Champions Choose Evolv

Congratulations to the Columbus Crew, 2023 MLS Champions!  The Crew, one of Evolv’s earliest sports customers, beat LAFC by the score of 2-1 in the 2023 MLS Cup Final last Saturday.  This is the Crew’s third MLS championship (having won previously in 2008 and 2020), which is a testament to the quality and consistency of the organization on and off the pitch.

I think it’s also appropriate to note that, while perhaps not as exciting as the game action, Evolv did play an essential role in the 2023 MLS Cup Final fan experience.  Our Express platform has been a key part of every Crew home game at Lower.com Field, because the team relies on Express to securely and conveniently screen a large number of fans in a very short time through one main entrance.  Never was this more true than last Saturday, which saw that stadium set a record with 20,802 attendees.  As a sports industry veteran, I know that playoff games can be especially challenging for Ops staff because an atypically large percentage of attendees (VIPs, sponsors, celebrities, visiting team fans, and so forth) tend to be unfamiliar with the venue.  Add in the realities of a cool and damp December afternoon, which means more jackets and blankets, and you have all the makings for a difficult ingress.  But the Crew, the Lower.com Field staff, and Evolv Express handled the challenge without a hitch.

The Crew are not our only championship customer.  In fact, we’ve seen a flurry of recent championships from our client roster, including both major tenants at Ball Arena in Denver (Denver Nuggets, 2023 NBA Champions; Colorado Avalanche, 2022 NHL Champions), the Houston Astros/Minute Maid Park (2022 MLB World Series Champions), and the Los Angeles Rams/SoFi Stadium (2021 NFL Super Bowl Champions).

Winning a pro sports championship requires greatness from an entire organization, sport and business alike.  It’s no surprise, then, that the same teams that demand nothing but the best from and for themselves and their fans on the field have the same high standards and expectations off the field.  When that’s the goal, the choice for ingress screening becomes obvious … and that’s why champions choose Evolv.

Congratulations again to the Columbus Crew.  And with several of Evolv’s NFL customers well positioned for the upcoming playoffs, perhaps another champion will give us reason to send congratulations in about two months.  I can’t wait to find out.