Longtime soccer hotbed St. Louis finally gets team
When season tickets sales began for Major League Soccer's newest team, St. Louis City SC leaders figured they'd be a hot ticket in a city with a deep love for the sport.
Even they were caught off guard by the response: More than 60,000 deposits for the 19,000 available season passes.
“St. Louisans are so proud of their city and so supportive of anything like this,” team President and CEO Carolyn Kindle said. “I had no idea how crazy that support was going to go.”
Seven years ago, the NFL's Rams departed for Los Angeles after making the case that St. Louis wasn't big enough and lacked the corporate support for three pro sports franchises. Soccer fans beg to differ.
The privately built, 22,500-seat, $458 million
CityPark Stadium is spurring new development in the western area of downtown. Team merchandise sales ranked in the top five in MLS in 2022 — before the team played a game.
The franchise-opener is Saturday in Austin, Texas. The first home game is March 4 against Charlotte.
“It's a big thing for the city, not just for soccer,” said Dave Lange, a St. Louis soccer historian. “There's a lot of pent-up enthusiasm.”
MLS Commissioner Don Garber said he believed the loss of the Rams “helped energize the community to get behind a sport they love.”
“In order to be successful in sports you need to have a devoted, committed owner, you need to have a great facility and you need to have a market that really loves and understands the game,” Garber said. “We have all three of those in place now.”