Successful USL summer friendlies highlight need for Memphis soccer stadium

One of the benefits of American soccer leagues using the February to October calendar, as opposed to the August to May calendar used in Europe, is that the biggest clubs in Europe can come to the US over the summer for their preseason. That typically means lots of big crowds as people flock to see the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Barcelona, and Real Madrid. It also represents an opportunity for American teams, including those in the USL, to gain exposure by playing a friendly against a club from another country. And with several USL clubs playing friendlies this summer, it reinforces the need for the proposed soccer stadium in Memphis to get built.

This summer there were several USL teams that hosted friendlies against European opposition. Louisville City, long the gold standard for lower league American soccer, has their own stadium (Lynn Family Stadium) which opened up in 2020. Having their own stadium has allowed them to play US Open Cup games at home, field an NWSL team, and host their first ever club friendlies against foreign teams this summer. They first hosted FC Kaiserslautern from Germany and despite falling 2-1 they drew a crowd of 7,167. Several weeks later they played their second ever international club friendly, this time against Atlante FC from Mexico. They again lost 2-1 but drew a crowd of 8,176.

Sunderland AFC from England was a Premier League staple for many years but was relegated in 2017 and was then relegated out of the Championship down to League One the following season. They have since hauled their way back up to the Championship and decided to use that momentum to take a three-game preseason tour of the US. All three games would be against teams in the USL. First was a game against the reigning USL champions, San Antonio FC which drew a near-capacity crowd of 8,328 to Toyota Field. They followed that up with a trip to Albuquerque to take on New Mexico United, one of the routinely best attended teams in the USL Championship. The crowd there was a robust 8,129 at Isotopes Park. Sunderland’s third and final stateside preseason game was against North Carolina FC from USL League One. The game was played at WakeMed Soccer Park and drew a crowd of 2,806.

By far one of the biggest clubs to ever play against a USL team is Borussia Dortmund. The second largest club in Germany (behind only Bayern Munich) playing a friendly against the San Diego Loyal certainly set USL Twitter abuzz. For their part, San Diego Loyal has made a mark in the USL despite only starting play in 2020. They are owned by USMNT legend Landon Donovan and have qualified for the playoffs each of the last two seasons. But they were no match for Dortmund, conceding in just the second minute and losing 6-0. But with it just being a friendly the result was not so important. The crowd did leave something to be desired, as despite it being 12,207 for a USL team, it was smaller than the other two big soccer games at Snapdragon Stadium this summer (a Mexico friendly against Cameroon and the US Gold Cup game against Panama).

So that’s a total six friendlies against foreign clubs played by teams in the USL. What these games show, specifically the two Louisville friendlies and the San Antonio friendly, is that Memphis needs the proposed soccer stadium at Liberty Park to get built. Hosting these clubs for friendlies has proven to be a boon for these teams in USL. It’s extra eyeballs and extra butts in seats that they would otherwise not be getting. 901 FC has also benefited from hosting a club friendly before. Back in 2019 they played host to Pachuca from Mexico at AutoZone Park and drew 8,351 people. To this day that is still the second largest crowd to ever attend a Memphis 901 FC game (behind the 2020 season opener which drew 8,571 against Indy Eleven and just ahead of the inaugural game against the Tampa Bay Rowdies in 2019 which drew 8,062).

Getting the soccer stadium built would do so much for soccer in Memphis. 901 FC President Craig Unger has made the point that it would allow for other types of soccer events such as NCAA College Cup games or Gold Cup games. It would allow for 901 FC to play their US Open Cup games at home, which they were unable to do this year or last year. But it would also mean that they are able to have international club friendlies and while they may not get the teams like Arsenal or Chelsea or AC Milan, the USL teams this summer (and 901 FC in the past) have proven that crowds can still be great.