The first ever Major League Soccer game in Charlotte will always be remembered for the record-setting crowd, after 74,479 fans filled Bank of America Stadium for Charlotte FC’s home opener against the LA Galaxy on Saturday night.
And even though Charlotte fell to the Galaxy 1-0, the nearly 75,000 fans in attendance gave everyone a memorable moment.
During the singing of the national anthem, the microphone cut out, so the fans took it upon themselves to make America proud.
The microphone went out for the National Anthem ahead of Charlotte FC’s home opener & this happened. Wow. Chills. This crowd is amazing.@wcnc | #ForTheCrown pic.twitter.com/KIDqBGJuZL
— Ashley Stroehlein (@ashstro) March 6, 2022
The 74,479 fans beat out the previous MLS attendance record, when 73,019 attended the 2018 MLS Cup in Atlanta, Georgia.
“Can you believe this?” Carolina Panther owner David Tepper said before the game. “This is the second-largest soccer crowd in the world this year!”
Over the past year, there have been multiple examples of sports crowds singing the national anthem as one.
Prior to the AFC Championship Game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Kansas City Chiefs, national anthem singer Ashanti had issues with her microphone, giving Chiefs fans an opportunity to pick up the slack.
I’d like to believe we started a movement. Don’t forget that. #USA #nationalanthem #nfl pic.twitter.com/eG3YVMDOq9
— Nicole Raviv (@thenicoleraviv) January 31, 2022
A similar situation unfolded during the 2021 NHL Playoffs, when New York Islanders fans went viral for their rendition of the national anthem.
The Coliseum comes together for the anthem. 🇺🇸#Isles pic.twitter.com/7HCVMjM2To
— Olympic Hockey on NBC (@NBCSportsHockey) June 9, 2021
Nicole Raviv, the singer responsible for the viral moment, spoke with The Daily Wire in June about the inspiration behind involving the crowd.
“Game four started with my microphone off,” Raviv told The Daily Wire. “They couldn’t hear me at first when I was singing but I continued to sing of course, because it’s the national anthem. You don’t really stop that. So I kept singing and I knew someone would fix it eventually, but within 10, 15 seconds of the song, the entire Coliseum just started singing.”
“Kind of to make up for the fact that my sound wasn’t there and to help me out and to bring it all together,” Raviv continued. “And then I got a new microphone and basically continued from where I left off. Everyone started cheering once the sound came back on and we just finished the song together, as a strong collective crowd. It was a blessing in disguise.”
The assistance from the game four crowd gave Raviv and her team an idea — hand the mic to the fans.
“Once we saw the results of that [game four] — and we won that night — it was just such great energy in the building,” Raviv continued. “The atmosphere was really electric and everyone felt a part of it. Then the next game — which was game six — my team and I thought about ways to incorporate them [the fans] again. And that’s just what happened. So, I sang in the beginning, and then just gave them the microphone so they could really be heard this time and for it to be intentional.”
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].