NewChapters

START A CHAPTER

Are you within 50 miles of the Philadelphia County line, and an avid Gooner or bar owner/manager (or both) hoping to establish an Official Chapter of Arsenal Philadelphia?

Our club is always expanding as the awareness and popularity of Arsenal and the Premier League keep increasing each season. Our goal is to give Arsenal Supporters throughout our geographic membership area local venues to gather and support the team together in an environment that is a genuine reflection of the rich history and tradition of Arsenal Football Club. Please read through whatever information below is relevant to you, and reach out to chapters@arsphl.com with any questions.

Official Status means you are recognized by Arsenal Philadelphia as an Official Chapter of our Supporters Club, which in turn has Official Status from Arsenal FC in London. Official Status with Arsenal Philadelphia has many benefits:

Tax Exempt status for club business under Arsenal Philadelphia’s 501(c)(7) non-profit exemption. No more collecting money (or worse yet laying out your own money), using your personal bank account, and creating accounting nightmares come tax time. We collect dues from your members, acquire and distribute exclusive swag at bulk discounts featuring your chapter’s logo or badge, and put the rest of the proceeds in an account your chapter leadership has access to and can use for door prizes, special events, or however you see fit to benefit the club.
Full membership privileges of Arsenal Philadelphia for your members, including:
- Exclusive swag featuring your chapter’s unique logo or badge
- Discounts and specials during matches at the entire network of Official Chapter Pubs
- Ability to request tickets for Arsenal home matches at Emirates Stadium
- Access to exclusive members-only events at your chapter, other Arsenal Philadelphia chapters, and at many Arsenal Summer Tour stops in the US.
- Earn points for attending matches that increase the likelihood of approval for ticket requests and entitle the member to discounts in our Club Shop
Access to our Club Shop – use our design tools to create as many items as you would like to be sold on arsphl.com/(your chapter name). All proceeds go directly into your chapter’s budget.
Inclusion on the Arsenal Philadelphia website, in our social media posts and in mass emails.
Access to our communication tools and analytics to better engage your membership.
Support, camaraderie, and connection with hundreds of passionate Gooners in Eastern PA, New Jersey, and Delaware!

You can start a chapter if your area, group, and bar are within our geographic membership area and meet the requirements for Official status detailed below:

Your proposed Official Chapter Pub must be within 50 miles “as the crow flies” from the border of Philadelphia County. Arsenal Philadelphia will accept your members who live further out than 50 miles, as long as they are reasonably able to attend matches at your pub. Outside of that range your group may be eligible for official branch status with Arsenal NYC or Arsenal America. If you’re not sure whether your group is quite inside our territory, email chapters@arsphl.com and we’ll let you know.
Your proposed Official Chapter Pub must not be within an average 30-minute drive of any existing chapter. While we will consider applications for chapters that are not located in our target areas listed below, we must maintain the 30-minute boundary so as not risk siphoning members from another chapter, which negatively impacts the atmosphere of the existing chapter and our relationship with the Official Chapter Pub.
Your group should have a bar partner that will open for most if not all matches. For those who haven’t established a bar partner yet, we recommend looking for one that opens by 10am on weekends and 3pm on weekdays. This will cover the vast majority of matches without the bar having to alter their hours.
Your bar partner must have the ability to show streaming-only matches, and current Peacock Premium and Paramount+ services.
If your bar is a destination for Philadelphia sports fans, we recommend discussing the plan for schedule conflicts with your bar partner. This is most prevalent with Eagles games conflicting with Sunday afternoon Arsenal matches, but all four major American sports overlap with the Premier League season, so it’s best to have a policy agreed ahead of time.
Your bar partner should be willing to discuss discounts and/or specials for card-holding, dues-paying members of Arsenal Philadelphia.
Your group should be currently gathering for most matches, and averaging 10 to 15 attendees per match (we know with a new group some matches get 3 and some get 30, but we’d be looking for most matches throughout the season to have a big enough crowd to support the bar being open and worth the while of the staff to attend to your group).
Your group should have at least three loyal and committed members (including yourself) who can be counted on to attend regularly, engage attendees about Arsenal Philadelphia and the benefits of membership, act as liaison between Arsenal Philadelphia and your bar partner, assist with special events, and otherwise make sure that there is a club leadership presence at most if not all matches.

Arsenal Philadelphia is happy to work with bars to establish Official Chapters, especially if the owners or members of the staff are Gooners (not a requirement but it’s a big plus)!

Perhaps you have heard of Official Supporters Clubs before, but many bar owners come to us having only seen the list of pubs on Arsenal’s website. The locations on that list are submitted by Official Supporters Clubs around the world. Each pub is the home of a supporters club recognized by Arsenal FC in London. So if your bar is in the Philly area (within 50 miles “as the crow flies” from the border of Philadelphia County), the way to become an “Official” Arsenal pub is to become the home of a new chapter of Arsenal Philadelphia.

If you’re interested in starting a chapter as well as becoming an official pub, please check out the section above on starting a chapter. If you’d simply like to have your bar become an Official Chapter Pub, that’s great too, especially if your bar is located in one of our target areas listed below.

The requirements for our Official Chapter Pubs are:

Your bar is within 50 miles “as the crow flies” from the border of Philadelphia County.
Your bar is more than an average 30-minute drive of any existing chapter. We will not risk siphoning members from another chapter, which negatively impacts the atmosphere of the existing chapter and our relationship with that bar partner. Be assured that like consideration will be given to your bar if you become and Official Chapter Pub.
Your bar is located in an area where we have enough membership to give both the chapter and your bar a reasonable likelihood of success. We consider an average attendance of 10 to 15 people to be minimal for either.
You are willing, as a minimum, to be open shortly before 10am for weekend matches. Being open for all matches is preferred. In order to grow and sustain a following, fans in your area need to know the bar will be open for the matches. We do our best to communicate via email and social media but if people arent sure the bar will be open they don’t come. We prefer to work with bars that open by 10am on weekends and 3pm on weekdays, which covers the vast majority of matches without the having to alter your hours. But 10am on weekends is our minimum, as anything less than that is setting the chapter up for failure.
Your bar has the technology in place to stream matches and current Peacock Premium and Paramount+ services.
You or a member of your staff are able to monitor Arsenal’s schedule to ensure your bar is open and staffed adequately for matches. The Premier League schedule is more fluid than American sports. Exact kickoff times are typically finalized five to six weeks before the match, and occasionally can be rescheduled by a day or two with shorter notice to resolve conflicts between competitions (i.e. Premier League and Champions League or a domestic cup tournament). Arsenal Philadelphia do our best to remind our bar partners of match communicate schedule changes to our chapter pubs, but ultimately it is the responsibility of the Official Chapter Pub to know the schedule and to be open and ready for the match.
If your bar is a destination for Philadelphia sports fans, we will need to discuss the plan for schedule conflicts with Philly sports. This is most prevalent with Eagles games conflicting with Sunday afternoon Arsenal matches, but all four major American sports overlap with the Premier League season at some point, so it’s best to have a policy agreed ahead of time. We understand the revenue Philly sports can generate in a bar and want to support, accommodate, and even cross-promote your non-Arsenal events. But for an Official Chapter Pub, simply not showing an Arsenal match because of a conflicting Philadelphia team’s game is not an acceptable situation for us.
You are willing to create discounts and/or specials for card-holding, dues-paying members of Arsenal Philadelphia. These are completely up to you, but the most common is $5 off $25 purchases and $10 off $50. These tend to be a “win-win”, driving business for your bar and making our members very happy.

If you think your bar can meet these requirements and you want to apply or have other questions, please email chapters@arsphl.com to go to the next step.

Potential New Chapter Locations:

The areas where we are actively on the lookout for new chapter opportunities are listed below. This does not mean you are disqualified if you aren’t in one of these areas. We will consider other areas within our geographic membership area, but we must be strategic so that new chapters complement rather than compete with each other. If you believe your group meets the requirements for Offical status, whether it’s in one of the areas listed below or not, please contact chapters@arsphl.com to get the application process started.

Pennsylvania

New Jersey

Delaware

	Lehigh Valley Gooners Provisional Chapter Pub: F&A Grog House 117 E. 3rd St. Bethlehem, PA 18015	Find on Google Maps
PROVISONAL CHAPTER This group is in the process of applying for official status. As a Provisional Chapter, this group won’t have our food and drink discounts for members or some of our special events like Members’ Day. But Arsenal Philadelphia STRONGLY encourages all supporters in their area to gather with this passionate and growing group of fans to watch matches with their fellow Gooners. Your attendance can help this new group achieve official status!

Not ready to join the club, but want to stay in the loop?