Oh hey, USL press release about the ill-fated Pawtucket soccer stadium project, which utterly fails to mention either the metastasizing public costs or the fact that Rhode Island voters now oppose funding it by a 44-35% margin. Anything else in there of actual interest?
Tidewater Landing becomes one of five current stadium projects that are under construction in the USL Championship and USL League One, including one for a future USL Championship club in Des Moines, Iowa. There are another 11 stadium projects approved or in development across USL Championship and League One, following clubs such as Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, Louisville City FC, Monterey Bay F.C., and Chattanooga Red Wolves SC, whose new homes have opened in recent years.
So, five stadiums under construction (or at least having had a groundbreaking, which lets Pawtucket qualify even though funding hasn’t gotten final approval) and 11 others “in development” — that’s rather a lot, even for a league that currently sports 38 teams across two levels in an attempt to take over the U.S. soccer world by sheer volume. The press release doesn’t specify which cities the USL is currently getting or seeking stadiums in, so with the help of the Field of Schemes archives and Reddit, let’s attempt a rundown in rough order of approvalness:
- The Colorado Springs Switchbacks just got a new $35 million stadium with $13 million in city funding.
- Birmingham Legion F.C. has a new stadium funded by a 3% car rental tax surcharge.
- Spokane’s as-yet-unnamed team has a $31 million brand-new publicly funded stadium that the team owners are putting another $4 million into renovating, despite it being brand-new.
- South Georgia Tormenta F.C., yep, that’s its name, has a new stadium under construction.
- Indy Eleven‘s owner has been sitting on $112 million in state money for over three years now, but still needs another $38 million and doesn’t have it (or doesn’t want to spend it).
- Queensboro F.C. started construction last summer on its new stadium on a public college campus, oh no wait, it got delayed until this summer, I really need to take a drive out there and see what if anything is happening on the site.
- The Des Moines Menace owners are seeking “less than $45 million” for a new stadium there.
- New Mexico United had its $50 million stadium subsidy request turned down by voters last November, but still isn’t giving up the fight for public money.
- Dunno whether Sacramento Republic F.C.‘s stadium ($33 million in city money approved toward a $100 million–plus total) counts as USL because that’s where the team plays now or MLS because that’s where the team wants to play, but it’s still in the hopper somewhere.
- Pawtucket’s as-yet-nonexistent team is looking at getting $80 million in state and city money and rising toward a $124 million stadium.
- The Greenville Triumph have “plans,” though no actual money yet.
- New Orleans is getting a team, and presumably needs a stadium, but no one is saying where or who will pay for it.
- Likewise Lexington, whose team has plans for a new stadium that will require “city support” but not “city dollars,” whatever that means.
- Potential Portland, Maine owners are shopping around for a stadium site.
- An ownership group in Wilmington, North Carolina has “exclusive rights to negotiate” with the city for a stadium in order to get a team.
- Grand Rapids, them too.
- Fort Wayne F.C. has a semipro USL League Two team and wants to move up to pro and also wants a new stadium and has renderings with fireworks, that’s always a good start.
- Baltimore, maybe?
- Fort Worth, possibly.
- Milwaukee, maybe?
- Tulsa, maybe?
That’s 19 potential projects, though only maybe ten of them could be considered in progress, and for some of those you’d have to squint really hard. John Mozena of the Center for Economic Accountability, the people behind those excellent stickers, has a Twitter thread about this whole kerfuffle, in which he points out that sports stadiums, thanks to being closed and empty most of the time, have less economic impact than your typical supermarket or chain food store:
That's the reality of stadiums. They suck at "economic development" because they sit dark, empty and silent for all but a few hours a week at best. (Also, the jobs in and around them tend to be part-time, low-wage and seasonal.)
— John Mozena (@johnmoz) August 16, 2022
That's the reality of stadiums. They suck at "economic development" because they sit dark, empty and silent for all but a few hours a week at best. (Also, the jobs in and around them tend to be part-time, low-wage and seasonal.)
— John Mozena (@johnmoz) August 16, 2022
If there’s a silver lining to all this, it’s that most of the USL stadium campaigns appear to be spinning their wheels to various degrees. If there’s whatever is the opposite of a silver lining, it’s that none of the potential team owners are giving up, because why stop grabbing for that brass subsidy ring if you can maybe get tens of millions of dollars if you get lucky? Not sure if the USL qualifies as a Ponzi scheme yet, but it’s certainly striving to head in that direction.
