Entering his seventh season with club champions LAFC – multimedia personality and entrepreneur Mando Fresko is adding Music Director to his massive repertoire of talents. Fresko will elevate what he's done in previous seasons by fully curating the stadium's music, performing on match days and giving fans a more immersive fan experience.
"I'm looking forward to making more memorable moments for our Black & Gold faithful, the city of Los Angeles and everyone that comes to watch a match at the most global city in the world," shares Fresko, "for an LA kid, this is a dream." For 6 seasons, he has amplified the club's game-day and music experience. An LAFC home game is one of the most electric sporting events globally and Mando Fresko has been a big part of that.
He's connected with the Black & Gold, largely due to the long relationship with the fanbase and community. This connection played a key role in 2022's MLS Cup Final between LAFC and Philadelphia Union; energy and tensions were high after a full 90-minute match and 30 minutes of over-time. This final would come down to penalty kicks and Mando knew he had a small window to play one, maybe two songs before PKs commenced.
"I look out the window in the control room and I can see that everyone was nervous [anxious] but excited and I wanted to tap into that excitement because if I could do that, I knew that that same energy would transfer over to our players on the field, so I threw in 'Oye Mi Amor' by MANÁ, and the rest is history." Everything stopped at that moment, and BMO Stadium roared with fans screaming the lyrics to "Oye Mi Amor" which ultimately shifted the energy and secured LAFC's first MLS Cup Championship.
"LAFC is home. When I play at BMO Stadium, it feels like I'm playing for 22,000 of my close friends," says Fresko. He will bring that same energy to every seasonal home game. You can catch him at LAFC's next match at BMO Stadium on March 9th against Sporting KC.