Detroit Is Kicking In Money To Build A Soccer Stadium

The venue could be ready in 2027.

A Christmas present came early for the owners of the United Soccer League’s Detroit City FC franchise  It is almost full speed ahead in the construction of a 15,000 seat soccer venue and village for the ownership as the Detroit City Council is sending money and aid to help pay off the about $75 million of the construction debt of the planned facility. The Detroit City FC ownership claimed that it would pay for the venue’s construction which right now is pegged at $150 million. The plan is to knock down an old hospital to clear the land for the facility. Detroit taxpayers will be paying for the razing of the building. There are some gadgets that are 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 ownership to help pay for the project. The Detroit stadium plan is the latest successful effort by the USL to get municipal money for venues.

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 which would not necessarily be considered major league markets. The league has some franchises in 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 reviving the Michigan Panthers team  and the planned Detroit stadium would be perfect for his league.

Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191

Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com