A plan to grow the Courage’s LGBTQ+ ticket-buyer base by 20% this season. One crest on the jersey. Every color in the stands. A year-round home inside the club called Club Courage. Come as you are. Cheer as one.
Take the Club Courage concept the Courage are already planning for the August Pride Night, grow it into a year-round home with a permanent LGBTQ+ supporter section, and build a family of community partners who show up all season. Stand up the data to measure LGBTQ+ ticket-buyer growth at 20%. Run a Meta-led paid media plan that fills seats and grows the list. The line we say publicly is One Crest. Every Color.
Primary KPI. Grow a deduplicated CRM audience of 1,000 LGBTQ+ ticket buyers today to 1,200 by October 31. A tangible, defensible number.
Every dollar of ad spend pays for at least one dollar of tracked ticket revenue across the season.
Every home game in the engagement gets a Club Courage moment. Habit is what turns first-timers into regulars.
One primary number decides whether this season worked. A handful of secondary numbers tell us how the primary number is moving, and let us steer mid-season.
A contact in Salesforce is counted in the audience if they meet both of the following:
We count the primary KPI on the broad definition (1+ signal). Alongside it we report a stricter, higher-confidence segment.
Ticket buyer with any single LGBTQ+ signal. This is the primary KPI: 1,000 baseline → 1,200 target. A wider net; the number we manage the season against.
Ticket buyer with two or more independent signals (e.g. rainbow merch and Out! Raleigh scan). A more conservative, higher-confidence subset. Reported alongside the primary for executive confidence in the methodology.
The 1,000 baseline represents an estimated 2–4% of the Courage’s distinct ticket-buyer base this season (based on ~4-6K per-match attendance across 12 home matches with meaningful repeat buyers). A realistic floor for a first-year explicit LGBTQ+ growth program.
The 2025 Pride Bundle captured 96 distinct buyers in a single-match window. The 1,000 baseline expands that signal to a season-long audience by layering merch buyers, partner lists, and event scans. Growing it to 1,200 is a 10x+ expansion of the 2025 Pride-specific footprint.
Every contact resolves to a single Salesforce record. Duplicate emails, phones, or ticketing records merge before counting. Salesforce is the source of truth. The baseline is frozen on May 9 and stored as a dated export signed by both teams. The October 31 count runs the same query against the updated record set.
What we do not count as the primary KPI. Social engagement, follower growth, and impression counts are measured as content-health signals, not as primary KPI evidence. The primary KPI is ticket buyers in the CRM, full stop.
The Courage already made the most honest version of this idea. The 2025 Pride crest showed one shield, one star, one “NC Courage” wordmark, and the full spectrum of color sweeping around the outline. That image is the strategy. We own one crest. We welcome every color. One Crest. Every Color. is the rally cry for everything we put out this season.
We are one club. One team. One crest. And we are telling the LGBTQ+ community of the Triangle that our stands are big enough for every one of their stories.
It is a claim, not an invitation. “Welcome” is polite. “One Crest. Every Color.” is the Courage saying this is how we are, year-round, and everyone is part of it.
On scarves. On tifos. On the Club Courage section signage. On social. In the chant book. In the halftime graphic. In one sentence on every ticket confirmation email.
The NWSL has led major US sports on LGBTQ+ visibility for years, and several clubs (Angel City, Portland Thorns, Washington Spirit) already carry strong community identities. The differentiator for the Courage is permanence and structure: a named year-round supporter section, paid captains, a Passport that ties partner activity to the fan journey, and a measurement discipline built on ticket-buyer data, not social impressions. Most clubs run a Pride Night. We are building a Pride home.
One Crest. Every Color.
Owns the season. Signature headline.
Come as you are.
Opens the door. Banners, gates, merch.
Cheer as one.
What we ask the stadium to do. Already in the Courage’s own vocabulary.
The Courage’s LGBTQ+ home section.
Clarifies Club Courage on every surface.
Directional concepts. Final art developed against the creative brief.
Every initiative in this plan has been placed in one of three tiers. Tier 1 is the backbone of the season. If budget, bandwidth, or attention is ever constrained, protect these first. Tier 2 raises the ceiling. Tier 3 is stretch if time allows.
If anything in the plan is at risk, these four items are defended first. Without them the primary KPI cannot be measured or delivered.
These five deliver the audience-growth curve. Each is essential to hit the 1,200 target, but unlike Tier 1A they can flex in timing or scope without breaking the measurement.
Strong leverage if we can fund them. Not gating the primary KPI, but each one amplifies Tier 1.
These are good ideas we would happily run, but they can simplify or consolidate into Tier 1/2 surfaces without compromising the season.
A season-long plan needs rhythm. Pacing protects budget and protects the audience’s attention. Here is the shape of the season from April 22 to October 31.
Every other activity in this plan points at one of these. If budget, bandwidth, or decision-making is ever constrained, protect these days first.
A half-day exhibition on the actual Courage pitch. Stonewall Sports NC soccer teams (men’s, women’s, co-ed) play a round-robin. Fans in the stands. Capital Pride Band cameo. Food trucks in the concourse.
Why it matters: NWSL is dark, but the stadium opens for our community. Hundreds of LGBTQ+ athletes walking the Courage’s own turf. The biggest June acquisition and cultural-proof moment of the year. Date is recommended pending confirmation with stadium operations and Stonewall Sports by May 20.
Section signage up. Captains in place. Chant Book debuts. First 100 Founding Members signed live at the Kickoff Party at Ruby Deluxe before kickoff.
Why it matters: this is the moment Club Courage becomes a place. Everything else in the season dates from here.
10x10 booth, drag performer cameo, Section Group Ticket sales on-site, LGBT Center of Raleigh fundraiser check-in-progress reveal. Over 100,000 attendees across two days.
Why it matters: the single largest LGBTQ+ audience we will touch all year. Everyone walks past our booth.
Every July home match features a rotating guest drag queen in Fan Fest and a Capital Pride Band drumline moment in the section. Unified creative system, weekly content engine, four artists and a band amplifying Club Courage to their own audiences.
Why it matters: this is the engine that rebuilds matchday habit across four consecutive games, feeding directly into the August 26 Flagship.
Drag, glow, glitter, Capital Pride Band halftime, Lenovo Hero from the community, queer-owned vendor village, ceremonial coin toss with an LGBTQ+ leader, after-party at Ruby Deluxe with the same specialty cocktail carried over from the Kickoff Party.
Why it matters: the anniversary of Club Courage. Everything built since May shows up in the building on one Wednesday night.
Three-day Courage presence at Durham Pride. Passport partner stamps driven to completion. Recruitment push for the 10/17 Shield Night #2 section seats.
Why it matters: post-Flagship momentum is fragile. Durham Pride re-activates Pride Night attendees for one more home match before season-end.
Eight pieces of work running in parallel across the season. One (data) has to be done first, because it measures everything else.
| # | Workstream | Why it matters | Primary owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Data stack & baseline | Tag behaviors that let us count LGBTQ+ ticket buyers. The whole primary KPI depends on this running first. | NC Courage CRM + Gaygency analytics |
| 02 | Club Courage Section | Permanent LGBTQ+ home section at WakeMed. Captains, chant book, Incident Protocol. | NC Courage · Jenn R + Abbey |
| 03 | Community partners | Activate LGBT Centers, Stonewall Sports, Harmony, Equality NC, Capital Pride Band, HRC100 ERGs, campuses. | NC Courage · Jenn G |
| 04 | June Pride takeover | Pride on the Pitch, First Friday, Apex, Out! Raleigh, viewing party, Durham Youth. List-growth month. | Joint |
| 05 | Drag + Drumline July | Four-match themed campaign. Rebuilds matchday habit into the August Flagship. | NC Courage events + Gaygency creative |
| 06 | Paid media (Meta-led) | 90%+ Meta. Move tickets, build the list, fuel retargeting. | The Gaygency paid team |
| 07 | 8/26 Pride Night Flagship | Drag, drumline, Lenovo Hero, specialty cocktail, after-party. | NC Courage events |
| 08 | Retention engine | Bring-a-Friend, second-game offers, Braze nurture flow, 2027 STH pipeline. | NC Courage CRM |
Meta (Facebook + Instagram) carries 90%+ of season spend. Google Display is deferred for 2026. Meta is our prospecting engine, retargeting engine, and conversion driver. A light CRM layer (Braze email and SMS) handles nurture and retention.
Prospecting → Retargeting → Conversion → Retention.
Reserve up to 10% of season spend for a test flight on TikTok or YouTube Shorts, aimed at younger queer audiences where video discovery runs hot. Tested as a controlled experiment in July against Meta benchmarks. Kept only if CPMs and engagement beat Meta.
Ensure “Club Courage”, “NC Courage Pride Night”, and “LGBTQ+ soccer Raleigh” queries route to the Club Courage landing page with solid metadata. Not a paid channel, but the zero-cost capture layer for warm demand Meta doesn’t reach.
Budget flexibility. If Meta CPMs rise sharply mid-season or performance lags the ROAS target, we reserve the right to shift up to 20% of remaining spend into TikTok, YouTube Shorts, or Google Search against event-driven keywords. Flagged to the Courage team before any reallocation.
| Month | Home matches | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| April (partial) | 0 remaining | Brand + Club Courage Section opt-in prospecting. Warm the retargeting list. |
| May | 2 | Section debut support (5/16). Light ticket push for 5/2 + 5/16. |
| June | 0 (league break) | List growth only. Pride on the Pitch RSVPs, Out! Raleigh opt-ins, July early bird teasers. No ticket KPI. |
| July | 4 | Ticket conversions for all four home matches. Drag + Drumline campaign creative live. 8/26 early bird launches. |
| August | 3 (incl. 8/26 Flagship) | Largest monthly flight. Flagship saturation, retargeting, Section Group Ticket push. |
| September | 1 | Bring-a-Friend #2. Hispanic Heritage push. Durham Pride tie-in. |
| October | 1 | Shield Night #2 retention. 2027 STH interest list capture. |
Economics. Free tickets here are treated as an acquisition cost: the investment is paid back by measured repeat attendance, Bring-a-Friend list capture, and 2027 season-ticket conversion, not by ticket revenue on the night of.
A named, geographically specific section of WakeMed Soccer Park (recommend an end-line or corner with camera line-of-sight and room for drumline energy). Permanent rainbow-accented wayfinding year-round. Tied to the three-tier membership below. The section is where membership cashes out.
A small, paid, trained cohort of community leaders give the section its voice, its rhythm, and its welcome. Captains greet first-timers at the gate, lead chants, and flag incidents to a named staff escalation contact. Captains are not HR; they flag and hand off.
Dedicated channel. Bio: “The Courage’s LGBTQ+ home section. Come as you are.” Three posts + one Broadcast Channel drop per week. One named owner (recommend Abbey). A single-channel commitment; if capacity is tight, fold into @nccourage.
Replaces any group-chat idea. Matchday hype, after-party addresses, early merch access, Passport partner announcements. Intimate, asynchronous, safe.
Short, warm, signed by a rotating Section Captain. What happened. What is coming. Where we are watching the next away match.
A simple web-based passport: members scan a unique QR at each partner venue or event and a stamp is logged against their phone number or email. No cards to print, no app to download. Full passport unlocks exclusive merch, early Flagship entry, or signed player items.
Physical stamp card is optional and can be offered at flagship moments, but the default is digital to keep the operational lift low.
A cheap entry tier to get people in the door, a mid tier that unlocks section access, and a top tier for power fans and 2027 prospects. Pricing is indicative. Ticketing team finalizes.
The door-opener. Not a ticket. Just membership.
The section tier. Most people land here.
Power fans and 2027 STH prospects.
The 20% growth number is won or lost in the 60 days after Pride Night. Most clubs let the Pride Night crowd leave and never come back. We do the opposite.
Durham Pride is the Triangle’s second marquee Pride and it lands after the Courage Pride Night, which is strategically useful. Double down on-site. “You saw us in August. Here we are again.” Recruit for the 10/17 Shield Night #2 section seats.
Habit is what creates repeat attendance. Five rituals run at every home match:
Each risk below has a specific mitigation. No surprises.
Every line below is a Courage-funded line. Ad spend per the March 25 call. Other lines sit inside existing event budgets or can be sourced from partner trade or a written addendum if needed.
| Line | Estimate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Season ad spend (Meta 90%+) | ~$1,000 per home match × 12 matches | Paid directly by NC Courage to platform. Concentrated around 8/26 Flagship, lighter during June (list growth). |
| Out! Raleigh Silver sponsorship | Already committed | Booth, social, website, table, chairs included. |
| Section signage + chant book print | $3,000 to $6,000 one-time | Wayfinding, flags, chant cards, captain kits. |
| Section Captain stipends | $2,000 to $3,600 season | $75/match × 12 × 4 captains = $3,600. Or flat $500 honorarium × 4 = $2,000. |
| Incident Protocol + captain training | $1,000 one-time | 2-page document signed by stadium ops, plus 90-minute training session. |
| Giveaways (pins, glow sticks, fans, stickers) | $4,000 to $8,000 one-time | Flagship inventory + Out! Raleigh booth stock. |
| Capital Pride Band | TBD | Honorarium + logistics per band rate card. |
| Drag performers (Flagship + Drag + Drumline) | TBD | Booking and riders via existing NC Courage event production. |
| June viewing party at partner venue | $1,500 to $3,000 one-time | Venue minimum, hosted drinks, specialty cocktail launch, giveaways, staffing. |
| Pride on the Pitch | TBD | Stadium ops, Stonewall Sports coordination, Band cameo, food trucks. Cost structure depends on ticketing decision. |
June activations (Pride on the Pitch, three Pride booths, viewing party, giveaways) draw from the $6,000 event activation bucket discussed in the February 16 call, supplemented by partner trade and existing sponsor dollars (Pepsi, Lenovo). Estimated total June outlay: $5,000–$10,000 depending on whether NC Courage runs events internally or commissions Gaygency coordination. Pride on the Pitch is the largest single line and is cost-sensitive to the ticketing model (ticketed, free, or invite-only via Stonewall league rosters).
Not a moment. Not a rainbow slapped on a Pride event in June or August. A year where the LGBTQ+ community in the Triangle sees the Courage as their team, walks into WakeMed knowing exactly where their seat is, and tells their people to meet them there.
The Courage already designed the crest. Let’s go fill the stands.