{"id":31924,"date":"2015-02-24T07:55:55","date_gmt":"2015-02-24T12:55:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=31924"},"modified":"2015-02-24T09:31:19","modified_gmt":"2015-02-24T14:31:19","slug":"could-mccoy-stadium-host-pro-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=31924","title":{"rendered":"Could McCoy Stadium Host Pro Soccer?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo credit: pawsox.com<\/p><\/div>\n

On Monday,\u00a0the\u00a0Pawtucket Red Sox announced its new ownership group<\/a>, and with it, the news that the team will be abandoning McCoy Stadium for a new stadium in Providence, R.I. as early as 2017<\/a>. With the venerable stadium’s days numbered\u00a0as a host for pro baseball, city officials would be wise to consider using\u00a0it to\u00a0court another pro sport: soccer.<\/p>\n

Why soccer\u00a0instead of\u00a0baseball? Because,\u00a0for all intents and purposes,\u00a0minor league baseball\u00a0isn’t coming back\u00a0once the last out is recorded at the 73-year-old stadium. The impending departure of the “PawSox” is just the latest in a\u00a0series of minor league outfits\u00a0escaping older ballparks for newer\u00a0homes.\u00a0The latest example can be found right in New England, where the New Britain Rock Cats are abandoning a ballpark that’s less than 20-years-old for a new home in Hartford, Ct.\u00a0What’s more, there’s a minor league\u00a0stadium\u00a0under construction in Columbia, S.C. that hasn’t even secured a tenant yet<\/a>. In other words, there’s no shortage of communities willing to pay hand over fist for the opportunity to host minor league\u00a0baseball.<\/p>\n

Given the current\u00a0climate,\u00a0the city has three options for the stadium, which underwent extensive renovations in 1999: 1.) demolish it, 2.) let it stand as an oversized\u00a0venue for youth sports,\u00a0or 3.) retrofit it for another pro\u00a0sport. If it chooses the latter,\u00a0soccer is the best alternative.\u00a0And here’s why.<\/p>\n

Over the last decade, the sport’s popularity in the U.S.\u00a0has jumped off the screen. TV viewership and attendance\u00a0figures across the country are\u00a0at all-time highs.\u00a0A number of smaller cities\u00a0similar to Pawtucket\u00a0have jumped on the soccer bandwagon by welcoming lower-division outfits. And it’s easy to see why. While families are\u00a0getting gauged by\u00a0the so-called “Big Four,” pro soccer\u00a0– whether it’s MLS, USL, or\u00a0NASL –\u00a0has proven itself as the budget-friendly alternative to\u00a0the $500 night out for a family of four.<\/p>\n

Yes,\u00a0McCoy Stadium isn’t suited for soccer at the moment. It’s configuration is for baseball, and baseball only (although it has hosted high school football during the fall). But\u00a0it does\u00a0boast a number of features that make it an attractive\u00a0venue to watch a soccer game.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Photo credit: pawsox.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Current capacity is listed at approximately 10,000,\u00a0which is\u00a0an ideal size for a home park in USL (3rd division)\u00a0or NASL (2nd division). The stadium’s amenities, which\u00a0have been\u00a0regularly updated over the years\u00a0to comply with\u00a0affiliated baseball’s\u00a0strict venue guidelines, unquestionably exceeds any existing standards in lower-division soccer. Parking, bathrooms, concourses\u00a0and sightlines – none of these items\u00a0are areas of concern at the stadium.<\/p>\n

Of course, positioning\u00a0it\u00a0as an attractive destination for an expansion minor league soccer club isn’t a difficult sell on paper. It’s easy to say how\u00a0everything could work in theory,\u00a0and imagine how\u00a0McCoy Stadium could be transformed\u00a0into a baby\u00a0Bernabeu<\/em> with the right\u00a0amount of\u00a0financial backing.\u00a0In reality, it would take a considerable time, effort, and money\u00a0to give the historic stadium a shot at netting a pro soccer team, and in essence, a new lease on life.<\/p>\n

For starters, a similar trend of building new stadiums\u00a0for pro soccer is not unlike the one that’s pulling the PawSox to Providence.\u00a0“Modern” and “urban”\u00a0are becoming\u00a0magic words for any prospective soccer owner. McCoy Stadium is neither, and perhaps most notably,\u00a0it hasn’t hosted a soccer match since 1970. Plus, the\u00a0appeal\u00a0of\u00a0having\u00a0a franchise – soccer or otherwise –\u00a0play its home games at\u00a0a venue built during World War II probably isn’t the stuff marketing dreams\u00a0are made of.<\/p>\n

But those factors shouldn’t\u00a0rule out McCoy Stadium as an\u00a0alternative. The field – one of the most expansive in\u00a0minor league baseball\u00a0– is large enough to accommodate a proper pitch. The clubhouses and weight rooms undoubtedly all\u00a0exceed\u00a0existing lower-division soccer\u00a0standards. Ditto for lighting. Not be overlooked: it has a natural grass surface. And what about turning it into a full-blown\u00a0soccer stadium? Well,\u00a0if\u00a0that were to come to pass, McCoy Stadium wouldn’t be the first.<\/p>\n

In 2009, Portland, Ore. approved\u00a0funding to retrofit\u00a0PGE Park\u00a0<\/a>– which, at the time,\u00a0served as the home to Minor League Baseball’s Portland Beavers – as a soccer-specific venue for the USL’s Portland Timbers. At the time, the Timbers were playing in the stadium as a part-time tenant, making due within the confines of\u00a0a baseball configuration. The Beavers left shortly after,\u00a0allowing the Timbers to take over. The city-approved\u00a0approved funding,\u00a0combined with private dollars, provided\u00a0the necessary upgrades ahead of the 2011 MLS season. Since then, the stadium – now called Providence Park – has welcomed capacity crowds of\u00a0nearly 20,000\u00a0on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Photo credit: Timbers.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Another thing to consider: lower division soccer is booming.\u00a0Booming as in BOOMING.\u00a0For proof, consider that USL will field 24 clubs in 2015 – a 200 percent increase from the eight under the league’s umbrella in 2010.\u00a0USL’s\u00a0rapid expansion\u00a0is so remarkable that\u00a0the league\u00a0is petitioning U.S. Soccer for second-division status (Triple-A soccer, if you will)\u00a0in 2016. Meanwhile,\u00a0NASL’s membership is also on the rise, with\u00a013 clubs set for 2016, and attendance figures rising 68 percent between 2011 and 2014. And with MLS clubs starting to organize and field their own USL sides, Pawtucket\u00a0would be a prime\u00a0location for a New England Revolution-backed USL franchise.<\/p>\n

There’s no\u00a0question it\u00a0would take considerable\u00a0steps to keep McCoy Stadium as the jewel of the\u00a0city once the PawSox leave.\u00a0It would take a strong financial\u00a0commitment, as well as\u00a0a\u00a0bold vision.\u00a0 A bold vision that could very well unlock\u00a0the stadium’s potential for hosting pro soccer – possibly for years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With minor league baseball set to leave Pawtucket, the city should use McCoy Stadium to court pro soccer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[8],"tags":[891,1002,1303,1003,1004,188,892,257],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/PawSox.png?fit=600%2C415&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31924"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31924"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31965,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31924\/revisions\/31965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}