Angel City Football Club (ACFC) of Los Angeles, in the National Women\u2019s Soccer League, kicked off its fourth season in 2025 at BMO Stadium in downtown Los Angeles. ACFC is led by controlling owners Willow Bay and Bob Iger and was co-founded by tech entrepreneur Julie Uhrman, actor and activist Natalie Portman, and venture capitalist Kara Nortman. The club has been named the world\u2019s most valuable women\u2019s sports team, with a valuation of $250 million. Mark Parsons serves as the team\u2019s Sporting Director.<\/p>\n
The Background<\/strong> ACFC, founded in 2020, quickly emerged as one of the most exciting new teams in women\u2019s professional soccer. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the club\u2019s mission extends beyond winning games\u2014it strives to champion equity, representation, and sustainability in sports. With a majority-woman ownership group and a deep commitment to community, Angel City set out to challenge the status quo and prove that women-led teams could be both profitable and impactful.<\/p>\n \u201cAngel City was founded to prove that a majority-woman-owned professional team could not only be profitable, but also bring equity to our sport, our industry, and our community,\u201d says Whitney Hallock, Director of Marketing and Experience at Angel City FC.<\/p>\n As a startup entering a competitive market, the team\u2019s ability to scale quickly was crucial. Within just a few years, Angel City grew its fan base significantly, attracted high-profile partnerships, and became the most valuable women\u2019s sports franchise in the world. However, this rapid expansion came with its own set of challenges.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Challenge<\/strong> At the heart of Angel City’s initial fan engagement strategy was the desire to provide their fans with the best possible experience\u2014a truly personalized, engaging, and seamless experience that made them feel like part of the team. However, as a new franchise entering a crowded sports market, they faced significant growing pains.<\/p>\n Fans in Los Angeles wanted more than just a seat at the game\u2014they wanted connection. They craved exclusive content, special events, and communications that spoke to their passion for both soccer and community. In a city full of options, Angel City had to act fast to stand out and build lasting loyalty.<\/p>\n Rapid Growth, Scrappy Tools<\/strong><\/p>\n To meet these expectations, Angel City adopted a \u201cduct tape and hard work\u201d approach. The team was growing fast, but their tools and systems weren\u2019t built to scale. Data and communications were fragmented, and the small but determined team had limited resources to deliver highly personalized experiences to a growing fan base.<\/p>\n Initially, they relied on manual processes and pieced together whatever tools were available to get the job done. While this allowed them to deliver some fan engagement, it came at a cost\u2014time, consistency, and scalability.<\/p>\n Manual Work, Missed Opportunities<\/strong><\/p>\n With fans wanting personalized communication, real-time updates, and easy access to tickets and merchandise, the team began to feel the strain. Their approach was functional\u2014but far from sustainable.<\/p>\n The lack of centralized data made it difficult to act on key behaviors or time-sensitive opportunities. As Whitney explains:<\/p>\n “Without having data in a centralized system, we were not able to take advantage of the fact that a fan is more likely to purchase their next ticket to a game or merchandise within 48 hours of a game. So without that centralized data, we were not necessarily able to give our fans what they were looking for.”<\/p>\n A Critical Moment\u2014and a Clear Choice<\/strong><\/p>\n Just as Angel City’s fan engagement efforts were reaching a critical point, disaster struck. “During one of the most business-critical and biggest revenue moments of the year, our website crashed, and there was a scramble like no other,” explains Whitney.<\/p>\n With no time to spare and no reliable solution in place, Angel City had to act quickly. Whitney shares, “A very trusted friend in the industry had recommended HubSpot for their easy to use tools, robust capabilities, and exceptional customer service. And it was a no brainer.”<\/p>\n As Whitney recalls, the results were immediate:<\/strong><\/p>\n “Within a matter of hours, we were able to set up a basic website to launch our schedule. Within two weeks, we went on sale with tickets. This is huge for any team – it’s one of the biggest days of your year revenue-wise. To have a partner like HubSpot there in a time of need, and with their exceptional customer service, they are vital to our continued growth in this area.”<\/p>\n The Solution<\/strong> After seeing the power of HubSpot’s platform in action during their moment of crisis, Angel City\u2019s marketing team recognized that HubSpot was more than just a solution for website management\u2014it was the foundation for greater efficiency and better fan engagement.<\/p>\n By adopting HubSpot\u2019s Marketing Hub Enterprise, the team was able to:<\/p>\n Centralize all fan data in one place What had once required hours of manual effort was now streamlined, freeing the team to focus on creating meaningful experiences for fans. Instead of working reactively, they could now operate proactively\u2014with data guiding their decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could finally start delivering the kind of experiences our fans were asking for, without burning out our team,\u201d says Whitney.<\/p>\n This transformation extended beyond basic campaign execution\u2014it also addressed the core pain points of fragmented workflows, which had made it nearly impossible to track performance or understand which efforts were driving results.<\/p>\n Designing Smarter Journey, at Scale<\/p>\n As Angel City FC\u2019s fan base rapidly expanded, the marketing team knew they needed more than just automation\u2014they needed intelligent, connected journeys that reflected how fans actually engaged.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were piece-mealing everything together based on different single automations,\u201d says Whitney. \u201cTracking conversion rates and revenue impact was nearly impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n If a fan engaged with an email about season tickets and later visited the website, the team couldn\u2019t connect those interactions. \u201cIt made it really difficult to optimize our marketing spend and understand what was moving fans through our funnel,\u201d Whitney explains.<\/p>\n All that changed with HubSpot\u2019s Journey Automation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cEach fan\u2019s journey with Angel City is unique,\u201d Whitney shares. \u201cWe needed to design nurturing experiences that reflect that\u2014and Journey Automation made that possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Getting campaigns to market, faster<\/p>\n With real-time visibility into each journey step, the team can now instantly identify drop-offs, test new messaging, and make in-the-moment adjustments to improve performance.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can instantly spot where fans are dropping off or converting and make adjustments on the fly. It\u2019s significantly reduced our analysis time and improved campaign performance,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Features like On Canvas Metrics, and Sankey diagrams provide a clear view of what\u2019s working – and what needs to be tweaked. . \u201cBeing able to track how fans move through each journey stage at a glance helps us move fast and stay focused,\u201d Whitney adds.<\/p>\n Pre-built templates also helped the team launch campaigns faster.<\/p>\n \u201cThe pre-built journey templates gave us a strong foundation, especially for things like welcome series and event follow-ups,\u201d she says. \u201cWe could customize them instead of starting from scratch\u2014so we got campaigns to market faster.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Transformation With Journey Automation in place and fan data centralized, Angel City FC can now deliver timely, personalized engagement at scale\u2014without sacrificing the human connection that defines their brand.<\/p>\n Since implementing HubSpot:<\/p>\n Their fan database has grown over 300% in just two years With real-time visibility into how fans are engaging across channels, the team can continuously optimize campaigns and ensure fans receive relevant, meaningful content\u2014when it matters most.<\/p>\n But beyond the numbers, this transformation supports something even bigger: Angel City\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n By building stronger connections with fans, they\u2019re not only growing the club\u2014they\u2019re also fueling their vision for community impact, equity in sports, and ending pay-to-play barriers for the next generation of athletes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To meet rising expectations and scale efficiently, Angel City FC used HubSpot\u2019s Marketing Hub Enterprise and Journey Automation to unify<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":10654,"template":"","format":"standard","customers_category":[213],"class_list":["post-10644","customers","type-customers","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","customers_category-hubspot"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2-1.jpg",432,254,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2-1.jpg",432,254,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2-1.jpg",432,254,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2-1-300x176.jpg",300,176,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2-1.jpg",432,254,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2-1.jpg",432,254,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2-1.jpg",432,254,false],"woodmart_shop_catalog_x2":["https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2-1.jpg",432,254,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2-1-300x254.jpg",300,254,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2-1.jpg",432,254,false],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2-1-150x88.jpg",150,88,true],"rt_custom":["https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2-1.jpg",432,254,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"dkm-admin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/author\/dkm-admin\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":" Hubspot<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"To meet rising expectations and scale efficiently, Angel City FC used HubSpot\u2019s Marketing Hub Enterprise and Journey Automation to unify","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/customers\/10644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/customers"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/customers"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/customers\/10644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10653,"href":"https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/customers\/10644\/revisions\/10653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"customers_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/customers_category?post=10644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nScaling Fast in a Competitive Market<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"How](\"https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1-300x200.webp\")
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\nThe Duct Tape Approach: Growing Pains of a Startup<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"significant](\"https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2-300x175.webp\")
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\nStreamlining Data and Automating Engagement<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nAutomate and personalize email campaigns
\nTrack engagement across every fan touchpoint\u2014from ticket sales to merchandise to events
\nClean and manage their database to improve deliverability and targeting<\/p>\n![\"How](\"https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3-300x191.webp\")
<\/p>\n![\"How](\"https:\/\/www.dkmeco.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/4-300x191.webp\")
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\nTurning Engagement into Long-Term Loyalty<\/p>\n
\nThey now average 300\u2013350 new sign-ups per week
\nFans spend an average of 6\u20137 minutes engaging with content, far exceeding typical engagement benchmarks
\nThe team has shifted from reactive execution to proactive, data-driven marketing
\n\u201cWe\u2019re no longer guessing\u2014we can see what\u2019s working and act on it fast,\u201d Whitney notes.<\/p>\n