By Ben Nicholson
January 15 – Louisville FC, which plays in the US third tier USL, is signalling MLS ambition by commissioning planning firm Conventions, Sports & Leisure International to perform a feasibility study for the construction of a football-specific stadium.
In the words of Louisville City FC president, Amanda Duffy, the plan “illustrates the decisive action that we’re all taking to achieve the ambition of bringing the highest level of professional sports.”
The club has also hired ad agency, Scoppechio, to assist in outreach and public engagement activity. The idea is to “promote LCFC across all channels of communication, elevating brand visibility, social engagement and community presence and in the process help shape an impactful voice for their brand.”
The Kentucky club currently plays in the USL, and shares a stadium with a baseball team, but is hoping to become one of the MLS expansion spots that the league has indicated are available for the near future (going beyond the original plans to expand to 24 teams by 2020).
The financial benefits of owning a stadium, and thus being able to retain revenue from concession sales and to rent out the stadium for other events, makes a franchise bid more attractive to the league for its suggestion of long-term viability.
The history of failed attempts to popularise professional soccer in the US, which date back as recent as 1984 when the original North American Soccer League folded for financial reasons, means that financial security weighs heavily in the league’s expansion decisions.
In this way, the study will assuage the league’s concerns while simultaneously beginning to develop the arguments for why the stadium is a worthwhile investment for the area and potential investors.
Louisville’s Mayor said: “We’re playing to win, and we’re dreaming big. But we have much work to do and funding sources to find.”
The study will examine the physical, operational and financial characteristics of the prospective build. Four separate stadium sites will be considered, one of which is in downtown Louisville.
This one is likely to be the site of most interest to the club since the MLS has previously indicated that an expansion award would require a downtown stadium location.
Louisville FC still needs the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau to approve the study. And if approved, an additional study will take place to examine the feasibility of creating a sports complex that offers youths and amateur persons the opportunity to play sports including lacrosse, baseball and softball.
The cost of the study is around the $75,000 mark, and the eventual stadium is likely to require $50-$60 million.
In early 2015, the talk was the club was on the hunt for a location for a stadium that would seat somewhere between 10,000 and 25,000 people. The locals were encouraged to show their support to Louisville in the interim to demonstrate that there is a market for soccer in the area.
For the 2015 USL season the team averaged 6,765 attendees, which is double the majority of its competition in the league. The team, in what was its first season, finished second in the Eastern Conference, but a sizeable 13 points adrift from league champions Rochester Rhinos.
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