How the RGV Red Crowns landed a FIFA World Cup campaign

The Rio Grande Valley-based RGV Red Crowns Soccer Club will be featured in a national Bank of America campaign tied to the FIFA World Cup, giving the region a global platform during one of the world’s largest sporting events.

The campaign highlights the Harlingen-based soccer club’s community-driven approach and will air during World Cup broadcasts in English and Spanish, according to Red Crowns founder and president Jamal Fayyad.

“Bank of America heard about our story about starting a team from scratch, from the ground up, getting the community’s input from the name, the colors, even the players, providing an opportunity for our local kids to play to the next level,” Fayyad said during a recent Rio Grande Valley Business Journal podcast interview.

“They said, ‘In this World Cup campaign, we want to feature this story. We want to feature the Red Crowns and let people know what soccer can do for community.’”

Bank of America is an official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup and selected the Red Crowns as one of several stories featured in its campaign.

Fayyad said the club was chosen after bank officials learned about the organization’s community-focused model and its success developing local players. During its inaugural season, three Valley athletes advanced to the professional ranks, he said.

“We were going up against six other stories,” Fayyad said. “One of the characters from Ted Lasso was somebody we were competing against. And we were given the opportunity to work with Bank of America.”

The commercial was filmed primarily in Harlingen and Brownsville and generated more than $250,000 in local economic activity over two days, according to Fayyad.

The production also marked what he described as the first Screen Actors Guild-affiliated commercial shoot in the Rio Grande Valley.

“When they agreed to come down, I had one favor, and it was: keep everything local,” Fayyad said.

“They kept it here. The shirts they needed made, they got them here locally. The props they needed, they got here locally. Everything they did truly was local.”

Fayyad said local businesses featured in the commercial were compensated for their participation, while production crews stayed in local hotels, dined at Valley restaurants and purchased goods and services from area vendors.

Beyond the economic impact, Fayyad said the project offered an opportunity to showcase a different narrative about the region.

“A lot of times in the Valley, we’re on the top of every bad list,” he said. “What I loved about this story was it wasn’t the same old, same old that you see on Netflix or whenever people talk about the Valley.

“This was authentic to the Valley.”

The Red Crowns launched after Fayyad spent years studying successful community soccer clubs across the United States and abroad, including a visit to Wrexham, Wales, before the club gained international attention through the hit television series “Welcome to Wrexham.”

He said the research convinced him that successful lower-division soccer clubs are built around community identity rather than wins and losses.

“It wasn’t about the wins or the losses,” Fayyad said. “The soccer — what happens on the field — was actually secondary. It was more of what the club represented.”

That philosophy shaped the Red Crowns from the beginning.

Before announcing plans for a team, organizers distributed surveys throughout the Valley asking residents what reminded them of home. Responses about local culture, colors and wildlife ultimately led to the team’s name and mascot — the red-crowned parrot commonly found across South Texas and northern Mexico.

The club currently competes in the fourth division of U.S. soccer and is preparing for its second season.

Unlike traditional academy systems, Fayyad said the Red Crowns were designed to complement local schools and youth soccer organizations rather than compete with them.

“We celebrate where you’re from. We celebrate your high school. We celebrate your academy,” he said. “We want to be that ultimate goal for them to help their students and athletes achieve their dreams.”

The organization plays its home matches at Harlingen Field, a former baseball stadium that was converted into a soccer-specific venue.

Fayyad said the long-term future of the club could include professional soccer, but only if the community supports the move.

“I would like to go pro,” he said. “I would like to be where the (RGV) Toros were before they dissolved. But we don’t make that jump without the community wanting that jump.”

For now, the focus remains on growing the club’s presence across the Valley while using soccer as a platform to connect communities and create opportunities for local athletes.

“We don’t want to be your favorite team,” Fayyad said. “We just want to be your local team.”