The Dallas-Fort Worth area is home to many professional sports, including football's Dallas Cowboys, baseball's World Series champion Texas Rangers, basketball's Dallas Mavericks, hockey's Dallas Stars, and soccer's FC Dallas. is already known as. Now, this region is joining that roster.
The region is home to a Division 1 women's professional soccer team, and Dallas Trinity FC will be one of eight teams to launch the USL Super League. Dallas Trinity FC announced Thursday its name, team colors and leadership, as well as plans to play its home games at Dallas' historic Cotton Bowl Stadium.
Dallas Trinity FC's plan to play at Fair Park's Cotton Bowl Stadium comes after the City Council this week approved a grant of approximately $18,500 per game, or not to exceed $592,000 over two years. It was reported that this was followed. city documents.
As part of the deal, Dallas Trinity FC will call the stadium home when the season begins in August. Jim Neal, CEO and co-founder of Dallas-based real estate investment banking firm Churchill Capital, is the CEO and owner of the new team. Neal did not immediately respond to an interview request from Coster News.
His son, Charlie Neal, is the president of Dallas Trinity FC. On Thursday, the team named Chris Petrucelli general manager. Most recently, Petrucelli was the head coach of the Chicago Red Stars, a professional women's soccer team in the National Women's Soccer League. Prior to joining the Red Stars, she was the head coach of the Southern Methodist University women's soccer team for 10 years and also served as the head coach of the University of Texas at Austin women's soccer team, winning the Big 12 Championship in 2006 and 2007. Won the ship twice.
“North Texas has been waiting for this, and now is the right time to bring women's professional soccer to Dallas, the best sports business city in the country,” Charlie Neal said in a statement Thursday.
Dallas will subsidize the new team and invest in the city's sports assets as part of its role in promoting tourism and hospitality by attracting and relocating professional sports franchises and major sporting events, according to public documents. Is going.
The Cotton Bowl, a nearly 100-year-old stadium, is the centerpiece of Fair Park, a collection of 1930s Art Deco buildings. Fair Park is headquartered in One of the largest concentrations of early 20th century Art Deco exposition buildings Around the world, according to the Dallas Historical Society. About 20 of the exposition buildings remain and help host the annual State Fair of Texas. During the fair, the Cotton Bowl can accommodate 46,000 seated fans and will be home to the Red River showdown between the UT and University of Oklahoma football teams.
The first football game at the Cotton Bowl was held on October 26, 1930. Texas State Historical Society.But over the next few decades, the stadium hosted a variety of sporting events, including Soccer icon Lionel Messi At the beginning of this year.
Dallas Trinity FC will play in colors the team is calling “Sunrise Maroon,” as well as colors called “Prairie Gold” and “Live Oak Green,” according to a statement. A women's professional soccer team is not the first to rise to prominence in Dallas. In 1973, the Dallas Sting became the first women's soccer club in the United States.
Then in 1980, dallas cup was established and became the most prestigious youth soccer tournament in the country. According to the U.S. Youth Soccer Association, the Dallas area is home to more female soccer players than anywhere else in the United States.
Along with Dallas Trinity FC, the first eight teams in the new league will play their home games for the 2024 season at the following locations:
- Brooklyn FC: Play home matches at the iconic Maimonides Park in Coney Island.
- Carolina Ascent FC: The team will play its home games at the historic American Legion Memorial Stadium in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina.
- Fort Lauderdale United FC: The team has plans to build a modernized stadium and on-site training facility in partnership with Nova Southeastern University at the former practice facility of the NFL's Miami Dolphins.
- Lexington SC: The club is working on bringing a 6,500-seat stadium and training and medical complex to Lexington, Kentucky.
- Spokane Zephyr FC: The club will play in a new 5,500-seat stadium being built in the Northbank Arts and Entertainment District in Spokane, Washington.
- Tampa Bay Sun FC: The ownership group has long-term plans to build a soccer-specific stadium in the center of the team and is considering sites for a temporary stadium for the first season in 2024.
- Super League Washington DC: The team has not yet announced details of where they plan to play the game, according to its website.
