Soccer-specific stadium

Soccer-specific stadium (or football-specific stadium) is a term used mainly in the United States, Canada, Australia and South Korea coined by Lamar Hunt, to refer to a sports stadium either purpose built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer (association football) and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multipurpose stadium which is for a variety of sports including soccer. An SSS (FSS) may host other events such as other sporting events (mostly lacrosse, American football and rugby football), and concerts, but the design and purpose of an SSS is primarily for soccer. Some facilities (most notably Toyota Park, FC Dallas Stadium and Columbus Crew Stadium) have a permanent stage at one end of the stadium used for the express purpose of staging concerts.

A SSS typically has amenities, dimensions and scale suitable for soccer in North America, including a scoreboard, video screen, luxury suites and possibly even a roof. The field dimensions are within the range found optimal by FIFA — 110–120 yards (100-110m) long by 70–80 yards (64-75m) wide, wider than the regulation American football field width of 53⅓ yards, or the 65-yard width of a Canadian football field. Lastly, the seating capacity is generally small enough to provide an intimate setting, between 18,000 – 30,000 for a Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise, or between 5,000 – 15,000 for a franchise in the North American Soccer League or USL Pro (whose attendance is subject to more variation), as opposed to the much larger American football stadiums in which most MLS teams were compelled to play at the league's inception (generally 60,000 – 80,000). The seating capacity for USL Premier Development League fields ranges from 1,000–5,000. The first major SSS in the United States is the Columbus Crew's Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, whereas Canada's first is BMO Field in Toronto, Ontario, home of Toronto FC.

Soccer-specific stadiums first came into use in the 1990s, during the decline of the multi-purpose stadium era.^{[citation needed]} Prior to this, professional soccer in the United States primarily used American football fields, many of which were oversized in terms of seating capacity, undersized in terms of width of the soccer pitch, and often used artificial turf (which, at the time, was banned for international soccer under FIFA rules). Although most of the newer baseball parks were a better fit for the game of soccer, having smaller capacities and a wider field in which to place the pitch, these parks were generally in use during the summer season in which the United States plays most of its soccer. Thus, the professional soccer leagues in the United States began pressing for and constructing their own stadiums, much as the professional football and baseball teams had done in the years prior.^{[citation needed]}

The term "football-specific stadium" is sometimes used in countries where the sport is known as football, although it is not as common in countries where football is the dominant sport and thus football-specific stadiums are quite common, or in countries where baseball is dominant (Far East, Central America and the Caribbean). The term tends to have a slightly different meaning in these countries, usually referring to a stadium without an athletics track surrounding the pitch.

List of soccer-specific stadiums in North America

Major League Soccer (MLS)

Current MLS soccer-specific stadiums

Stadium	Club(s)	City	Capacity	Opened	Cost (Millions USD)
BBVA Compass Stadium	Houston Dynamo	Houston, TX	22,039	2012	110
Bmo !BMO Field	Toronto FC	Toronto, ON	21,859	2007	62.5
Columbus Crew Stadium	Columbus Crew	Columbus, OH	22,555	1999	28.5
Dick's Sporting Goods Park	Colorado Rapids	Commerce City, CO	19,680	2007	130
FC Dallas Stadium	FC Dallas	Frisco, TX	20,500	2005	80
The Home Depot Center	Los Angeles Galaxy, C.D. Chivas USA	Carson, CA	27,000	2003	150
Jeld-Wen Field	Portland Timbers	Portland, OR	20,323	2011	31*
Sporting Park	Sporting Kansas City	Kansas City, KS	18,467	2011	165*
PPL Park	Philadelphia Union	Chester, PA	18,500	2010	115
Red Bull Arena	New York Red Bulls	Harrison, NJ	25,189	2010	220
Rio Tinto Stadium	Real Salt Lake	Sandy, UT	20,008	2008	115
Saputo Stadium	Montreal Impact	Montreal, QC	20,521	2008	40
Toyota Park	Chicago Fire	Bridgeview, IL	20,000	2006	98

Future MLS soccer-specific stadiums

Stadium	Club(s)	City	Capacity	Planned Opening	Cost (Millions USD)
New Earthquakes Stadium	San Jose Earthquakes	San Jose, CA	~18,000	2014*	60*

Proposed MLS soccer-specific stadiums

Proposed stadium	Club(s)	City	Capacity	Current/Former Stadium
Whitecaps Waterfront Stadium*	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	Vancouver, BC	20,000–30,000	BC Place

In 2011 Bob Lenarduzzi confirmed that the team is now committed to BC Place, and that plans for the waterfront stadium have been put on hold.

North American Soccer League (NASL) and United Soccer Leagues (USL)

Current NASL/USL stadiums

Stadium	Club(s)	Division	City	Capacity	Opened
Anheuser-Busch Center			Fenton, MO	6,000	1982
Busch Field	Virginia Legacy William & Mary Tribe	PDL NCAA	Williamsburg, VA	2,271	1984
Atlanta Silverbacks Park	Atlanta Silverbacks	NASL	Atlanta, GA	5,000	2006
Blackbaud Stadium	Charleston Battery	USL Pro	Charleston, SC	5,113	1999
City Park Stadium	Westchester Flames	PDL	New Rochelle, NY	1,845	1970s
David Maus Soccer Complex	Central Florida Kraze	PDL	Lake Mary, FL	3,666	1995
Ezell Park	Nashville Metros	PDL	Nashville, TN	1,317	1950s
Highmark Stadium	Pittsburgh Riverhounds	USL Pro	Pittsburgh, PA	3,500	2013
Invaders Soccer Complex	Indiana Invaders	PDL	South Bend, IN	4,985	2004
Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium	Puerto Rico Islanders	NASL	Bayamón, PR	22,000	1974
Legion Stadium	Wilmington Hammerheads	USL Pro	Wilmington, NC	5,300	1930s?
Lusitano Stadium	Western Mass Pioneers	PDL	Ludlow, MA	3,000	1918
Macpherson Stadium	Carolina Dynamo	PDL	Browns Summit, NC	1,600	2002
National Sports Center	Minnesota Stars FC	NASL	Blaine, MN	8,500	1990
Patriot Stadium	Chivas El Paso Patriots	PDL	El Paso, TX	3,000	2005
Sahlen's Stadium	Rochester Rhinos Western New York Flash	USL Pro NWSL	Rochester, NY	13,500	2006
Toyota Field	San Antonio Scorpions	NASL	San Antonio, TX	8,000 (initially)	2013
Virginia Beach Sportsplex	Hampton Roads Piranhas	PDL	Virginia Beach, VA	10,000	1999
WakeMed Soccer Park	Carolina RailHawks	NASL	Cary, NC	10,000	2002

Proposed soccer-specific stadiums

Club(s)	Proposed stadium	Proposed stadium capacity	Division	City	Current/Former Stadium	Capacity
NY Cosmos	NY Cosmos Stadium		NASL	Belmont Park, NY	None

Other soccer-specific stadiums

Stadium	Team(s)	Division	City	Capacity	Opened
Ellis Field	Texas A&M Aggies	NCAA	College Station, TX	3,500	1994
King George V Park	National Stadium Memorial Sea-Hawks	CONCACAF CIS	St. John's, NL	10,000	1925
Kennesaw State University Soccer Stadium	Kennesaw State Owls	NCAA	Kennesaw, GA	8,300	2010
Maryland SoccerPlex	Washington Spirit	NWSL	Germantown, MD	5,128	2000
Mean Green Village	North Texas Mean Green	NCAA	Denton, TX	1,000	2006
Mike Rose Soccer Complex	Memphis Tigers Various	NCAA Local	Memphis, TN	2,500	2001
Morrison Stadium	Creighton Bluejays Various	NCAA Local	Omaha, NE	6,000	2003
Orange Beach Sportsplex	Local teams	Local	Orange Beach, AL	1,500	2001
Starfire Sports Complex	Seattle Reign FC Seattle Sounders Women	NWSL W-League	Tukwila, WA	4,593	2002
UNCG Soccer Stadium	University of North Carolina at Greensboro	NCAA	Greensboro, NC	3,540	1990
Uihlein Soccer Park	MSOE Raiders Various	NCAA Local	Milwaukee, WI	7,000	1994
Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium	Hawaiʻi Rainbow Wahine Various	NCAA Local	Waipiʻo, HI	4,500	2000
WRAL Soccer Center	CASL teams	CASL	Raleigh, NC	3,200	1990s
Yurcak Field	Rutgers Scarlet Knights	NCAA	Piscataway, NJ	5,000	1994

Past soccer-specific stadiums

Stadium	Club(s)	City	Capacity	Opened	Years Used	Status
Mark's Stadium	Fall River Marksmen Fall River F.C.	North Tiverton, Rhode Island	15,000	1922

See also

• List of soccer stadiums in the United States
• List of soccer stadiums in Canada
• List of football (soccer) stadiums by capacity
• List of Major League Soccer stadiums
• List of Women's Professional Soccer stadiums