The USMNT is using Orange County SC’s stadium as its main training base for the World Cup, and for the USL Championship club, “even a temporary association with the World Cup and the national team is worth celebrating,” according to Kevin Baxter of the L.A. TIMES. Orange County SC President of Business Operations Dan Rutstein said, “How can you not be excited about the host nation training in your facility when you are a club who prides itself on developing young talent. Sharing a stadium with the U.S. national team is a great opportunity.” Baxter notes Championship Soccer Stadium’s location “was a factor” in the USMNT choosing to train there, since the Orange County Great Park is the closest World Cup training base to SoFi Stadium, where the USMNT will play two of its three group-stage games. Though that means Orange County SC “has been temporarily evicted,” the move “comes with great perks.” FIFA “replaced the stadium’s grass field with one the Orange County team could never have paid for itself and will install security fencing in the next week or so.” U.S. Soccer is also “expanding and improving the team’s tiny locker room and adding a media work room.” Orange County SC is “trying to sell naming rights to the stadium,” and its association with the national team and the World Cup “could be a big help in that” (L.A. TIMES, 5/26).
TEXAS PREP: In Dallas, José Córdova wrote Sweden, with a 3-2 win over Poland, became the final team headed for a group stage game at AT&T Stadium. The other notable result for the Dallas-Fort Worth area was Czechia’s penalty shootout victory over Denmark, which landed Czechia at the new Mansfield Stadium for their base camp. FC Dallas President and North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee Co-Chair Dan Hunt said, “I couldn’t be more enthusiastic about it. … This is just really special for our community.” Hunt spoke “glowingly about the ‘first-class facilities’ that await both squads in North Texas.” He said that Frisco is “fully prepared for Sweden’s arrival,” with Toyota Stadium and the team’s facilities currently in use for FC Dallas’ regular season. Sean Decker, President of REV Entertainment, which serves as the stadium operated for Mansfield Stadium, indicated that construction on that venue is “still underway” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 5/25).
NEW OPPORTUNITY: In Philadelphia, Anthony Wood wrote the Union “will be hosting World Cup watch parties at its Subaru Park stadium complex on the Delaware River, in the foreground of the Commodore Barry Bridge.” Also, the Ivory Coast team is using the team’s facilities in Chester as its home base. But the city is also “slogging through a rare and historic bankruptcy, and neither the mayor nor other local and state officials expect the World Cup to be a game-changer for Chester’s financial quagmire.” Union President Tim McDermott said that he believes soccer and the Union’s year-old WSFS Sportsplex “can have long-term impacts on a city where basketball has traditionally ruled.” Wood noted the Sportsplex, a venue for a variety of youth sports and other activities, “has been attracting large crowds.” McDermott reasoned that its popularity “eventually might lure investors who want to open restaurants, stores, a hotel, and other amenities” (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 5/24).
