Debut of Cleveland's MLS NEXT Pro Team May Be Delayed Until Soccer Stadium Built

Assorted local leaders joined Cleveland Soccer Group co-founders Michael Murphy and Nolan Gallagher at Pin's Mechanical in Ohio City just hours prior to the U.S. Men's National Team's World Cup game against Wales in November 2022 for a big announcement: Cleveland had been awarded an expansion team in the MLS NEXT Pro League and would begin play in 2025.

That timeline is now up in the air as the same ownership group works to submit its second bid for an expansion team in the National Women's Soccer League, which will be completed later this spring, in hopes of landing professional women's soccer in Cleveland in 2026.

Essential to that bid's possible success is a firm financial plan for a soccer-specific stadium in Cleveland in which the NWSL team would be the main tenant and the MLS NEXT Pro team would be a secondary one.

There was some news on that front this week.

The Ohio House of Representatives has passed a massive capital project funding bill that included $1 million earmarked for the project. It represents, should it pass the Ohio Senate and get Gov. Mike DeWine's signature, the first committed public dollars for the project.

It's also a small drop in the bucket toward what would be needed — an estimated $120-$150 million — but an important step.

"That allocation will be part of a financing plan that we hope to put together in a public-private partnership with the city, county and state to really build this," Murphy told Scene. "We honestly believe this is an inflection point in women's professional sports, and the type of venue we're trying to build is missing in the market and could be used for other purposes."

While conversations continue with the city and county, nothing firm is in place and as some involved in the conversations have pointed out, it's a delicate time to be talking about public financing for stadiums in Cleveland. (See: The Cleveland Browns.)

The proposed site, near Progressive Field, is owned by ODOT and brings its own complexities to the deal, including whether the state agency would engage in a free transfer of the land, which is valued at around $16 million, for the stadium if the project also included affordable housing or a public transit extension, for example.

Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne told Scene others have been brought into the conversation, including Cleveland State University, who could also use the new facility for soccer, lacrosse and other sports. Murphy added that the venue size would also fill a gap in the market for Live Nation.

There's absolutely a race against the clock here, with bids due soon.

"We need to make this as fully baked as possible," Murphy said. "If it feels loosey goosey, it'll hurt our chances. There's a lot of competition to get the 16th [NWSL] team. If they see another bid that has a better chance for a stadium to exist, that's bird in hand."

With all hands on deck focusing on the financing, what does that mean for the arrival of Cleveland's MLS NEXT Pro team?

Murphy told Scene there's a good chance the team's debut is delayed from 2025 until a stadium is built, which could take up to two years from when ground is broken.

"Ideally, we want to debut in a stadium and give the best first impression we can," he said. "A delay might be the right move with MLS."

MLS NEXT Pro President Charles Altcheck in November 2022 told Scene the league wouldn't have awarded Cleveland a team without a concrete commitment to build a new facility.

"We know how important it is for a team to have a venue that's built for soccer and built for the fans and players to be able to show the best of the sport week in and week out," he said at the time.

Murphy remains optimistic things will work out.

"First and foremost, I'm a Clevelander and I want great things for Cleveland," he said. "There are lots of projects that need to get done. Thankfully, both of these administrations want to do big things as well. The reality is there's going to be significant economic impact over time, there's going to be incremental revenue streams and tax streams that don't exist today. Ultimately, it's up to the city, the county and the state to decide how they'd attack this."

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