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The old ballpark on the corner of 20th and Morrison in southwest Portland was a terrible place for soccer. The field had the wrong shape. The sight was terrible. And an artificial-turf-style playing surface that was bad enough to play baseball on was downright horrible for a “beautiful game.”
Nothing stopped the Timbers from calling Civic Stadium home. When that team first came into existence in the 1970s, it was in the turbulent dawn of professional men’s soccer in the United States, or when the franchise was revived as a minor league team in his early 2000s. And that didn’t stop the Women’s World Cup from using the same stadium for back-to-back competitions held in the United States in 1999 and 2003.
At the latter event, which I was covering in an Oregon newspaper, I saw a vision of how the stadium (then called PGE Park) could become a truly great place for football. It’s still not perfect, but my line of sight has improved. The field had real grass. On October 5, 2003, a sold-out crowd packed the park when the United States lost his 3–0 victory to Germany in the tournament semifinals. After the game, US striker Mia Hamm said the hardest part about losing was seldom, if ever, playing in front of such a frenzied and noisy crowd.
Now known as Providence Park, the site is the third home of the Timbers and two-time National Women’s Soccer League champion Thornes. In a place that only resembles a stadium that was once home to America’s other pastimes.
It’s also document A for the near-perfect solution to the puzzle facing Salt Lake City leaders today. Here’s what to do when Minor League Baseball’s Salt Lake Bees leave the Utah capital for a new hive in the suburbs.
The correct answer is Royal.
When the Women’s National Soccer League announced its expansion to Utah in 2017, there were many questions about whether Salt Lake would be able to support two professional soccer teams. These questions were answered in his first season when the Utah Royals became one of the most popular clubs in the league. And it wasn’t so much lack of support, but rather bad luck for the fans, in the form of the owner being banned from the league after making racist comments.
However, the group that later took over the men’s team retained the right to reopen the club in the women’s league, with owners David Blitzer and Ryan Smith revealing this is a ‘what if’ proposal. Did.
“We are very excited to bring the NWSL team back to this market,” Blitzer told the Salt Lake Tribune in early 2022. The fanbase loves it. The market is growing. Athletes are great. Women’s football continues to grow dramatically and this is the perfect place for the team. ”
Indeed, Blitzer and Smith would be wise to work with civic leaders to reopen the Royals and give them a home in the heart of Salt Lake City.
It’s true that the Royals can once again share bargains with Real Salt Lake in Sandy, as the two teams have done for years. It’s an absolutely reasonable option. However, other teams in the women’s league have demonstrated the great benefits of having their home stadium. Kansas City, for example, will be the first city to build a soccer-only stadium for the women’s team when the facility opens in 2024. The stadium at Berkeley Riverfront Park cost him $70 million.
In contrast, the city-owned Salt Lake ballpark is leased to bees for $15,000 a year.
No, it’s not a typo. For less than the rent of a small apartment in the same neighborhood, Bees has owned his home stadium for decades. And that deal actually makes sense for the city. Because having a resident team does what it does for the neighborhood formerly known as the ballpark – providing both an identity, a hub of activity, and a fireworks display, both figurative and literal.
With similar rent arrangements, Royals would do it all too.
That sounds like a good idea for Sheena McFarland, co-host of Utah’s football-themed podcast Real Salty and former resident of the neighborhood.
“Salt Lake City ballparks are ideal places for sports venues,” she told me. “By making that space the new home of the Royals, many Utahans will be within walking distance or a short ride on the TRAX to watch world-class football, and some of the best in the region. It will continue to draw crowds to support local businesses.”
And it may do even more. The bees have always been a popular draw, but in recent years attendance at both men’s and women’s games of soccer has skyrocketed while participation in baseball at all levels has declined. Over the course of a season, the Royals average around 10,000 fans, and there’s good reason to believe they have plenty of room to grow from there based on attendance numbers elsewhere in the league.
Nick Christensen knows what it looks like. In 2009, when Oregon’s largest city was considering investing tens of millions of dollars in baseball, a Portland resident was vocal that minor league baseball wasn’t a good long-term bet for his city. Christensen said he was happy to bring his 7-year-old daughter to the Thorns game at Providence Park.
“We have dinner in the neighborhood. For some reason, she associates going to soccer with the poke bowl. I’m all for it. Then we walk to the stadium,” he told me. “It’s a great experience, being able to watch football and enjoy a beautiful sunset on a warm summer’s evening…and the historic part of that stadium and what it’s made to function for football.” Between renovations, it’s a really great place.”
After watching a minor league baseball game in Utah and being impressed by the beauty of Salt Lake stadiums, Christensen believes the baseball-to-soccer plan works just as well in Beaver State as it does in Beaver State.
he is right And for Salt Lake to become one of the premier locations for women’s soccer in the United States, and for the ballpark to remain the home of an actual ballpark, there couldn’t be a better time or condition.
Matthew D. Laplante A professor of journalism at Utah State University and a resident of Salt Lake City who is an avid football fan.
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