The Volkswagen logos were all over the place Saturday as the Chattanooga Football Club and the D.C. United under-20 team played a soccer exhibition at RFK Stadium in Washington.
Volkswagen is the title sponsor for both D.C. United and Chattanooga FC and sponsored Saturday’s game, which United won 3-0. CFC officials hope the match began a long, mutually beneficial on-field relationship.
“The door’s now been opened,” CFC general manager Sean McDaniel said.
McDaniel and fellow CFC board members Sheldon Grizzle and Tim Kelly were scheduled to sit down with some of the top brass from both D.C. United and the Volkswagen Group of America following the exhibition, during the top-level United team’s game against Portsmouth of the English Premier League.
Long term, that meeting could be more important to CFC than the club’s opportunity to play in a 45,596-seat stadium against the development squad from a Major League Soccer franchise.