San Francisco Deltas
Nickname(s)The Deltas
FoundedOctober 16, 2015 (2015-10-16)[1]
DissolvedNovember 24, 2017 (2017-11-24)
StadiumKezar Stadium
San Francisco, California
Capacity10,000
LeagueNorth American Soccer League
2017Spring: 2nd
Fall: 2nd
Combined: 2nd
Playoffs: NASL Champions
WebsiteClub website

The San Francisco Deltas were an American professional soccer team based in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 2016, the team made its debut in the North American Soccer League in 2017.[2] The franchise played its home games at Kezar Stadium[3] located at the south-east end of Golden Gate Park.

In its only year of play, they won the 2017 NASL championship and then folded 12 days later.

History

The San Francisco Deltas soccer team were led by CEO Colombian-born entrepreneur, Brian Andrés Helmick.[4] On October 14, 2015, the Deltas got the final signatures for admission to the North American Soccer League (NASL) in order to bring pro soccer to San Francisco.[1]

The Deltas were financially backed by a group of investors from Silicon Valley tech companies and venture capital firms as well as investors from Brazil. The group included Jonathan Peachey, former CEO of Virgin in North America; Danny Khatib, Co-Founder, President and COO of Livingly Media; and Josh McFarland, senior director of product at Twitter.[5]

Helmick wanted to run the club like a tech startup, leading to some of "the most convoluted and confounding series of choices in American soccer", including hiring a Director of Marketing who admitted she had "no business being the Director of Marketing of anything really, let alone for a professional soccer team in one of the world’s greatest cities".[6][7]

The Deltas promised to bring tech-inspired innovations to the sport, including a virtual reality fan experience and artificial intelligence ticketing system, none of which were ever fully realized.[8]

The first three players were announced on December 12, 2016 with more announced over the next two months. Prior to the team's debut, it received notice for its large Canadian contingent, including coach Marc Dos Santos and captain Nana Attakora. The team was dubbed "Canada's Unofficial Team".[9]

The Deltas earned their first competitive victory on Saturday, April 8, 2017, beating North Carolina FC 3–1 at home. Including their first preseason, The Deltas did not lose a match in nine games, drawing six and winning three, including a 1–0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes in a preseason friendly. Their first loss was on April 29, 2017 against the New York Cosmos where they lost 1–0. The Deltas earned their first US Open Cup victory on Wednesday, May 17, 2017, beating Burlingame Dragons 2–1.

Despite that on-field success, the team struggled to draw fans or attention in San Francisco. In July, Helmick wrote a blog post lamenting poor attendance at the games. He warned that the Deltas might not return for a second season if that situation didn't improve, challenging the fans with "only you can fix this".[10] He asked each supporter to bring one friend to the next game, who would then each bring one to the following game, a "proposal that superficially looked like a pyramid scheme."[11]

The Deltas continued to succeed on the field and struggle off it all season. After the team earned a spot in the NASL championship final, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the Deltas could fold even if they won the championship, citing poor attendance and over $8 million in losses.[12]

On November 12, 2017, the Deltas beat the New York Cosmos 2–0 to win the NASL championship. Twelve days later, on November 24, 2017, the Deltas announced that it had ceased operations effective immediately, releasing all players and staff from their contracts.[13][8]

Record

Season NASL Overall NASL Playoffs U.S. Open Cup Top goalscorer Managers Avg. attendance
Div. Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Name League
2017 Spring 2nd 16 7 5 4 17 20 26 2nd NASL Champions Fourth round United States Tommy Heinemann 9 Canada Marc Dos Santos 2,575 (8th)
Fall 2nd 16 7 7 2 24 15 28

Crest

The name and crest were unveiled on January 30, 2016. San Francisco Deltas CEO Brian Helmick wrote "DELTA means CHANGE. In the city of change and innovation, our goal is to take risks and grow the world's sport for fans in the entire Bay Area." during a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) session in February 2017. When coming up with name and crest, the operations team listened to a lot of fan input before making a decision. The name came about through eight major points: 1) No animals, there are too many animal team names; 2) Don't copy European Club Soccer in terms of naming, be original; 3) Europe is known for crests and nobility, but the USA is not; 4) With 40% of the people living in San Francisco not being born in the USA, they want to make sure the name can be pronounced in most languages (e.g. "th" doesn't exist in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, etc.); 5) Less is more, don't make it complicated; 6) Take risks and be different, SF is all about taking risks and being different; 7) Don't manufacture history, own the fact that you're a new team, pick a name and let your actions develop your brand and not your colors, font type, design, etc; 8) Don't over-explain things, let fans create their own relationship with the club for their own reasons. The fourth letter in the Greek alphabet is Delta and the symbol is a triangle and has connections with both soccer (Cruyff and possession football) and SF (Twin Peaks, Transamerica Pyramid, the towers and cables of the bridges form triangles, etc.).[14]

When the logo was released online, it was unfavorably compared to fictional corporate logos, criticized for having no connection to San Francisco, and called "the worst name and logo in American professional sports".[6][9]

Stadium

In early 2016, it was announced that San Francisco Deltas would play their home games at Kezar Stadium.[15] In December 2016, more than 3,800 Candlestick Park seats from the former home of the San Francisco 49ers were acquired by the San Francisco Deltas and installed at Kezar Stadium.[16] This was part of $1 million in improvements The Deltas agreed to make to use Kezar Stadium, including new flood lights and updated locker rooms for the players.

Jerseys

Predominantly red and black, the inaugural season home jersey was unveiled on August 31, 2016 after fan voting by season ticket holders.[17] The away jerseys were announced on March 10, 2017 and were predominantly white. The jerseys were manufactured by Inaria.

Individual records

Top goalscorers

Name Years NASL Playoffs US Open Cup Total
1United States Tom Heinemann20179 (29)1 (2)2 (3)12 (34)
2Brazil Pablo Dyego20176 (27)0 (2)0 (1)6 (30)
3United States Devon Sandoval20174 (28)1 (2)0 (2)5 (32)
4Canada Kyle Bekker20173 (28)0 (2)1 (3)4 (33)
5Brazil Reiner20172 (31)0 (2)1 (3)3 (36)
5United States Bryan Burke20173 (13)0 (0)0 (1)3 (14)
5Brazil Dagoberto20173 (13)0 (0)0 (0)3 (13)
8Spain Cristian Portilla20172 (17)0 (0)0 (2)2 (19)
8United States Patrick Hopkins20172 (21)0 (1)0 (2)2 (24)
8Netherlands Kenny Teijsse20172 (23)0 (0)0 (2)2 (25)

Most appearances

Name Years League Playoffs US Open Cup Total
1Brazil Reiner201731 (2)2 (0)3 (1)36 (3)
2United States Tyler Gibson201730 (0)2 (1)3 (0)35 (1)
3United States Tom Heinemann201729 (9)2 (1)3 (1)34 (12)
4Canada Kyle Bekker201728 (3)2 (0)3 (1)33 (4)
4France Romuald Peiser201731 (0)2 (0)0 (0)33 (0)
6United States Devon Sandoval201728 (4)2 (1)2 (0)32 (5)
7United States Michael Stephens201726 (0)2 (0)3 (0)31 (0)
8Brazil Pablo Dyego201727 (6)2 (0)1 (0)30 (6)
9Brazil Jackson201722 (1)2 (0)2 (0)26 (1)
9Canada Karl Ouimette201723 (0)2 (0)1 (0)26 (0)

Managerial records

Name Nat. From To P W D L GS GA %W Honors Notes
Marc Dos Santos  Canada August 17, 2016[18] November 15, 2017 37 18 12 7 48 39 048.65 Soccer Bowl (1)
  • Notes:

P – Total of played matches W – Won matches D – Drawn matches L – Lost matches GS – Goal scored GA – Goals against
%W – Percentage of matches won

Nationality is indicated by the corresponding FIFA country code(s).

References

  1. 1 2 Helmick, Brian Andrés (October 27, 2016). "SF Deltas 1st Birthday". medium.com. San Francisco Deltas. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  2. ↑ "NASL WELCOMES SAN FRANCISCO DELTAS AS LATEST EXPANSION CLUB". nasl.com. The North American Soccer League. March 29, 2016. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Pro soccer team San Francisco Deltas find new home at Kezar Stadium". ABC7 San Francisco.
  4. ↑ "Why San Francisco's New Pro Soccer Team Thinks Like a Startup". Inc.com. March 29, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
  5. ↑ "NASL pro soccer comes to San Francisco with Silicon Valley backing". The Beautiful Blog. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
  6. 1 2 JCEscobar (January 31, 2016). "The San Francisco NASL team is in the Tyson Zone". Indomitable City Soccer. SBNation. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  7. ↑ Johnson, Myriah (June 2, 2017). "3 Promises You Should Make Before Accepting a Job at a Startup". medium.com. Archived from the original on August 3, 2022. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  8. 1 2 Zimmerman, Douglas (November 24, 2017). "Won and done: San Francisco Deltas 'soccer startup' folds after 1 year". SFGATE. The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  9. 1 2 "The San Francisco Deltas: Canada's Unofficial Team". Red Nation Online. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  10. ↑ Helmick, Brian Andrés (July 27, 2017). "SF Deltas CEO Challenge to Fans". medium.com. San Francisco Deltas. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  11. ↑ Ilyas, Adnan (November 9, 2017). "Breaking down the NASL v. USSF antitrust court decision". Stars and Stripes FC. SBNation. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  12. ↑ Zimmerman, Douglas (November 3, 2017). "San Francisco Deltas soccer team could win a championship, fold soon after". SFGATE. The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  13. ↑ Helmick, Brian Andrés (November 24, 2017). "The Dream Ending: The San Francisco Deltas Finish as Champions". medium.com. San Francisco Deltas. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  14. ↑ "San Francisco's new pro soccer team SF Deltas - I'm Brian Andrés Helmick, CEO • r/soccer". reddit. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  15. ↑ "San Francisco Deltas To Hold Open Player Tryouts in November". prnewswire.com. PR Newswire. October 11, 2016. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
  16. ↑ "Candlestick seats will soon fill SF's Kezar Stadium, thanks to Deltas soccer team". The Beautiful Blog. December 2, 2016. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  17. ↑ "SF Deltas let fans vote for home jersey". The Beautiful Blog. August 11, 2016. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  18. ↑ "NASL: Deltas go global with selection of Dos Santos". August 17, 2016.
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