Economic development part of the vision for proposed soccer stadium 

On top of a quarry-turned-landfill that’s now the gateway to Jordan Valley Park in central Springfield yesterday was something new: a celebration of a possible future soccer stadium. 

Local leaders and members of the soccer community turned out at 2 p.m. at Jordan Valley Commons, the park space located at the Trafficway Street and National Avenue intersection just east of Hammons Field, home of the Springfield Cardinals baseball team. They were there to celebrate Springfield City Council’s Dec. 16 approval of an agreement with United Soccer Leagues LLC to conduct a feasibility study for a stadium to be placed atop the site. 

If the site passes muster, the stadium would be home to both a men’s and a women’s professional soccer team, supported by 75-100 full-time jobs, according to USL Chief Operating Officer Justin Papadakis, who was present at the announcement event. 

Council action means the feasibility study will be paid for through a cost-sharing agreement between the city of Springfield and USL, with the city on the hook to pay up to $75,000 for the $150,000 study. 

Papadakis said he had visited Springfield in 2004 and took a shine to the place. 

“I absolutely fell in love with Springfield,” he said. 

When he transitioned to his USL post in 2010, he said he told his team that Springfield was at the top of the list for a stadium location. 

“If we come to Springfield, we knew we had to do it right, and USL, we built the league on transformational developments,” he said. 

Papadakis described the stadium as an opportunity to reposition a former quarry and landfill into a locus of downtown activity, bringing money to bars, hotels and restaurants. It also would serve as a source of inspiration to local players, at the university level and with the Southwest Missouri Rush soccer club, he said. 

“The sport is growing very quickly on the men’s side and I’d say equally and maybe more exciting on the women’s side – it’s just accelerated so much,” he said. “We’re the only league in the world to have full men’s and women’s professional pathways.” 

Papadakis said the sport offers a chance to bring people together. 

“For us, our stadiums are community living rooms where everyone can come together, week in and week out, whether it’s watching soccer, graduations, concerts – we really want our stadiums activated every day of the year,” he said. 

The site, which was a limestone quarry from 1900 to 1963 and later a landfill for construction and demolition debris, was deemed problematic in 2008, when plans to develop a park there were put on hold, according to Springfield Business Journal archives. Then, fill material at the property was settling more quickly than expected, at a rate of 2 feet per year with more settling anticipated. 

Asked if the USL is more committed to the city or to that specific site, Papadakis indicated the downtown location was important. 

“What we look at is how to have the large economic impact, and we’re very focused on having downtown developments because that’s where you have benefits to the surrounding businesses,” he said. 

A similar stadium was built in downtown Spokane, Washington, and Papadakis said the USL stressed to Spokane officials the great economic advantage it would have to the city. 

“Having opened that stadium up earlier this year, that has more than come true,” he said.  

Similarly, a USL stadium has served as a catalyst for economic development in downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado, he said. 

“Here, the stadium will be joining what the Cardinals have built here already, and I think it’s about how to create enough gravitational pull where we have events here week in and week out,” he said. “There’s the city aspect, but for us we have to have the city and the site. We have no question in terms of the interest in sports, the interest in soccer, so it really left open only the stadium and the site.” 

In Spokane, a stadium that seats 5,000 opened in September 2023 in the city’s North Banks Arts and Entertainment District. It is home to two teams: the Spokane Zephyr, a women’s team that is part of the USL Super League, and Spokane Velocity, a men’s USL League One team. An economic impact study by Johnson Consulting, released in March 2023, before the stadium’s opening, projected the development would generate $11.4 million in annual economic impact for the city, according to reporting in The Gonzaga Bulletin. 

Spokane Public Schools owns the $37.9 million stadium, paid for mostly through a bond issue. USL invested $4 million toward the project, according to the Inlander newspaper.  

In Colorado Springs, USL operates Weidner Field, the downtown home of the Colorado Springs Switchbacks, competing in the USL Championship league. Switchbacks President Nick Ragain told Community Playmaker, a trade publication for local development officials, that in its 2021 inaugural season, the Switchbacks employed 1,130 people, accounted for 25,000 out-of-state tourists and generated a $4 million positive tax impact. 

The Colorado Springs Gazette reported Weidner Field cost some $47 million, which was funded with about $13 million in state sales tax funds. The Ragain family, which owns the Switchbacks, and Weidner Apartment Homes, which owns apartment properties in suburban Seattle, joined forces to pay the other two-thirds of the cost. 

Asked who would pay for a Springfield stadium, Papadakis said that’s part of the study. 

“There are so many tools in the toolbox to figure that out,” he said. “We are very conscious of our cities’ dollars, so that’s why we want to be a partner from the outset.” 

Papadakis said delivering value to Springfield is top of mind in planning a stadium. 

“We know this is a site that the city needs to get right, and so we’re going to design it for multipurpose; we’re going to design it with a cost-consciousness in mind,” he said. “Whatever shape or form it takes, this is a good deal for the city, and that has to be number one, two and three.” 

According to the cost-sharing agreement, the feasibility study will last through the end of 2025, with options to extend the partnership for up to a year after that. The city will retain any reports, studies or work products that result from the study, the agreement states. 

Justin Olson, head coach of women’s soccer at Drury University, was present at the ceremony and expressed his enthusiasm for the project. 

“Any time the game has an opportunity to grow is a positive,” he said. 

With three universities – Drury, Missouri State and Evangel – all having strong soccer programs, the stadium would offer an opportunity for players and fans to watch professional soccer, officials say. 

“More importantly, I think it’s going to attract a lot of attention to our city,” he said. 

Mark Hecquet, president and CEO of Visit Springfield, Missouri, formerly the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau, agreed. 

“I think it’s fantastic,” he said. “It just creates another wonderful entertainment option in Springfield, which will further support our travel and tourism industry.” 

Hecquet said teams would travel with their fan bases to the Queen City, and that would likely mean development of more options – including retail and dining – to serve them. 

“It will just further spur more things down in this corridor,” he said.