A former quarry off Trafficway Street in downtown Springfield could be the home of Missouri’s next minor-league soccer team.
Mayor Ken McClure sponsored a bill to fund a pro soccer feasibility study.
“Sports is always important here," he told Ozarks Public Radio just before a special council meeting Tuesday. "It’s a big attraction, it’s a big draw. It complements very well, I think, what we’ve got with our universities, with the other professional sports as well, so that’s really why I’m supporting all that.”
The city would carry out the study in partnership with the USL, or United Soccer League. That’s the biggest soccer organization in North America — and city officials say it’s “rapidly expanding” to places like Springfield and northwest Arkansas.
The proposed feasibility study requires Springfield to kick in $75,000 in taxpayer money, with USL funding the rest. The study would determine if the quarry-turned-parkland site at Trafficway Street and National Avenue works for a soccer stadium — and if men’s and women’s soccer teams would make sense for Springfield.
City officials said discussions about bringing pro soccer to Springfield have been ongoing for at least two years.
McClure said the public will have a chance to comment on whether to fund the proposed soccer study at City Council’s December 16 meeting.
"I think it’s money well spent," McClure said of the potential $75,000 study. "I believe it will show that it’s all very doable — but if it doesn’t, then we will know that. So that really is the value of what we will be doing.”
