ORLANDO, Fla. – As the USL Championship has grown, newcomers to the league have established traditions from Day One.

And as cool as some of those are – such as Birmingham Legion FC’s forge – there’s nothing in the league right now quite like Memphis 901 FC’s pregame guitar smash.

According to club Co-Owner and President Craig Unger, that is very much by design.  

“When we created our pregame routine,” said Unger, “we wanted it to be a show.”

With Memphis known as the home of rock ‘n’ roll, the club figured there was no better way to pay tribute – and give fans a reason to be in their seats for kickoff – than giving them something spectacular to enjoy.

“It was born out of Jerry Lee Lewis setting pianos on fire,” added Unger with a smile. “There’s some history of instrument destruction here. Memphis is the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll, and when you think about rock ‘n’ roll and what some of that is, it’s the hardcore part of who we are as a community.

“We wanted people to just feel the energy and the excitement of what the start of the match is supposed to be about, and set that level, set that bar extremely high so that immediately the fans were engaged in the game.”

Recently named to the Memphis Business Journal’s Power 100, Unger has strong relationships throughout the city’s sporting community, where the prevailing attitude is that when one team succeeds, it opens the door to success for everyone. As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats, and Unger believes strongly that’s the case.

“When sports do well, the community does well,” said Unger. “When we have a great night, it helps everybody. It helps people feel good about where you live, it helps you feel good on Monday when you get up and go into work and tell people, ‘man, I had a blast at the 901 FC game over the weekend.’

“It breaks down all of those barriers, so for all of [Memphis’ sports leaders] as we get together – sometimes as bigger groups or individually – we all get together and share ideas and talk about challenges, talk about the good things that we have, but we are one sports community even though we are multiple different organizations.”

“The soccer fan is coming there for two hours, and for two hours the only thing that matters is what’s [happening] on the pitch. It’s not about having conversations with people, it’s not about visiting, when it goes on you see all the heads turned to the pitch and that’s all they’re focused on.”

That in-game experience, especially with the soundtrack and rhythm provided by the Bluff City Mafia, has made 901 FC something unique in Memphis’ sporting scene.

“If you happen to come the first time and you’re sitting on the opposite side of the stadium [to the Bluff City Mafia], you come and say, ‘well, next time I’m buying tickets over there. I want to figure out how to get in that area,’” said Unger. “That’s what we hear from people all the time. ‘I had great seats, but next time I’m going to be sitting with those guys.’

“I think when people saw early on that this was what we embraced even as an organization – that we want the crazy, loud, smoke bombs, waving flags, screaming, yelling, singing – when people saw that’s what we want, they were like, ‘I’m on board with that.’ That’s why I’m not surprised, because I knew when fans of any other sport came and saw what this was, there’s nothing like this in Memphis, the experience that 901 FC provides.”