There should be no confusion about what we are building.
The LA Aztecs are a permanent football club rooted in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
Alongside that permanent operation, we intend to build a separate programme of exhibition matches and special football events that can travel across America and, eventually, internationally.
We call it:
HOME + TOUR.
HOME builds the institution.
TOUR amplifies it.
They are not two teams.
They are not competing strategies.
And TOUR is not a replacement for joining a competitive football structure or establishing a permanent home.
One club. One home. One identity.
HOME: The Football Club
HOME is the foundation of the LA Aztecs.
Our objective is to choose a permanent city within the Los Angeles metropolitan area where the club can put down roots and build for decades rather than seasons.
That means more than finding somewhere to rent a pitch.
We are looking for the right combination of:
A permanent home market
Competitive football
Supporter culture
Training infrastructure
Community programmes
Youth development
Local commercial partnerships
A right-sized stadium
And, where possible, a wider football-led development around it
HOME is where supporters know where they are going on matchday.
It is where children grow up seeing the badge.
Where rivalries develop.
Where players train.
Where local businesses participate.
Where the club becomes part of the identity of a place.
This is where the LA Aztecs become an institution rather than an event.
The competitive pathway
The permanent football operation must ultimately sit within an appropriate sanctioned competitive structure, providing a proper season, standings, sporting consequences and predictable home fixtures.
We are evaluating the appropriate pathway rather than announcing a league before the commercial, sporting and territorial pieces are ready.
That decision matters.
We will not join a competition simply so we can say we joined one.
The structure has to work for the long-term economics and identity of the club.
Competitive football belongs to HOME.
TOUR fits around it.
TOUR: The Amplifier
TOUR has a different purpose.
It allows selected LA Aztecs football events to travel beyond our permanent home market.
That could eventually include:
Exhibition matches
Pre-season fixtures
Heritage games
Invitational matches
Games against international opposition
Football festivals
Special events in other American markets
And international opportunities
The word selected matters.
We are not proposing to move normal home games around the country.
We are not creating a nomadic football club.
We are not asking supporters to wonder where their team belongs this month.
The Aztecs live at HOME.
TOUR takes the Aztecs brand and football experience to additional audiences.
The Savannah Bananas Show the Principle
There is already a useful demonstration of why HOME and TOUR can coexist.
The Savannah Bananas built a powerful identity in Savannah while simultaneously creating a touring operation capable of reaching audiences far beyond their home market.
Their success demonstrates an important principle:
Touring does not require abandoning your roots.
But the comparison stops there.
The Savannah Bananas created their own entertainment-led version of baseball.
The LA Aztecs are building a football club.
Our sporting identity is rooted in authentic football competition, with a history connected to Johan Cruyff, Rinus Michels, George Best and Wim Suurbier.
We are not changing the rules of football to create an entertainment product.
We are taking real football and asking how the event surrounding it can be better.
Better atmosphere.
Better supporter interaction.
Better music.
Better storytelling.
Better local culture.
Better opposition.
Better occasions.
The football remains the centre of the experience.
Savannah shows us that HOME + TOUR can work.
What we build around football will be distinctly Aztecs.
Why Have Both?
Because they solve different problems.
HOME creates depth.
TOUR creates reach.
HOME builds a permanent relationship with one community.
TOUR introduces the club to communities beyond it.
HOME creates recurring local revenues.
TOUR creates additional event-based commercial opportunities.
HOME builds infrastructure.
TOUR allows the brand to reach audiences far larger than the physical capacity of the permanent stadium.
And that last point is particularly important.
We do not believe the Aztecs need to build a giant stadium on day one in order to think big.
We would rather build the right stadium, at the right scale, in the right place and create an atmosphere people want to experience.
If demand grows beyond that capacity, the answer does not immediately have to be another 20,000 seats of concrete.
Selected touring events give us another way to grow.
The permanent stadium can remain intimate while the potential audience becomes enormous.
The Operating Model
Operating VectorHOMETOURPurposeBuild the permanent football institutionExpand audience and commercial reachFootballCompetitive season and primary fixturesExhibitions and special-event matchesGeographyPermanent LA metropolitan homeSelected national and international marketsRevenue BaseRecurring local revenuesEvent-driven incremental revenuesExamplesTickets, memberships, sponsorship, hospitality, F&B, academy, venue revenuesTicketing, promoter/venue agreements, sponsorship, merchandise, hospitality, media opportunitiesCapital ProfileGreater long-term infrastructure requirementMore flexible, event-led operating expenditureValue CreationCommunity, infrastructure, recurring revenue and enterprise valueAudience growth, brand equity, new partnerships and incremental cash generationStrategic PriorityPrimaryComplementary
That final line matters most.
HOME is primary.
TOUR is complementary.
The Guardrails
A model only works if everyone understands what it is not allowed to become.
So there are several principles we intend to protect.
HOME comes first
Competitive commitments, player welfare and the permanent supporter base take priority over touring opportunities.
A lucrative event should never be allowed to damage the football programme underneath it.
TOUR must fit the football calendar
Touring will be designed around the competitive programme rather than the competitive programme being distorted to serve touring.
TOUR must strengthen HOME
Touring should create value that ultimately makes the permanent club stronger.
That could mean additional investment into football operations, facilities, supporter growth, academy development or community programmes.
The precise allocation mechanisms will form part of the operating and governance structure as the model develops.
The club cannot become nomadic
Taking matches elsewhere cannot become an excuse to weaken the permanent home.
The Aztecs should be able to play in Tokyo, London or Mexico City one day without supporters in Los Angeles wondering whether their club is slowly disappearing.
Football remains the product
Entertainment can improve the occasion.
It cannot replace sporting credibility.
The Two Economics
Investors should also understand that HOME and TOUR have different financial characteristics.
HOME builds recurring value
HOME can ultimately develop revenues through:
Season tickets and memberships.
Individual match tickets.
Hospitality.
Local sponsorship.
Food and beverage.
Merchandise.
Academy and training activity.
Venue revenues.
Commercial partnerships.
And, depending on the final site and structure, wider stadium and district economics.
Many of these relationships recur across seasons.
They form part of the long-term economics of the permanent football institution.
TOUR creates incremental opportunity
Tour events can potentially generate revenue through:
Event tickets.
Venue partnerships.
Promoter agreements.
Event sponsorship.
Merchandise.
Hospitality.
Media.
Tourism partnerships.
International commercial relationships.
And special-event opportunities.
TOUR is comparatively flexible.
If demand is strong in a market, we can explore returning.
If it isn’t, we do not need to construct permanent infrastructure there.
That flexibility is one of the attractions of the model.
But we are not going to pretend every tour automatically produces huge margins.
Events have costs.
Travel costs money.
Players cost money.
Venues cost money.
Production costs money.
Promotion costs money.
The opportunity is therefore not based on fantasy economics.
It is based on building events where expected revenue sufficiently exceeds the cost and where the strategic benefit justifies taking the Aztecs there.
Supporter Ownership Connects Everything
There is another reason HOME must remain the centre.
We want supporters to have a meaningful stake in the future of the LA Aztecs.
That only means something if there is a genuine institution to belong to.
A home.
A football team.
A community.
A history.
A future.
We do not want supporters investing emotionally or financially in a travelling entertainment company that happens to wear an old football badge.
We want them helping build a football club.
Then, when the Aztecs travel, we are taking their club with us.
That distinction matters enormously.
How the Flywheel Works
The model becomes powerful when both sides reinforce each other.
HOME creates authenticity.
That authenticity makes TOUR more compelling.
TOUR creates awareness.
That awareness introduces more people to HOME.
More supporters can mean greater media value.
Greater media value can attract stronger partners.
Stronger partners can provide more resources.
Those resources can strengthen the football operation and permanent infrastructure.
A stronger HOME makes future TOUR events more valuable.
And the cycle begins again.
That is the flywheel.
The LA Aztecs Model in 30 Seconds
For an investor, supporter, city or commercial partner reading this, here is the entire strategy:
1. BUILD HOME
Choose our permanent LA metropolitan home.
Establish the appropriate competitive pathway.
Build the supporter base.
Develop meaningful supporter ownership and protection.
Create the football operation.
Build local partnerships.
Secure the appropriate stadium solution.
Develop the long-term infrastructure around the club.
2. BUILD TOUR
Create selected exhibition and special-event matches.
Take Aztecs football to new audiences.
Work with clubs, venues, promoters and cities.
Build additional sponsorship and commercial opportunities.
Expand the club’s reach nationally and internationally.
3. CONNECT THEM
HOME gives TOUR authenticity.
TOUR gives HOME greater reach.
Revenue, audience and partnerships created by one can strengthen the other.
One club.
One permanent home.
Two complementary operating channels.
We Are Building a Football Club First
This may be the most important sentence in this entire article.
The LA Aztecs are a football club first.
Not an events company pretending to be a football club.
Not a property company with a football badge attached.
Not a nostalgia business.
Not a travelling exhibition team.
Football is the centre.
HOME gives it roots.
Supporters give it meaning.
Investment gives it resources.
Infrastructure gives it permanence.
TOUR gives it reach.
That is how the pieces fit together.
And that is why HOME + TOUR is not a contradiction.
It is the model.
HOME builds the LA Aztecs.
TOUR amplifies the LA Aztecs.
One club. One home. One identity.
If you are an investor, developer, city leader, stadium operator, promoter, football club, coach, commercial partner or supporter who wants to help build it, get in touch.
scott@footballisforthefans.com
First, we build something worth belonging to.
Then we take it to the world.