USL teams are building big stadiums as the league enjoys an attendance boom

Sacramento Republic FC’s plan to build a new stadium in the downtown Railyards would be part of a larger building boom in American soccer.

Several franchises in both Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League, of which Republic is a member, have opened new facilities in recent years. Many more have proposed new stadiums or are in the process of constructing buildings.

Jake Edwards, president of the USL, said stadium development “is a major strategic initiative for the league.” He said more than two dozen franchises plan to build new stadiums in the various levels of USL between now and the 2026 World Cup.

“They are transformational projects, not just for the club and the long-term sustainability of the club, but for the community,” Edwards said in an interview with The Sacramento Bee last week.

Here’s a look at a handful of key stadium projects in the USL.

Des Moines

The capital of Iowa has been granted a franchise in USL. A key to that expansion bid was the club’s stadium plan — a plan that shares similarities with Sacramento’s vision.

The Des Moines stadium will be the anchor of a broader $535 million development replacing the former Dico Superfund site adjacent to downtown, a 65-acre parcel that has been vacant since the 1990s. Sacramento’s stadium is planned for the downtown Railyards, another large urban infill site that has long been vacant and required environmental cleanup.

Dan Jansen, program manager at Pro Iowa, the team leading the stadium and expansion bid, said his team wanted to focus on rejuvenating the Dico site, attracting diverse audiences and “providing a reason for people to want to come to Des Moines.”

“We thought it was really important for the community to redevelop this site and make it an area of the city people really want to go to,” he said. “It’s an area that wasn’t available to anybody for 38 years and we want to make available to everyone.”

The stadium will cost $83.75 million, with 40% of that coming from public money. The seating capacity for soccer is projected to be around 6,300.

Colorado Springs

Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC plays in Weidner Field, an 8,000-seat stadium downtown that is part of a broader development called City for Champions. The stadium opened last season and cost $42 million to build.

A fun fact about the stadium: It sits at more than 6,000 feet above sea level, higher than any other professional soccer stadium in the nation.

The stadium is an anchor of City for Champions, a multi-sport development that also includes a hockey arena and a U.S. Olympic and Paralympic museum. That broader project received tens of millions of dollars in state sales tax rebates.

Switchbacks FC averaged 6,271 fans per game in 2021, sixth in the USL.

Louisville

Louisville City’s new stadium, Lynn Family Stadium, was a project that closely resembles what Republic FC is trying to build in Sacramento. It’s a multi-use, expandable facility the club is hoping to spur a broader redevelopment to expand the downtown area. The stadium was scheduled to open in March of 2020 but was pushed back to the summer because of the pandemic.

“I think part of the structured stadium model should be not just the stadium,” James O’Connor, Louisville City’s Executive VP of development, told The Bee, “but should be pieces that are enhancing the landscape and the environment in creating more than just a one-stop shop with the stadium. I think that’s really important.”

Like Republic FC, Louisville began playing in a temporary venue, hoping success at the gate could lead to getting a permanent soccer-specific stadium built. The club spent its first five seasons, starting in 2015, at Louisville Slugger Field, home of the the Louisville Bats, the Triple-A baseball affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. Part of the agreement was for the club to pay for minor renovations, including a removable pitching mound to help transition the field from baseball to soccer.

Louisville City drew more than 6,000 fans per game, second in the USL, despite the awkward setup. But the club struggled to generate enough revenue to be financially sustainable. It led the team to build the 10,000-seat venue in an industrial site. The total cost of development was around $200 million, with the stadium itself costing some $65 million.

Lynn Family Stadium will have its first major concert, Janet Jackson, on May 7 with many more non-soccer events on the docket.

“I think there’s so many layers to having a stadium because of the spinoffs that come from that, whether it’s concerts, different events, the ability of corporate partners to be able to come in and utilize (the venue),” O’Connor said. “So I think there’s been a number of spinoffs that are really attractive to the overall community as well.”

Phoenix

Phoenix Rising’s modest new stadium south of downtown Phoenix is an entirely different project. The club was initially at a temporary site in Tempe near Arizona State University, but moved its operation to Chandler, roughly 10 miles south of downtown Phoenix, which lacks the city-core feel of what Louisville did and what Republic wants to do in Sacramento.

That has its challenges, of course, but Phoenix rising had ample space at Wild Horse Pass to build its headquarters, a fan-friendly park area, practice facility that features new locker rooms and two full practice fields, and larger parking areas for fans making the trip.

“We took all those things into consideration to make sure that were accommodating our fans, first and foremost, so they had a really good game night experience,” said Bobby Dulle, Phoenix Rising’s general manager. “And making the daily lives of our players and our front office that are operating out of here every day, making sure it’s convenient and the flow makes sense.”

Dulle said Phoenix’s sprawling landscape made palatable building away from downtown Phoenix, which is the only area in the region with efficient public transportation. Helping was the creation of a new highway bypass, the 202, which connects the Chandler area to the west side of the valley, which has helped the club tap into the Latino portion of its fan base.

The new stadium increased capacity from roughly 6,000 to 10,000 and has a video board, which the previous venue lacked. It has enough room to continue expansion or build a new stadium altogether if Phoenix Rising gets promoted to the MLS. The club had been identified by MLS commissioner Don Garber as a candidate for an expansion team, though the league will have at least 30 teams once Las Vegas joins after the 2023 season.