Soccer balls. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Green Bay’s city council unanimously approved Tuesday entering into exclusive negotiations to bring a United Soccer League team to the city.
The USL, the fastest growing professional soccer league in the country, says its clubs are community driven.
“There’s not a community that represents that more than Green Bay,” said Justin Papadakis, USL deputy CEO and chief real estate officer.
Papadakis provided the first public comments from the USL on its interest in Green Bay Tuesday at City Hall. He says Green Bay’s football team is only part of the reason the USL is ready to exclusively focus on bringing professional men’s and women’s soccer teams to the city.
“What we’ve seen is, if we have a really engaged city partner, we can have the best shot at making that happen,” said Papadakis.
For at least the next 10 months, the USL will be looking at where to locate and how to pay for a 5,000 seat stadium inside Green Bay city limits. Listening sessions and World Cup watch parties will also be held to get a flavor of what residents would like to see on things like stadium design and team branding.
“We want to do this right, not fast,” said Papadakis. “It has to be a great deal for Green Bay first. It has to be a great location that bars and restaurants and other businesses will want to co-locate with.”
The economic development potential is especially intriguing to Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich.
“I think that’s what’s even more interesting and exciting for us, given the track record of USL in other communities,” said Genrich.
Papadakis says the success rate is quite high for cities that reach the preliminary level of negotiations in landing a team.
“Just because we have to choose where we spend our time and energy and money,” he said.
The exclusive negotiating window is until September 2026, with extensions possible for another year. If a deal is reached, the USL says the stadium would be programmed almost every day. In addition to soccer, the plan would be to host things like high school athletics, concerts and community events.
Papadakis says USL teams only work if there is buy-in from the community. He says players tend to sign multi-year contracts and interact with the community to help with the interest.
“They’re in the schools, they’re in the hospitals,” said Papadakis. “Our players are in with the community every day because they have to be one within the community, because that is our value proposition.”
As part of the exclusive negotiating window, the city won’t be able to consider other pro soccer possibilities, and the USL can’t consider other nearby locations.
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