The Dallas-Fort Worth region is already known for being a hotbed of professional sports with football's Dallas Cowboys, baseball's World Series-winning Texas Rangers, basketball's Dallas Mavericks, hockey's Dallas Stars and soccer's FC Dallas. Now the area is adding to its roster.
The region is getting a Division 1 professional women's soccer team with Dallas Trinity FC becoming one of eight teams to launch the USL Super League. Dallas Trinity FC unveiled its name, team colors and leadership on Thursday, as well as plans to play its home matches at the historic Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas.
Dallas Trinity FC's plans to play at the Cotton Bowl Stadium at Fair Park comes on the heels of the City Council approving a subsidy this week of about $18,500 per game, or an amount not to exceed $592,000 over a two-year period, according to city documents.
As part of the deal, Dallas Trinity FC will make its home at the stadium when the season begins in August. Jim Neil, CEO and co-founder of Churchill Capital Co., a Dallas-based real estate investment banking firm, is the new team's CEO and owner. Neil did not immediately return an interview request from CoStar News.
His son, Charlie Neil, is president of Dallas Trinity FC. On Thursday, the team also named Chris Petrucelli as its general manager. Most recently, Petrucelli was the head coach of the professional women's soccer team the Chicago Red Stars, which is part of the National Women's Soccer League. Prior to the Red Stars, he was the head coach of Southern Methodist University's women's soccer team for a decade, as well as head coach at the University of Texas at Austin's women's soccer team, winning two Big 12 championships in 2006 and 2007.
“North Texas has been waiting for this, and now is the right time for professional women’s soccer in Dallas — the best sports business city in the country,” Charlie Neil said in a statement Thursday.
The city of Dallas is providing subsidies for the new team as part of its role to promote tourism and hospitality through the attraction and relocation of professional sports franchises and major sporting events, as well as investing in the city's sports assets, according to public documents.
The Cotton Bowl, a nearly century-old stadium, is the centerpiece of Fair Park, which is a collection of Art Deco-style buildings created in the 1930s. Fair Park is home to one of the greatest concentrations of early 20th century Art Deco exposition buildings in the world, according to the Dallas Historical Society. The exposition buildings, of which about 20 remain, help host the annual State Fair of Texas. During the fair, the Cotton Bowl is home to the Red River Showdown between the UT and University of Oklahoma football teams with a capacity for 46,000 seated fans.
The first football game at the Cotton Bowl was held on Oct. 26, 1930, according to the Texas State Historical Association. But in the decades to follow, the stadium has held various sporting events, with one that included an appearance by soccer icon Lionel Messi earlier this year.
Dallas Trinity FC will play under colors the team is calling "sunrise maroon" as well as "prairie gold" and "live oak green," according to a statement. The professional women's soccer team isn't the first to rise in Dallas. In 1973, the Dallas Sting became the first all-girls soccer club in the United States.
Later in 1980, the Dallas Cup was founded and has become the most prestigious youth soccer tournament in the country. According to the U.S. Youth Soccer Association, the Dallas region is home to more girl soccer players than anywhere else in the nation.
Stadium Search
Along with Dallas Trinity FC, the new league's initial eight teams will play their home matches for the 2024 season at the following locations:
- Brooklyn FC: To play home matches at Maimonides Park in iconic Coney Island.
- Carolina Ascent FC: Team to play home matches at historic American Legion Memorial Stadium in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina.
- Fort Lauderdale United FC: The team has plans for a modernized stadium and on-site training facilities in partnership with Nova Southeastern University at the former practice facility of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.
- Lexington SC: The club is working to bring a 6,500-seat stadium and a training and medical complex to Lexington, Kentucky.
- Spokane Zephyr FC: The club plans to play in a new 5,500-seat stadium under construction and located in the North Bank Arts and Entertainment District in Spokane, Washington.
- Tampa Bay Sun FC: The ownership group is exploring temporary stadium sites for the inaugural 2024 season with long-term plans to build a centrally located soccer-specific stadium for the team.
- Super League Washington, D.C.: The team has yet to release details on where it plans to play its matches, according to its website.