03/20/2025
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PENSACOLA MAY BECOME HOME TO A PROFESSIONAL SOCCER FRANCHISE
By John Singley
PENSACOLA, Fla (Mar 19, 2025) The growing Pensacola brand has caught the attention of the United Soccer League, largest and fastest-growing professional and pre-professional soccer organization in the United States.
Mayor D.C. Reeves announced yesterday that the City will begin negotiating with the USL to bring women and men’s pro soccer to Pensacola. The discussion will take one year but could be extended for six months.
Reaction was positive from the largest soccer organization in town. Josh Hadden is the president of Pensacola Youth Soccer.
Hadden told Studio 850 News “Pensacola Youth Soccer is excited about the potential partnership between USL and the City of Pensacola, which will create new opportunities for our growing recreational league and the local soccer community. With Pensacola already hosting premier events like the SEC Women’s Soccer Championship and NAIA tournaments, we appreciate Mayor D.C. Reeves’ leadership in driving investment in sports and expanding opportunities for young athletes.”
The Mayor was joined at his announcement press conference yesterday by Steven Short, Executive V.P. for Club Expansion at USL.
Short’s message was that any expansion in Pensacola would be driven by the area’s soccer community and sports organizations interest along with the business community. Short said the ability of a community to sustain pro soccer is key to USL’s expansion success.
What does sustainability look like?
USL’s model looks for “deep-rooted” local ownership of their franchise. That’s one thing USL and the City will explore during negotiations.
The Mayor mentioned Greg Harris, Ice Flyers owner and Quint Studer, Blue Wahoos owner, as examples of how important local ownership is to pro sports success.
Is the market large enough to support pro soccer?
Short said USL will engage area soccer clubs to understand their interest in supporting a franchise in Pensacola. Both the Blue Wahoos and Ice Flyers both with growing attendance, regularly draw fans from Destin to Baldwin County.
Where will a pro soccer team play?
That is an open-ended question for now. Reeves said downtown Pensacola is his preference. He emphasized there are a number of possibilities but importantly, the time to talk about location is now as the City and County move forward on what Reeves says is the City’s top venue priority, “fixing the Bay Center.”
What’s the Bay Center got to do with a soccer stadium?
The Mayor says he’s looked into how USL stadiums are financed and constructed. Traditional sports stadiums and multi-use facilities are possible. Hold that thought about multi-use facilities. We'll tie that into the Bay Center in a moment.
The new Tampa Bay Sun USL team plays in a 5,000 seat Blake HIgh School’s Riverfront stadium.
-- The new Jacksonville franchise, Sporting JAX, owned by Tim Tebow, plays at the University of North Florida football stadium.
-- The Monterey Bay FC plays in a refurbished 5,000 seater at the former Ft. Ord army base in Seaside, CA.
-- The Carolina Ascent USL Super League team plays at the refurbished 15,500 seat American Legion Memorial stadium in downtown Charlotte, NC.
--Dothan United SC. They play USL League 2 in the Dothan hIgh School football stadium. 10,000 seats.
USL info on their clubs: https://www.uslsuperleague.com/league-clubs/
Reeves mentioned Escambia School District property, without being specific, as an option that could be “thrown into the gumbo” of possibilities. Pensacola HIgh school’s football stadium, seating 10,000+ is technically downtown.
Then, there’s Blue Wahoos’ stadium, maybe the tastiest piece of the Gumbo of Possibilities.
But, back to priority one, fixing the Bay Center. Expanding the Bay Center footprint as part of the renovations to include a multi-use facility, has become a hot topic.
In a Frequently Asked Questions document the City released during yesterday's announcement, the city listed what a multi-use facility could accommodate:
o Football and other sporting events
o Concerts
o Community events such as fairs, festivals, charity events, and much more.
o Exhibitions
o Trade Shows
o Any event that would need a large facility that can hold large crowds.
