Pine, but for Boise, taking the European route also makes sense, considering the number of Basque people in the area and their connection with Athletic Club Bilbao who played a friendly match with the Club back in 2015. Tijuana there, a game that drew more than 20,000 fans, but even then the possibility of Boise having a football team doesn’t sound realistic. It was a big moment for youth soccer in the region, as alongside the game, there was money raised for the Idaho Youth Soccer Association and the Boys and Girls Club of Ada County, where Stith sits on the board.

“In Idaho, we don’t have unlimited players to come from, so you have to invest in your community here to develop players, similar to the mentality of the Basques in the Basque region and Athletic Club Bilbao where you have to invest in your program and in your players because there’s a lot in common there,” said Argia Beristain, CEO of Boise State University. “So is our relationship with Athletic Club Bilbao.” Real Sociedad again Eibar and the different clubs there have helped a lot.”

That’s one he talked about the community, and of course, another way the club connects with the fans, when Ryan Pritchett founded the River Guard, a group of supporters of AC Boise, which has grown since the first day, but that shows the growth of the culture of football in the area in the last 11 years. Beristain admitted that during the Athletic Club friendly, the ambiance was not there, as it was a crowd that did not know football. But a lot has changed in American soccer between then and now, when we are in the midst of the second World Cup being held. United States soil.

Pritchett spent time living in Seattle involved in the Sounders fan culture, which, as the World Cup is shown in the games of the United States men’s national team, is one of the best places in the United States, but that does not mean that Boise cannot create something unique, and for Miller and Bodily, getting that support from fans like Pritchett has been an important part of the team’s success.

“The first day, we had three songs, you know? And it was like, uh, we were handing out song cards as people entered the stage, and we were like, you know, just try to follow. And they were following, and it was kind of heart, but then they started to get it,” Pritchett said. “So far, I can say three words, or I can just start the first word of the song, and everybody’s there on the next beat. Like, they’re waiting for me to start the song, and that’s great.”

That level of buy-in is easier to have when a club shows ambition and gives fans something to enjoy, which is another aspect of Boise’s early success.

Ambition is important

With promotion and relegation in the USL in 2028, it is not only important to win now, but also in the future when winning will be rewarded with promotion. That’s something that sets the league apart from another one-team league, like MLS.

“In MLS, there is none [promotion or relegation]and there are similar clubs Sports Kansas City who can give sweets if he wins. “They just want to put their butts on the seats, sell jerseys, and be encouraged to be in the MLS,” Pritchett said.

“We said from the beginning that we want to participate in the USL Cup, you know, we don’t want to skip and whatever happens happens,” said Bodily.

The USL Cup has been Miller’s emphasis on the team. Players have experience in the USL Champions League; Miller has coached in it, so playing with top teams is a time to say the show what they’re all about, as the history of Boise football is written from scratch every step of the way. Miller can do his best to reward backers, but more importantly, ownership gives him the tools to succeed both from a roster building standpoint and when it comes to the facilities being built.

“We just saw it in the World Cup, didn’t we? You see Cape Verde will face it In Argentina in a larger context, right? If we take it to a smaller and smaller level, bring it down to where we are: why can’t Boise go in and play against, you know, LA, New Yorks, and big cities and try and, you know, compete at the professional soccer level?” USL League One president Lee O’Neill said. think how we can have that path between the different levels and show that, you know, no matter who you are, you know, a billionaire or a millionaire or whatever in your ownership structure, but the players on the field, right? It’s 11v11, and you want to go out and compete as much as you can with whatever resources you have.”

It’s rare, but so far, Boise is doing just that. Only time will tell how sustainable it is, but with public buying all around, this is more stable than the usual club where investors might set up shop hoping for a profit. They are people who understand how a community works, who want to work with that community to create something special, and it may be done in one of the least expected places in America. In a group, keeping that is important.

“I see this team as one of the top teams in the USL,” said Bodily. “You see what they’ve done in less than a year, six months of being a professional organization, and we’ve already shown that we can compete with the top teams. So I think as the club goes on, as time goes on, and we go forward, I think I see this club being in division one, the top uh Division, and competing with the top teams in the USL.”

How to watch Athletic Club Boise vs. Portland Hearts of Pine

Date: Friday, July 17 | Time: 9:30 pm ET
Location: Athletic Club Boise Soccer Stadium — Boise, Idaho
TV: CBS Sports Network