The stadium and training facilities will initially be built on 16 acres as a temporary facility that will be ready for opening day of the 2017 season, March 25, 2017. However, the agreement allots up to 45 acres to Phoenix Rising FC for future development of a FIFA-compliant, MLS stadium.
The temporary stadium will be completely above ground with almost the entire facility being built off-site.
The grass is being grown at an outside facility, the seats will be brought in and installed and everything from the box office, locker rooms, box suites, bathrooms and owners and press boxes are modular buildings that are being prefabricated and pieced together on-site for opening day. The stadium will resemble the pop-up stadium structures used at the Waste Management Phoenix Open PGA golf tournament.
The plan is for the team to play in the temporary stadium for three to five years while the team establishes and grows its fan and sponsor base, and earns an expansion franchise from MLS..
Partnerships & Connecting to the Community
With engineering of the new stadium and training facilities underway, it was necessary to simultaneously start building partnerships within the community. The reputation of Phoenix Rising FC’s diverse ownership group also accelerated development of cooperative arrangements to benefit the team and surrounding community.
Arguably, no partnership could be as important as the youth soccer teams in Arizona. Phoenix Rising FC made an unprecedented commitment to young soccer players in the state by financially partnering with the Arizona Youth Soccer Association and sponsoring its top two statewide competitive leagues for boys and girls.
Head coach and president of soccer operations Frank Yallop said,
“We will also be dedicating each of our players as a mentor to local youth soccer clubs. One evening every week, kids in the Phoenix area will have the opportunity to train with their favorite Phoenix Rising FC players.”