Minnesota Lawyer
The proposed site for the soccer stadium.
Some of Minnesota’s wealthiest residents confirmed Wednesday that the state is getting a Major League Soccer expansion team starting in 2018 – and that the team hopes to play in a new soccer-only stadium near the Farmers Market in downtown Minneapolis.
Bill McGuire, the former UnitedHealth Group CEO who is leading the ownership group for the new MLS team, told reporters that the group is working with the Kansas City-based Populous architecture firm on plans for an 18,500-seat stadium on a site just west of Target Field and adjacent to Interstate 94.
McGuire’s group includes Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor and the Pohlad family, which owns the Minnesota Twins, and philanthropist Wendy Carlson Nelson of the Carlson hospitality empire.
Kansas City-based Populous, the architecture firm selected for the Minneapolis soccer stadium, designed Kansas City’s soccer stadium called Sporting Park. The stadium opened in 2011.(AP file photo)
The ownership group of the Major League Soccer team is interested in sites at 501 and 415 Royalston Ave. N. in Minneapolis, which are near the Royalston station on the future Southwest Light Rail Transit line.
Last fall, Finance & Commerce reported that the ownership group was considering the 7.9-acre site, which includes parcels at 501 and 415 Royalston Ave. N. near the Royalston station on the future Southwest Light Rail Transit line.
McGuire said the stadium’s cost would be in line with other MLS venues. Those stadiums range from “$100 million to $200 million,” he said at a press event at Target Field.
The group hopes to finalize stadium plans by July 1.
“This is a historic day in Minnesota for soccer,” said MLS Commissioner Don Garber, flanked by soccer fans singing fight songs and wearing Minnesota United shirts.
Garber added that a new soccer stadium in downtown Minneapolis would be “a cathedral for our league,” though he didn’t elaborate on how it would be paid for.
On Wednesday, McGuire declined to go into specifics on funding plans for the stadium. Elected officials – including Gov. Mark Dayton – have said they would not support public money for the venue.
Dayton had told reporters on Tuesday that he’s pleased that an MLS team is coming to Minnesota, but he hastened to add that a new soccer stadium would have to be paid for with “private resources.”
Still, Garber expressed confidence that the ownership group can make the stadium a reality.
Though the new Minnesota Vikings stadium under construction in downtown Minneapolis would be able to accommodate soccer, Garber and McGuire made it clear that they prefer an outdoor stadium made specifically for soccer.
Minnesota’s existing professional soccer team, the Minnesota United, plays in the North American Soccer League, a second division of pro soccer in the U.S. The team plays at the National Sports Center in Blaine.
The MLS represents the highest level of pro soccer in the U.S., said Max Lipset, a local high school soccer coach and former professional soccer player.
Though Minnesota is a mid-sized market, the state has a long history of supporting professional soccer, said Lipset, who played for the Minnesota Stars – now the Minnesota United – in 2010.
“A major impediment to the growth and success of professional soccer has been the location of the stadium, currently in Blaine,” Lipset said in an email. “Bringing soccer to the cities will definitely make it easier for people to go see games.”
Hard-core soccer fans also prefer outdoor stadiums with natural grass, and “turf and indoor stadiums are not favorable,” he said.
