Is Fresno’s pro soccer team leaving town? Here’s what we know
Despite the Fresno Foxes soccer club’s on-field success during its first two years, the team might leave the city before the 2020 season begins.
Mayor Lee Brand and the United Soccer League club management confirmed this week attempts to find a more permanent and soccer-specific location for the team have not been fruitful.
The team’s ownership paid $5 million to start the team two years ago, knowing games at Chukchansi Park would be temporary. USL requires teams to play on fields designed specifically for soccer, but the league allowed the team to modify the baseball field in the short term.
Brand said USL management was in town last week to speak with city staffers about the potential for new locations, but options don’t look appealing – as they have for months.
“It’s really important (that) we can keep soccer in Fresno. There’s a lot of soccer fans, but we can only do so much,” Brand said Wednesday. “What it boiled down to was the right property, right place, right cost. Those three things had to be right or it wouldn’t work.”
USL sent an email to The Fresno Bee on Thursday about the Fresno Foxes’ current situation. “Fresno FC is an important club for us and from both a fan experience and long-term sustainability standpoint, it’s only natural that they would be pursuing a soccer-specific stadium to call their own. We absolutely support those efforts and will do everything we can to help. All options are on the table,” the statement said.
A downtown location, where parking is already in place, would be viable if the team could find 7 to 8 acres to put up a 5,000-seat stadium. Outside of downtown, the location would need to be nearly three times larger.
Brand said the city helped the team find at least a half-dozen potential sites but they were either too small, too expensive or in some way didn’t fit the team’s needs. If the stadium were to go on undeveloped land, for instance, adding infrastructure became an extra hurdle.
‘Unfavorable’ economic realities
Team management previously said they even explored a Madera County location.
Foxes General Manger Frank Yallop issued a statement this week about the 2020 season’s uncertainty. The Fresno Bee wrote about the difficulty in finding a new location in April. The topic got attention again this week when The Athletic reported unnamed sources said the team had a “50-50” chance of leaving Fresno.
“As it stands today, the unfavorable economic realities of our Chukchansi Park lease agreement, as well as the lack of progress – and political support – we’ve seen in finding a proper site in the city of Fresno, have given us serious cause for concern,” Yallop’s statement said. “We’re working non-stop every single day to find a solution, but until that solution is found we hope the focus can stay fixed on our fight to win a USL Championship.”
The Foxes are in second place in the USL’s Western Conference with just three games left before the playoffs.
Fresno sports ups and downs
Despite their recent success, the team has had some difficulty drumming up attendance. Professional sports have had their ups and downs in Fresno, which may add to the tepid citywide support.
The Fresno Grizzlies have been around for more than two decades even while changing affiliations with Major League Baseball teams.
Then there was the Fresno Falcons hockey squad. That team played at Selland Arena for about 35 years before leaving for the Save Mart Center. They were coaxed back with a 20-year lease after the city agreed to make $5 million in upgrades to Selland to benefit the team, but the franchise folded months after the first season began.
Then there is the changing entertainment landscape. With streaming services and sports packages for home television, traditional entertainment has seen attendance sag.
The Associated Press reported in May that MLB has seen attendance rates drop in each of the past four years. Multiple movie theater chains have rolled out subscription services in attempts to get people to go out to the theater rather than waiting for movies to stream at home.
Brand said with the state of Fresno’s parks, roads, police force and deferred maintenance, there are many more priorities that rank higher than financially helping out the soccer club.
“This is a city of a lot needs,” he said. “It’s hard for me to justify subsidizing anything when we have all these other needs.”
Fresno FC remaining schedule
Saturday, Oct. 5: vs. Seattle Sounders 2, 7:30 p.m., Chukchansi Park
Saturday, Oct. 12: vs. LA Galaxy II, 7:30 p.m., Chukchansi Park
Saturday, Oct. 19: at Orange County SC, 7 p.m.
Playoffs TBD
Details: fresnofc.com
This story was originally published October 3, 2019 at 12:09 PM.
