St. Louis MLS expansion team will open with sleek downtown stadium

Now that St. Louis has achieved MLS expansion, leaders need to complete their soccer-specific stadium plans. The team starts play in 2022.

The St. Louis MLS expansion team has shown soccer-specific stadium plans to civic leaders and the public. But parties still want the security of finalized plans and explanations.

The downtown St. Louis soccer stadium will seat between 22,000-25,000 fans and will cost about $200 million.

By design, much of the construction cost will come from private investment through the ownership group.

St. Louis Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed has said the city will own the stadium and will cover any financing shortfall. The exact amount the public can expect to cover hasn’t been released.

https://twitter.com/MLS4theLou/status/1182030516117282817?s=20

The owners themselves have pledged a private financing level, described as overwhelming, for the stadium that will not require any Tax Increment, nor direct citywide tax investment. The only tax paid by the citizens would be included in the purchase price of tickets and items bought at the stadium.

Aldermen passed a resolution confirming those financing plans. A 2017 measure got voted down by the public that would require a higher level of public financing.

Plans call for the stadium to be completed in 2022 when the team begins play.

Planners designed the stadium so that no seat rests further than 120 feet from the pitch. The closest seats are positioned just 20 feet away.

Besides keeping city leaders informed, the ownership group has fan focus meetings planned.

Concerns about how much the city might have to contribute to the stadium construction come from questions of how successful the St. Louis MLS expansion franchise would be. Soccer supporters actually question any doubts.

Pat Noonan, Philadelphia Union assistant coach, former MLS player, and St. Louis native, has no question that the MLS expansion franchise will capture the public’s imagination as strongly as NHL St. Louis Blues and MLB Cardinals.

He expects the team to join in the momentum of those successful St. Louis franchises. It should become not just a premier soccer club but a community.

Sporting Kansas City captain Matt Besler also looks forward to meeting the St. Louis MLS expansion franchise in 2022.

Now Kansas City will have a second rivalry with St. Louis to go with Major League Baseball’s Royals and Cardinals, Besler emphasized. The rivalry between the two cities has extended in soccer since Besler played at the youth level.

MLS expansion is coming quickly to St. Louis. Players will hit the pitch of their new, downtown stadium in 2022. And that date can’t arrive too soon for the growing group of supporters.