St. Louis's MLS Stadium Begins to Take Shape

St. Louis's to-be-named club won't begin play until 2022, but its stadium plan is coming together.

Avi Creditor | Nov 1, 2019

St. Louis's MLS Stadium Begins to Take Shape /

St. Louis will join MLS in 2022 along with Sacramento, and like its expansion counterpart, its downtown stadium plan is taking shape.

The St. Louis MLS ownership group released renderings of its stadium and adjoining training-field complex, which are slated to be constructed near Union Station on a nearly 30-acre plot of land. The stadium will have a 22,500-seat capacity, with the ability to be expanded to 25,000, and will be situated at the cross-section between 20th and 22nd streets and Market and Olive streets.

The privately-financed venue is slated to have a canopy-style roof around the arena and is roughly a 1.5-mile walk from the famous Gateway Arch.

“Our vision is to create a district around our proposed MLS stadium that will get people excited to visit Downtown West, not only before and after games, but on non-game days as well,” said Carolyn Kindle Betz, head of the league's first majority-female ownership group. “We believe this district will not only be the heart of St. Louis soccer, but a special piece of downtown that will fuel the renaissance currently underway.”

St. Louis and Sacramento will follow Miami and Nashville (2020) and Austin (2021) as expansion teams, with the league still looking to fill one final berth on its quest to be at 30 clubs. Whether a club joins Austin in 2021 so the league is not at a point where it has an uneven number of teams remains to be seen.

Published Nov 1, 2019

AVI CREDITOR

Avi Creditor is a senior editor and has covered soccer for more than a decade. He’s also a scrappy left back.