Kickin’ It with the Columbus Crew
Columbus Metropolitan Library
Innovation Synopsis
Longtime community partners Columbus Metropolitan Library and the Columbus Crew soccer team developed a yearlong partnership connecting the power of professional soccer with new audiences to promote reading and library services. Integrating the Crew into the library’s annual Summer Reading Challenge and other library events, the partnership creates a defined link between soccer and the library, promoting accessibility to multiple audiences while advocating for youth literacy and lifelong learning.
Challenge/Opportunity
The partnership builds on the Crew’s existing relationship with the library as a Culture Pass partner and each organization’s shared interest in supporting student academic and lifelong success.
It also provides an opportunity to:
Reach families and Crew fans who may not regularly use library services.
Get children excited about reading by connecting literacy with soccer.
Expand access to professional soccer through the library’s Culture Pass program by providing more tickets to more matches than in previous years.
Introduce each organization’s audience to resources and experiences offered by the other.
Key Elements of Innovation
For the first time in its longstanding relationship, CML and the Columbus Crew developed a multifaceted partnership that uses professional soccer as a platform to promote literacy and library engagement.
The partnership includes the following:
Complimentary Columbus Crew tickets to CML customers.
Nearly 9,000 Crew-branded Summer Reading Challenge incentives, including 23 signed mini soccer balls, and an adult grand-prize professional match experience.
Two limited-edition Crew library cards
A Main Library kickoff event featuring soccer programming and family activities.
Columbus Crew supporting the Columbus Book Festival and Celebration of Learning.
Coordinated email, social media, and digital promotion.
The approach connects a professional sports organization to multiple library services and initiatives throughout the year, enabling soccer to be an entry point for new customers to become cardholders and soccer fans to enjoy the team in their neighborhood.
Achieved Outcomes
The CML/Crew partnership created a template for how future models could be structured and how CML can leverage community relationships to reach new audiences, one of the library’s strategic goals. Those audiences now have a fresh take on what a 21st century library can offer them.
The June 14 kickoff and subsequent events produced measurable engagement:
Approximately 4,500 Main Library visitors, compared with 631 on the comparable Sunday in 2025.
973 Main Library checkouts, an 111% increase from 2025
100 new social media followers, 35% above the average daily gain.
All 75 available Crew Culture Passes were checked out by cardholders representing 16 library locations.
5,270 systemwide Crew Cards were issued; 2,529 were new cardholders (as of 8/14).
A June 5 library email sent to 324,038 addresses generated a 46% open rate and 774 unique clicks, including 420 clicks to the event.
