We launched Bay2BroadFooty in March 2025 as a way to document our experiences as season ticket holders of the Philadelphia Union. While the Union went on to enjoy an unexpected, Community Shield–winning season, our appetite for football only grew. Living on the Delmarva Peninsula meant our “local” clubs were always more than two hours away, either across the Bay Bridge or north toward Philadelphia. (hence the name Bay 2 Broad.)

With prior experience and knowledge of the USL League Two landscape from an early-career internship, we quickly turned our attention to the Annapolis Blues, who were beginning their USL 2 journey after strong on and off field performances in the NPSL. Their home opener made history, setting attendance records for both USL W (7,289) and USL 2 (12,853), numbers rarely seen in the USL ecosystem and a clear signal that football has a bright future in Annapolis, Maryland. Around the same time, the Delaware Ospreys also kicked off their inaugural USL2 season, playing home matches in Wilmington, Delaware.

Early on, one of the most exciting moments was being followed by local clubs we had never heard of before, particularly from Maryland’s Western Shore, where the soccer landscape is vastly different from that of Delmarva. One such club was Ristozi FC, who began their NPSL journey in 2025 after competing in the Maryland Super Soccer League, where they won the MDV Cup and claimed the 2024 MSSL Regular Season title. We were grateful to be invited out by Ristozi FC, allowing us to witness not only their quality on the pitch but also their strong community presence off it. We attended numerous matches, including their East Regional Final victory over West Chester United FC, and watched them make a remarkable run to the NPSL National Semifinals in their first season, earning a 2026 U.S. Open Cup First Round berth.

Our summer was packed with football across every level, covering matches from the Philadelphia Union, USL2, NPSL, NWSL, MLS NEXT Pro, and The League for Clubs. We also experienced our first viral moment while attending the FIFA Club World Cup match in Philadelphia, when Juventus faced Wydad AC and “Wydad fans fully took over the streets of Philly.”

As fall arrived, so did more opportunities to watch and document the game. We discovered Bowleys Athletic and club founder/goalkeeper Austin Heid through social media, following his journey of launching a club and entering the UPSL for the first time. We highly recommend following Austin and Bowleys Athletic (vivastinaldo) to experience that journey firsthand. Bowleys Athletic would go undeafeated in the regular season of the UPSL, winning the UPSL Premier DMV North & ultimately falling short in the UPSL Premier National Playoff Round of 32. Meanwhile, Delmarva Thunder began their APSL season, playing home matches in Seaford, Delaware. We partnered with the club to showcase their matches on social media and livestream games on YouTube.

That fall, we also expanded into college soccer, covering teams across the region from NCAA Division I to Division III. At the time, much of our audience was centered around Philadelphia and Western Maryland, but we made a deliberate effort to focus closer to home by covering local high school soccer. From midseason through the Delaware State Championship matches, we documented the high school soccer scene in lower Delaware. This shift helped grow a more local following and led to our second viral moment “highlights from the Delaware quarterfinal match” between Sussex Central and Cape Henlopen.

With MLS, NCAA, High School, APSL, and UPSL seasons coming to an end, winter presented a new challenge. We turned our attention to indoor soccer, initially planning to cover MASL2 with the Salisbury Steaks, before the club announced it would play all matches away for the 2025–26 season. Soon after, Delaware City FC announced its launch into MASL3, giving us another exciting local team to follow as the season has now reached its midpoint.

Looking back, 2025 was an unforgettable start for Bay2BroadFooty. We covered more than 60 matches across 10+ different competitions, capturing countless memorable moments along the way. Thank you to everyone who joined us on this journey, here’s to an even bigger and better 2026.