Soccer-specific stadium

Soccer-specific stadium (SSS) is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada. It was coined by Lamar Hunt to refer to a sports stadium whose primary (but not only) purpose is to host soccer matches. An SSS may host other events such as other sporting events (e.g., Professional Lacrosse, high school football) or musical concerts but the design and purpose of an SSS is to be centered around soccer.

Still, these facilities often face criticism from fans in that they tend to be optimized for staging concerts, often resulting in one section of the stadium behind a goal having very few seats, if any. Instead, a berm or other feature is created where concert stages could be placed without destroying the main field.

An SSS typically has amenities, dimensions and scale suitable for soccer in the United States, including a scoreboard, video screen, luxury suites and possibly even a roof. The field dimensions are within the range found optimal by FIFA — 100-130 yards (90-120m) long by 50-100 yards (45-90m) wide (wider than the regulation American football field width of 53 1/3 yards). 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 United Soccer Leagues (whose attendance is subject to more variation), as opposed to the gigantic American football stadiums in which most MLS teams were compelled to play at the league's inception. The seating capacity for USL Premier Development League fields ranges from 1,000-5,000.

The first large SSS in Canada will be the National Soccer Stadium in Toronto. The original Toronto stadium plan was centered on a ground at York University that would have been used by the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts and an MLS team. That stadium would have been 65 yards wide in accordance with Canadian football standards and would have had one set of end zone seats mounted on a track so they could be moved back to make room for the 150 yard length of the Canadian football field and forth to provide an intimate setting for soccer. However, the York University plan was shelved. Plans for movable stands were then scrapped so the National Soccer Stadium at Exhibition Place will be soccer-only.

The term "football-specific stadium" is sometimes used in countries where the sport is known as football, although not so much so in countries where football is the dominant sport and thus football-specific stadia are quite common. The term tends to have a slightly different meaning in these countries, usually referring to a stadium without an athletic track.

List of Soccer Specific Stadiums

Major League Soccer (MLS)

Current MLS Stadiums

Stadium	Club(s)	City	Capacity	Opened	Cost (Millions USD)
Columbus Crew Stadium	Columbus Crew	Columbus, OH	22,500	1999	28.5
The Home Depot Center	Los Angeles Galaxy Club Deportivo Chivas USA	Carson, CA	27,000	2003	150
Pizza Hut Park	FC Dallas	Frisco, TX	21,193	2005	80
Toyota Park	Chicago Fire	Bridgeview, IL	20,000	2006	98
Rapids Stadium	Colorado Rapids	Commerce City, CO	~18,500	2007*	130*
National Soccer Stadium	Toronto FC	Toronto, ON	~20,000	2007*	62*
Red Bull Park	Red Bull New York	Harrison, NJ	~25,000	2008*	100*
Sandy Stadium	Real Salt Lake	Sandy, UT	~20,000	2009*	145*
Poplar Point Stadium	D.C. United	Washington, D.C.	~29,055 ^	2008*	40*

* = projected

Past Soccer-specific Stadiums

Stadium	Club(s)	City	Capacity	Opened	Years Used	Status
Lockhart Stadium	Miami Fusion	Fort Lauderdale, FL	20,450	1959	1998-2001	Open

Proposed Soccer-specific Stadiums

Club(s)	City	Current/Former Stadium(s)	Capacity
D.C. United	Washington, DC	RFK Stadium	55,672
Kansas City Wizards	Johnson County, KS	Arrowhead Stadium	79,101
Houston Dynamo	Houston, TX	Robertson Stadium	33,000
New England Revolution ^*	Boston, MA	Gillette Stadium	68,756
San Jose Earthquakes (Possible expansion team ^*)	San Jose, CA	Spartan Stadium	31,000
Possible Philadelphia expansion team ^*	Glassboro, NJ	None	-
Possible Milwaukee expansion team	Milwaukee, WI	None	-
Possible Cleveland expansion team	Summit County, OH	None	-
Possible Tulsa expansion team	Tulsa, OK	None	-

United Soccer Leagues (USL)

Current USL Stadiums

Stadium	Club(s)	Division	City	Capacity	Opened
Lusitano Stadium	Western Mass Pioneers	Second	Ludlow, MA	3,000	1918
Legion Stadium	Wilmington Hammerheads	Second	Wilmington, NC	5,300	1930s?
Ezell Park	Nashville Metros	PDL	Nashville, TN	1,317	1950s?
City Park Stadium	Westchester Flames	PDL	New Rochelle, NY	1,845	1970s?
Busch Field	Williamsburg Legacy William & Mary Tribe	PDL NCAA	Williamsburg, VA	2,271	1984
Invaders Soccer Complex	Indiana Invaders	PDL	Mishawaka, IN	4,985	2004
Kraze and Krush Stadium	Central Florida Kraze	PDL	Lake Mary, FL	3,666(?)	1995(?)
Virginia Beach Sportsplex	Virginia Beach Mariners Virginia Beach Submariners	First PDL	Virginia Beach, VA	10,000	1999
Blackbaud Stadium	Charleston Battery	First	Charleston, SC	5,113	1999
SAS Soccer Park	Raleigh CASL Elite	PDL	Cary, NC	7,000	2002
Macpherson Stadium	Carolina Dynamo	PDL	Greensboro, NC	1,600	2002
Patriot Stadium	El Paso Patriots	PDL	El Paso, TX	3,000(?)	2005
PAETEC Park	Rochester Raging Rhinos	First	Rochester, NY	13,500	2006
Silverbacks Park	Atlanta Silverbacks	First	Atlanta, GA	5,000(?)	2006
Saputo Stadium	Montréal Impact	First	Montréal, QC	14,673	2007
Liberty Bank Stadium	Des Moines Menace	PDL	Des Moines, IA	17,000	2009

Proposed Soccer-specific stadiums

Club(s)	City	Current/Former Stadium	Capacity
Toronto Lynx	Vaughan, ON	National Soccer Stadium at Exhibition Place	20,000
Vancouver Whitecaps	Vancouver, BC	Whitecaps Waterfront Stadium	15,000

Other Soccer-specific stadiums

Stadium	Club(s)	Division	City	Capacity	Opened
WRAL Soccer Center	CASL teams	CASL	Raleigh, NC	3,200	1990s
Starfire Sports Complex	Seattle Sounders (alt.) Various	USL-1 PCSL	Tukwila, WA	2,000	1990s
Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium	U. Hawaii Various	NCAA Local	Waipio, HI	4,500	2000
Mike Rose Soccer Complex	Memphis Tigers Various	NCAA Local	Memphis, TN	2,500	2001
King George V Park	National Stadium Various	CONCACAF Local	St. John's, NL	10,000	1925

External links

Football (soccer) venues | Lists of structures | Soccer venues in Canada | Soccer venues in the United States

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Soccer-specific stadium