Cleveland Soccer Group Seeking $90M in Public Subsidies for $150M Stadium for NWSL Expansion Team Bid

What the South Gateway Stadium might look like Credit: OSports rendering

The group seeking to bring a professional women’s soccer team to Cleveland on Thursday released renderings of what a $150-million soccer-specific stadium south of I-90 in downtown seating 12,500 fans might look like and announced that it is seeking $90 million in taxpayer support — from the city, county and state — to build it.

As the same three groups continue negotiations with the Cleveland Browns on a possible $1 billion renovation of the lakefront stadium or a new $2.4 billion build in Brook Park, it is perhaps not an ideal time to be seeking public subsidies for professional sports, but the Cleveland Soccer Group has remained adamant in its vision for bringing an NWSL team to Cleveland, and Ohio, and what it could mean for the region’s fans.

“We think this is the best women’s sports league in the world, and if we have to build a stadium, that’s a good news story,” Michael Murphy, CEO of the Cleveland Soccer Group, told Scene, citing the momentum in women’s sports nationwide. “This would be the 16th team in arguably the hottest professional women’s league in the world.”

They are, however, working on a tight timeline and in a tough economic atmosphere.

Bids for the National Women’s Soccer League’s 2026 expansion round are due in about a month, and the league is unlikely to award one of its next teams to a city that doesn’t have firm plans for a home stadium. Without a concrete financial commitment in place, Cleveland would likely face stiff headwinds against other competitors.

For their part, Murphy said Cleveland Soccer Group and its investors would spend $193 million of their own cash on not only the stadium but for the team, facilities, and for the MLS Next PRO men’s soccer team that Cleveland was already awarded. That squad was scheduled to kick off in 2025, but with the group’s focus on the NWSL bid and the proposed stadium, it is unlikely that will happen, Murphy told Scene.

The publicly-owned South Gateway Stadium, as it’s currently being called, would host not just NWSL and MLS Next Pro games but also high school and college sports, concerts and events, the ownership group said.

A press release on Thursday included projected economic impact stats not worth citing here, as the study was commissioned by the group and economists have universally declared pro sports facilities poor public investments.

As negotiations with the Browns continue, Mayor Justin Bibb has declined to publicly announce what the city of Cleveland has so far offered except to say that he wants the team to remain in the city of Cleveland and that the city’s position is competitive. The Haslams, meanwhile, have said that they want taxpayers to split any stadium project 50/50, with money coming from the city (Cleveland/Brook Park), the county and the state. (Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens, in a recent discussion of the state’s possible role in contributing $600 million to the project, flatly said the state doesn’t have $600 million to spend on such a project.)

Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne has been circumspect on what the county will be able to offer the Browns, and he was similarly vague on the topic of a soccer stadium earlier this year when he told Scene it was too early to talk numbers, though he expressed support for the idea of bringing an NWSL team to Cleveland. Similar, general enthusiasm exists at City Hall, but the question has always been how much it would be asked to contribute and what avenues it would have to do so.

Murphy told Scene conversations remain ongoing and productive with Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, but emphasized that firm commitments are needed soon for the bid and to show the state of Ohio, as budgets are finalized, that support exists locally for the project. The group has proposed a mix of admission taxes and bonds to pay for the public’s portion of the project.

“The bottom line is this is a critical piece of the bid,” Murphy said. “Along with ownership, the reason the league would choose Cleveland over others in this round is us putting forward what the league needs to continue its growth. The beset leagues in the world, teams play in venues they control. We have to do everything we can, whether it’s the city or county offering specific sources of funding. That would be very helpful and concrete.”

As far as the ask coming at the same time as the Browns’, Murphy said the comparatively low total should make it an attractive prospect.

“It’s much, much smaller than anything else we’re looking at civically for sports.”

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