Soccer is setting attendance records across North America, and that's helping to spur another boom: stadium design and construction.
New arenas have opened within the past three years for teams in Major League Soccer, the top tier of professional soccer in the United States, including facilities in Austin, Texas, and St. Louis, Missouri. Two more stadiums are under construction in Miami and New York.
But it’s the minor leagues of professional soccer that have the most activity in stadium development, with new facilities in the planning phase or under construction in at least a dozen cities in the U.S. and Canada. All this activity is putting a spotlight on stadium architecture.
In the U.S., new stadiums are typically rectangular with evenly distributed seating on all four sides of the pitch. This uniformity can lack the quirky features of Premier League stadiums in the United Kingdom, such as Luton Town FC’s Kenilworth Road stadium, a facility built more than a century ago where visiting sides and their fans must pass under two-story townhouses to enter the stadium.
Offsetting that lack of quirkiness, top architecture firms including HOK, Populous, Gensler and others have designed U.S. soccer stadiums to provide fans with plenty of modern amenities, like clear sight lines of the on-field action and lots of food and beverage vendors in the concourses. Canopies cover the seating areas in many new stadiums, and gaps in the stadium structure provide views of nearby cityscapes.
"The large roof canopy, which covers the entire seating bowl, protects fans from rainfall and keeps the seats heated," Gensler said of its design of Q2 Stadium in Austin. "The stadium is also oriented to pull in breezes aided by open corners, an open-air concourse and breathable mesh fabric seats."
Design complexity
That design complexity isn't overlooked, with stadium architects singled out for professional achievement. Energizer Park in St. Louis won the 2024 Prix Versailles World Title for sports architecture.
"The stadium’s inclusive, transparent design invites all of St. Louis to share in the soccer experience and offers a best-in-class fan experience," according to the Prix Versailles judges. "A flat portico, elegant canopy and slender columns maximize engagement with the city."
There are still setbacks and challenges. Some of these cities have stadium plans on the drawing board but are a long way from playing in new digs. Stadium plans have been delayed in Indianapolis; Sacramento, California; and Halifax, Nova Scotia, because of difficulties in obtaining financial backing. All three cities already have active teams, but owners want to construct new stadiums or, in the case of Halifax, renovate an existing facility.
And while USL Championship, the top-tier minor league, awarded new franchises to Milwaukee and Des Moines, Iowa, owners in both cities are trying to line up financing for new stadiums.
In some cases, stadium deals can be just the beginning of construction in their neighborhoods. Projects can sometimes pair new facilities with surrounding retail, residential, hospitality and office developments. A mixed-use development is planned, for example, at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado, home of the Colorado Rapids of the MLS.