With traffic backed up for blocks, fans lining the sidewalks, and supporters tailgating in the parking lot, Red Bull Arena braced for an unfamiliar sight: a sold out lower bowl for a National Women’s Soccer League game. In fact, for the first time in history, the upper bowl of the stadium had to be opened to keep up with demand for tickets to see NJ/NY Gotham FC take on the visiting San Diego Wave FC on Sunday, June 4th.
Such a spectacle seemed like a pipedream merely years ago for the team formerly known as Sky Blue FC, a franchise that failed to make the postseason between 2013 and 2021 and also dealt with the departure of former vice-president and general manager Alyse LaHue during that campaign.
The club was founded in 2007 by Phil and Tammy Murphy. Now the Governor and First Lady of the State of New Jersey, the pair always knew that this was an achievable future, even for a team that just last year finished at the bottom of the table. Just minutes before kickoff, Tammy Murphy was in the stadium, taking it all in, and reveling in just how far…
