The venue is supposed to open in 2027.
It is almost full speed ahead in the construction of a 15,000 seat soccer venue and village in Detroit for the owners of the United Soccer League’s Detroit City FC franchise. The Detroit City FC ownership claims that it will pay for the venue’s construction which right now is pegged at $150 million. There may be a speed bump though. Detroit City FC owners need to get the Detroit City Council to approve tax abatements to support the project so the soccer team’s ownership group is getting public assistance. No word on how much that might be worth. The plan is to knock down an old hospital to clear the land for the facility. Detroit taxpayers will be paying for razing the building. There are some gadgets that might be available for the Detroit lawmakers to consider including capturing all sales taxes collected in the stadium footprint and sending the money to the Detroit City FC to help pay for the project.
The Detroit City FC ownership needs to have a much bigger facility to be part of the USL’s upgrade. The United Soccer League plans to go “major league”. The USL has been around since 2011 and has been considered a minor league or Division II grouping by the United States Soccer Federation. The USL has 24 franchises, most of them are in smaller markets that would not necessarily be considered major league markets. The league has franchises in some big-league markets including Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, Oakland, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, San Antonio and the Tampa Bay area. There is someone else keeping an eye on the Detroit soccer stadium development. Mike Repole, who bought into the United Football League, is very interested in keeping the Michigan Panthers team alive and the planned Detroit stadium would be perfect for his league.
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