Today Carl Lindner III, controlling owner and CEO of FC Cincinnati Holdings and Fussball Club Cincinnati (Team), announced the promotion of Jeff Berding to Co-CEO of the Team. Mr. Berding joins Mr. Lindner as Co-CEO and will serve as President of FC Cincinnati Holdings, overseeing the entire sporting and development enterprise. Mr. Lindner and Mr. Berding will continue to share organizational control and overall leadership of the Club.
Jeff Berding has served as the President of Fussball Club Cincinnati (Team) since he and Mr. Lindner founded the Club in 2015. Mr. Berding will oversee the enterprise, where priorities include expanding fan engagement, winning the World Cup bid and other major soccer events, growing revenue, attracting events to TQL Stadium, maximizing sports betting commercial opportunities, overseeing development around TQL Stadium, enhancing content production, exploring opportunities for facility expansion, leading consideration of a Women’s Team and other potential developments to come in the future.
“Now that we have opened our world-class stadium and begin our move to the next chapter of FC Cincinnati, I felt the time was right to award Jeff Berding a promotion. As co-CEOs, Jeff and I will be better able to handle the expanded areas of enterprise work resulting from the growth of the Club,” said Carl H. Lindner, III. “I do not feel the title of Team President for Jeff sufficiently addressed his leadership position, which the FC Cincinnati Holdings President/Team Co-CEO title more accurately provides and better defines his co-executive leadership of the enterprise with me.”
Mr. Berding added, “I am grateful to Carl for his continued confidence and blessed to work alongside him leading our enterprise.”
Mr. Berding’s promotion will open the opportunity for the hiring of a new Team President, a process to be led by Sportsology’s Mike Forde.
“The opportunity for a new president is being considered because the growth of the team’s enterprise work is substantial. We have a great staff at FCC and I look forward to adding another key executive,” said Mr. Berding.
Mr. Lindner stated Mr. Berding was promoted in recognition of:
- Serving more than six years as president, creating the Club from the first employees to a franchise in 2022 with more than 150 FTEs and a with a $700 Million valuation.
- Having the vision and drive to lead a successful MLS expansion drive and quickest ever entry into the League.
- Having the ambition and problem-solving capability to build a world-class stadium.
- Helping assemble and lead a top ownership group.
- Surviving a global pandemic during a season with little to no revenue.
- Inspiring a very competitive World Cup bid.
- Attracting and hosting the highly successful US-Mexico match.
- Obtaining a newly legal sports betting opportunity.
- Managing the process for hiring Chris Albright as our General Manager.
- Leading a strategic reset within the MLS team as we begin the next chapter for FCC, to name just a few highlights.
About FC Cincinnati:
FC Cincinnati are a professional soccer team that play in Major League Soccer, having entered the league as its 24th team in 2019. The club’s wide and diverse ownership group is led by controlling owner Carl H. Lindner III, as well as managing owners Meg Whitman, Scott Farmer, and George Joseph. Originally founded in 2015 by Lindner III and current president Jeff Berding, FCC played in the second-division United Soccer League (USL) from 2016 to 2018 before moving to MLS. Follow the team on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or YouTube, or visit the club’s official website: fccincinnati.com.
