Overview:
On July 10, Alfaro received an unexpected email from CALÓ NEWS’s managing editor, Daniel Vasquez, stating he was the winner of the giveaway. However, he did not believe it at first.
As Bryan Alfaro was scrolling through social media, he noticed that one of his college grad school friends shared an article she wrote for CALÓ NEWS. Intrigued by the story, Alfaro visited the website and soon realized he had an interest in CALÓ NEWS.
As a follower of CALÓ NEWS’s Instagram, Alfaro noticed that CALÓ NEWS was giving away two tickets to a Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) game. To be eligible for the drawing, website visitors and readers had to sign up and subscribe to the news site’s newsletter. Alfaro decided to give it a shot and subscribe, not knowing if he would win.
On July 10, Alfaro received an unexpected email from CALÓ NEWS’s managing editor, Daniel Vasquez, stating he was the winner of the giveaway. However, he did not believe it at first.
“To be honest, I thought it was spam because my friend’s name is also Daniel Vasquez and so when I saw his name, so I was like, this can’t be real,” Alfaro said. He then realized the email was real. “At first, I was shocked because I never win anything like this.”
Bryan Alfaro in front of the Los Angeles Football Club sign at the BMO Stadium.
Alfaro said that he was excited to learn that he had actually won the LAFC tickets, especially since this is his second time winning a giveaway on social media.
Alfaro, 29, works as a database and development specialist in LA, and maintains a donor database for a mental health nonprofit.
Alfaro said that he grew up as a fan of major-league soccer. From the late 90s to the early 2000s, Alfaro enjoyed watching soccer matches with his dad, rooting for players such as Mauricio Cienfuegos, a former Salvadoran soccer player who played for the LA Galaxy from 1996 to 2003.
Alfaro also played soccer when he was younger. “Growing up, I was on the high school team. I played once in a while. Not really too much because I’m just a lot busier,” Alfaro said.
As for his connection to LAFC, he became a fan around a year after they formed a team in Southern California.
“I think I started following them, not heavily when they first started, but about the second year of their start, which is not too long,” Alfaro said. “I think it was maybe like five, four years ago. And so I saw the whole construction of when it [BMO Stadium] was first starting and everything.”
LAFC was founded on October 30, 2014 and the team played its first home game at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on April 29, 2018, according to the history section of their website.
It was Bryan Alfaro’s second time coming to BMO Stadium to watch the LAFC play.
After accepting the tickets he had won from CALÓ NEWS, Alfaro immediately realized that he needed to immediately look for someone to take as his guest. He remembered how much his friend, Hector, enjoyed watching soccer, so he thought it would be a perfect idea to go to the game with another fan of the sport.
Game day arrived and Alfaro and his friend arrived at BMO Stadium on July 12 to watch the LAFC compete against Saint Louis City SC. Despite it being his second time attending an LAFC game, Alfaro was still excited about being there.
One of the memorable moments Alfaro had while watching the game was the first goal scored by Carlos Vela from LAFC at the 72-minute mark of the game. At that moment, Alfaro realized how supportive the local crowd was of the team and how much energy they brought to the stands.
“I wasn’t expecting LAFC fans to be this loud because it didn’t seem like it was fully packed, but then you see the goal and everything just started coming up and getting energetic,” Alfaro said. “That was probably my most exciting part of the game and just kind of seeing how everyone was so excited and high-fiving each other.”
Along with the amped-up fans, Alfaro was impressed with the 3252 Drumline that played throughout the 90-minute game and noticed how different his experience was compared to other sports games he has attended. Alfaro said there was never a dull moment in the stands.
“I’ve been to baseball games. You know how those are. They can be kind of dead sometimes,” Alfaro said. “Sometimes you have those moments where you’re just like falling asleep, but here the whole 90-minutes is just like drums going off.”
The game’s score was 3-0, with LAFC taking the win.
After watching the LAFC win against Saint Louis City SC with a 3-0 score, Alfaro was grateful for the opportunity he received from winning the giveaway and had a good experience being at the game. He hopes to continue to go to more games now, especially since he lives in the area.