Nashville SC will have the grand opening of the 30,000-seat GEODIS Park – the largest soccer-specific stadium in the United States on Sunday.

The team’s inaugural home match will see Nashville SC face the Eastern Conference’s top-seeded Philadelphia Union and will be showcased nationally on ESPN and ESPN Deportes beginning at 4 p.m. ET.

The stadium holds 30,000.

With 10 stadiums built or renovated for an MLS team in the last six years, the opening of GEODIS Park marks a major milestone for the league, giving MLS the greatest number of new stadiums opened by any major league sport in recent years.

Those stadiums mean nearly a quarter million new seats (245,500) have been installed to host soccer fans since 2017 – a total that surpasses the NFL’s 211,000 new seats accounted for in three new 70,000-plus capacity venues.

The construction of GEODIS Park has employed more than 6,000 people over the course of construction – 49 percent of which were women or people of color.

 

 

New Stadiums Opened by Major North American Sports Leagues Since 2016

# League Team Stadium Opening
1 MLS Orlando City SC Exploria Stadium 2017
2 MLS Atlanta United Mercedes-Benz Stadium 2017
3 MLS Los Angeles Football Club Banc of California Stadium 2018
4 MLS D.C. United Audi Field 2018
5 MLS Minnesota United FC Allianz Field 2019
6 MLS Inter Miami CF DRV PNK 2020
7 MLS FC Cincinnati TQL Stadium 2021
8 MLS Austin FC Q2 Stadium 2021
9 MLS Columbus Crew Lower.com Field 2021
10 MLS Nashville SC GEODIS Park 2022
1 NBA Detroit Pistons Little Caesars Arena 2017
2 NBA Golden State Warriors Chase Center 2019
3 NBA Milwaukee Bucks Fiserv Forum 2018
4 NBA Sacramento Kings Golden 1 Center 2016
1 NFL LA Chargers / LA Rams SoFi Stadium 2020
2 NFL Las Vegas Raiders Allegiant Stadium 2020
3 NFL Atlanta Falcons Mercedes-Benz Stadium 2017
1 NHL New York Islanders UBS Arena 2021
2 NHL Detroit Red Wings Little Caesars Arena 2017
3 NHL Edmonton Oilers Rogers Place 2016
4 NHL Vegas Golden Knights T-Mobile Arena 2016
1 MLB Texas Rangers Globe Life Field 2020
2 MLB Atlanta Braves Truist Park 2017

*Note: Later in the year, St. Louis CITY SC will complete construction on Centene Stadium, ahead of the club’s inaugural season in 2023. With the addition of new stadiums in Nashville and St. Louis, MLS will have 26 stadiums built or reimagined for MLS clubs.

 

 

FrontRowSoccer.com editor Michael Lewis has written a new book, ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. You can learn more about it or purchase it here:

www.Rochesterlancersbook.com

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.