This month, Ramat Intelligence opens a new data source: the advertising performance behind Find Your Club's managed campaigns. The headline finding is striking. Minnesota United FC — the first MLS-affiliated club to join the platform — ran camp and tryout campaigns that posted an 8.7% click-through rate at just 7.6 cents per click. To put that in context: the all-industry Meta benchmark for 2026 is roughly 1.7%, and even the single best-performing ad vertical on the entire platform — shopping and gifts — averages 4.1%. MNUFC beat the industry by about 5x, and beat the best category by 2x. This report breaks down what that means, alongside the month's verified member stories.
The MNUFC Benchmark: When Brand Meets Precision Targeting
When Minnesota United FC joined Find Your Club as the platform's first MLS-affiliated club, the expectation was strong brand recognition. What the advertising data revealed exceeded it. Across a series of camp and tryout campaigns in summer 2026, MNUFC posted numbers that don't just beat youth-sports norms — they beat the best-performing category on Meta, period.
The comparison that matters most is against context. Meta's own best-performing vertical — shopping, collectibles and gifts — averages a 4.13% click-through rate. MNUFC's camp campaigns roughly doubled that. Against the all-industry average of 1.7%, MNUFC ran about 5x higher. And on cost, the $0.076 per click sits about 89% below the industry's ~$0.70 average.
This is the thesis of the platform, proven in data: a trusted, recognized brand combined with precise, local, high-intent targeting produces advertising efficiency that generic campaigns can't touch. MNUFC brought the brand; Find Your Club brought the targeting and the verified-audience infrastructure. The result is a repeatable model — and a data point no competitor can replicate without both halves.
The MNUFC result didn't stand alone. Across all Find Your Club managed campaigns, the MLS-affiliated club's ads occupied the top four spots for click-through rate — a clean sweep that underscores how far brand-plus-targeting outperforms the field.
The Whole-Person Thread: What Families Are Actually Buying
If the ad data shows how families are reached, August's verified stories show what makes them commit. Independently, every testimonial this month emphasized the same priority: character development over competitive results.
For Kim Crowley, a five-year Tri-City United parent whose son found soccer almost by accident — sparked by a taekwondo kick during a recess game — the deciding factor was values alignment.
"We've always tried to align our kids' activities with programs that align with our values and that help him grow as a person and not just as an athlete."
Kim Crowley — Parent, Tri-City UnitedAt Colorado United, Morten King-Grubert — who relocated his family from Denmark and now serves as both parent and coach — described the same instinct on his first visit to the club.
"I just fell in love with the club immediately. The passion inside the club and the commitment to develop players while still having the right environment — a holistic approach to what soccer actually can do."
Morten King-Grubert — Coach & Parent, Colorado UnitedAnd Cora Proulx, a seven-year Tri-City United member now on the U15 competitive team, embodies the outcome that thread produces: long-term retention, built on a pathway that let her grow from rec into competitive play.
The advertising gets a family's attention; the culture keeps them for years. When three unprompted testimonials converge on character over trophies, it reveals the real decision criteria — and it's why the clubs that lead with the whole person, and can prove it through verified stories, convert attention into a decade-long commitment.
Navigating the Alphabet Soup: The Pathway Question
As families move from discovery to commitment, they hit a wall of acronyms — ECNL, ECNL-RL, and a dozen more. August saw Find Your Club address this directly, reinforcing a recurring theme: families need a guide through the competitive pathway, not just a directory of clubs.
The distinction drives real decisions. The ECNL is widely regarded as the top national tier — maximum exposure to NCAA Division I coaches and national-team scouts, but demanding cross-country travel. The ECNL-RL offers a highly competitive but regional path — meaningful college exposure, particularly for Division II, III, NAIA, and regional D1 programs, with less travel and lower cost.
This is where the model extends beyond testimonials and advertising: the same verified, family-first lens applied to the confusing decisions families actually face — a natural bridge to the college-pathway thread from July, connecting youth clubs to collegiate athletics.
Choosing a competitive pathway is one of the highest-stakes, most-confusing decisions a soccer family makes. A trusted, independent guide through it turns a directory into a decision-making platform — and deepens the data on what families actually weigh.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Bottom Line
August produced Ramat Intelligence's clearest data story yet. Minnesota United FC's 8.7% click-through rate at 7.6 cents a click isn't a fluke — it's proof of the platform's core thesis: trusted brand plus precise targeting produces advertising efficiency the open market can't match. And the month's verified stories explain the other half of the equation — families are choosing clubs for character, not just competition. Attention plus trust, captured as data. That's the compounding asset, and it gets sharper every month.