Blogs: How Many Pro Soccer Teams Play in Baseball Stadiums?

Tristan D'Amours
Aug 23, 2017 · 8 min read
USL expansion franchise Nashville SC announced they would play at First Tennessee Park in 2018. Courtesy NatureBoyMD — Wikimedia Commons

With the news that came out Wednesday from the USL’s Nashville SC announcing that they would play their first season out of First Tennessee Park, a Baseball Stadium hosting Oakland Athletics AAA affiliate Nashville Sound, I decided to do a little bit of digging.

Exactly how many teams are currently — and are scheduled to — play soccer in a baseball field?

We know now that playing soccer in a baseball field isn’t ideal. First off, there’s covering part of the baseball diamond with either turf of slabs of grass, which never works to perfection. Then there’s the limitation in regards to the size of the field.

Off the field, there’s also the fan appreciation that can take a hit when watching a soccer game in a stadium meant to watch the sport of baseball as opposed to the sport of soccer. The seats aren’t necessarily placed in the right areas and you might be far from the pitch.

Let’s look at the four main professional soccer leagues — MLS, the NASL, the USL and the NWSL — and see how they’re doing on that front:

Courtesy Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer (MLS)

Eastern Conference:

· Toronto FC — BMO Field — Soccer Specific (grass)

· NYCFC — Yankee Stadium — MLB Baseball field (grass)

· Chicago Fire — Toyota Park — Soccer Specific (grass)

· New York Red Bulls — Red Bull Arena — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Columbus Crew SC — Mapfre Stadium — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Montreal Impact — Stade Saputo — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Atlanta United FC — Bobby Dodd Stadium / Mercedes-Benz Stadium — College Football stadium / NFL stadium (grass / turf)

· Orlando City FC — Orlando City Stadium — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Philadelphia Union — Talen Energy Stadium — Soccer Specific (grass)

· New England Revolution — Gillette Stadium — NFL stadium (turf)

· DC United — RFK Stadium — Former NFL stadium (grass)

Western Conference:

· Seattle Sounders — CenturyLink Field — NFL stadium (turf)

· Sporting KC — Children’s Mercy Park — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Houston Dynamo — BBVA Compass Stadium — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Portland Timbers — Providence Park — Soccer Specific Converted MiLB Baseball field (turf)

· FC Dallas — Toyota Stadium — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Vancouver Whitecaps FC — BC Place — Canadian Football League stadium (turf)

· San Jose Earthquakes — Avaya Stadium — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Real Salt Lake — Rio Tinto Stadium — Soccer Specific (grass)

· LA Galaxy — StubHub Center — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Colorado Rapids — Dick’s Sporting Good Park — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Minnesota United FC — TCF Bank Stadium (temporary) — NCAA Football stadium (turf)

· LAFC — Banc of California Stadium — Soccer Specific (grass — expected)

Thoughts:

With the efforts made by MLS to have more soccer-specific stadiums in the past few years, it’s not a surprise to only see one ballpark in the mix. And we all have a pretty good idea why that ballpark is there: NYC locations for a soccer-specific stadium is and will remain tough to find.

The western conference has a higher total of soccer-specific stadium with eight (72 per cent of the conference), without counting the expansion LAFC, whereas the Eastern conference holds seven stadiums (68 per cent of the conference.

Soccer-Specific stadiums in Eastern Conference: 7 (63 % of conference)

Soccer Specific stadiums in Western Conference: 8 (72 % of conference)

Soccer Specific stadiums in MLS: 15 (68 % of the league)

Baseball stadiums in MLS: 1 (4 % of the league)

Courtesy North American Soccer League

North American Soccer League (NASL)

· FC Edmonton — Clarke Stadium — Canadian Football League/NASL 1.0 stadium (turf since 2000)

· Indy Eleven — IU Michael A. Carroll Track & Soccer Stadium — NCAA Track & Field and Soccer stadium (turf)

· Jacksonville Armada FC — Hodges Stadium — NCAA Track & Field and Soccer stadium (grass)

· Miami FC — Riccardo Silva Stadium — NCAA Football and Soccer stadium (turf)

· New York Cosmos — MCU Park — MiLB Baseball field (turf)

· North Carolina FC — WakeMed Soccer Park — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Porto Rico FC — Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium — Soccer Specific Converted Baseball Field (grass)

· San Francisco Deltas — Kezar Stadium — Track & Field and Football stadium (grass)

· California United FC — Titan Stadium — NCAA Soccer stadium (grass)

· San Diego NASL — Torero Stadium (temporary) — NCAA Football and Soccer stadium (grass)

Thoughts:

The NASL is a small league. But there is a trend when it comes to NASL team homes, and that’s NCAA stadium. There currently is a total of three NCAA stadium across the league with two more on the way with expansion. Only two soccer specific stadiums, but also, only one baseball stadium.

Soccer-Specific stadiums in the NASL: 2 (25 % of the league)

NCAA stadiums in the NASL: 3 (37.5 % of the league)

Baseball stadiums in the NASL: 1 (12.5 % of the league)

Courtesy United Soccer League

United Soccer League (USL)

Eastern Conference:

· Bethlehem Steel FC — Goodman Stadium — NCAA Football stadium (grass)

· Charleston Battery — MUSC Health Stadium — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Charlotte Independence — Sportsplex at Matthews — Soccer Complex (turf)

· FC Cincinnati — Nippert Stadium — NCAA Football stadium (turf)

· Harrisburg City Islanders — FNB Stadium — MiLB Baseball field (grass)

· Louisville City FC — Louisville Slugger Field — MiLB Baseball field (grass)

· NYRB II — MSU Soccer Park at Pittser Field — NCAA Soccer stadium (turf)

· Orlando City B — Orlando City Stadium — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Ottawa Fury FC — TD Place — Canadian Football League stadium (turf)

· Pittsburgh Riverhounds — Highmark Stadium — Soccer Specific (turf)

· Richmond Kickers — City Stadium — NCAA Football stadium (grass)

· Saint Louis FC — Toyota Stadium — Soccer Complex(turf)

· Tampa Bay Rowdies — Al Lang Stadium — Soccer Specific Converted Baseball field (grass)

· TFC II — Ontario Soccer Centre — Soccer Complex (turf)

Western Conference:

· Colorado Springs Switchback FC — Weidner Field — Soccer Specific (grass)

· LA Galaxy II — StubHub Center Track Stadium — Track & Field stadium (grass)

· OKC Energy FC — Taft Stadium — High School Football stadium (turf)

· Orange County SC — Champion Stadium — Soccer Specific (unconfirmed)

· Phoenix Rising FC — Phoenix Rising Soccer Complex — Soccer Complex (grass)

· T2 — Providence Park — Soccer Specific Converted MiLB Baseball field (turf)

· Real Monarchs SLC — Rio Tinto Stadium — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Reno 1868 FC — Greater Nevada Field — MiLB Baseball Field (grass)

· Rio Grande Valley FC — H-E-B Park — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Sacramento Republic FC — Papa Murphy’s Park — Soccer Specific (grass)

· San Antonio FC — Toyota Field — Soccer Specific (grass)

· S2 — Starfire Stadium — Soccer Complex (turf)

· Swope Park Rangers — Swope Park Village — Soccer Complex (grass)

· Tulsa Roughnecks FC — ONEOK Field — MiLB Baseball Field (grass)

· WFC 2 — Thunderbird Stadium — U Sports (Canadian college) Football and Soccer stadium (turf)

USL Expansion:

· Austin — Circuit of the Americas stadium — Soccer Specific (Surface TBD)

· Birmingham — Stadium TBD

· Fresno FC — Chukchansi Park — MiLB Baseball field (grass)

· Las Vegas — Cashman Field — MiLB Baseball field (grass)

· Nashville SC — First Tennessee Park — MiLB Baseball field (grass)

Thoughts:

The USL is where we see the most baseball stadiums. Actually, the USL is the only league in this post that has more than one team playing in a baseball stadium. Granted, this is the league with the most teams in this post but the USL itself seems like it is the least concerned for its teams to play in baseball fields.

Not only does the league as a whole has four teams playing in ballparks, three of the five expansion franchises have already announced that their homes will be a ballpark. Add to that, the Birmingham, Alabama franchise has within its owners the current owner of the Birmingham Baron, which are the AA affiliate for the Chicago White Sox. You can sense that we may have four USL expansion franchises playing pro soccer in ballparks.

On the flip-side, the USL have a lot of teams that either built soccer-specific stadium or play in a soccer complex. More than half of the league is comprised of teams playing in either a soccer-specific stadium or a soccer complex. This might come from the fact that the USL hosts a lot of MLS hopeful teams that want to impress Don Garber and the MLS execs.

Soccer-Specific Stadiums and Soccer Complexes in Eastern Conference:7 (50 % of the conference)

Soccer-Specific Stadiums and Soccer Complexes in Western Conference:9 (60 % of the conference)

Soccer-Specific Stadiums and Soccer Complexes in the USL: 16 (55 % of the league)

Baseball stadiums in the USL: 4 (13 % of the league)

Announced baseball stadiums within the USL’s expansion franchises: 3 (60 % of the announced expansion)

Courtesy National Women’s Soccer League

National Women’s Soccer League

· Boston Breakers — Jordan Field — NCAA Soccer stadium (turf)

· Chicago Red Stars — Toyota Park — Soccer Specific (grass)

· FC Kansas City — Swope Park Village — Soccer complex (grass)

· Houston Dash — BBVA Compass Stadium — Soccer Specific (grass)

· North Carolina Courage — WakeMed Soccer Park — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Orlando Pride — Orlando City Stadium — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Portland Thorns — Providence Park — Soccer Specific Converted MiLB Baseball field (turf)

· Seattle Reign — Memorial Stadium — High School Football and Soccer stadium (turf)

· Sky Blue FC — Yurcak Field — Soccer Specific (grass)

· Washington Spirit — Maryland SoccerPlex — Soccer complex (grass)

Thoughts:

I’m pleasantly surprised to see more than half of the NWSL played in either soccer-specific stadium or soccer complexes. The MLS/NWSL co-ownership of some teams helps this. Another great thing with the NWSL is the absence of baseball fields from the league.

Soccer-Specific stadiums in the NWSL: 6 (60 % of the league)

Soccer-Specific stadiums and soccer complexes in the NWSL: 8 (80 % of the league)

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Tristan D'Amours

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