United Soccer League signs on for downtown Fresno stadium. What we know

United Soccer League wants back in Fresno, and there’s a signed a letter of intent to prove as much.

The league and the city announced during a news conference Tuesday that they’ve entered into a one-year exclusivity period with Fresno to bring professional soccer to downtown.

“We’ve been dating the USL for a period of time,” said Mayor Jerry Dyer, donning a USL scarf around his shoulders, in true soccer-fan style.

“Today we announce our engagement.”

The deal would move forward an idea the mayor has been pushing for years. Along with creating a professional men’s and women’s team, it would build a soccer-specific stadium in which to play. That stadium would serve as an anchor for a larger entertainment district.

If things progress well, the city hopes to have the stadium open for spring 2028.

“That’s our goal,” Dyer said.

“We’re going to move backwards from that. No pressure USL.”

Will a downtown soccer stadium happen?

According to the agreement, the stadium would have a minimum capacity of 7,000, with all pre-development costs paid for by the league. The teams would be run by an investment group being put together by Fresno Pro Soccer, LLC and Adam Smith, the professional coach who led Fresno’s original USL team (the Fresno Foxes) through its two seasons.

And it will all happen in downtown or Chinatown — the only locations being entertained, Dyer said.

The agreement was signed in November and some of the site-selection work has already been done, Dyer said. He has a preferred spot in mind, though he wasn’t prepared to announce that much Tuesday.

Finding space for this kind of development has been an issue in the past.

It was the reason Fresno FC soccer club gave when it relocated in 2019. As a USL expansion team, the Fresno Foxes played two seasons at Chukchansi Park, with the caveat that the team would build a soccer-specific stadium. That didn’t happen, and the club left Fresno for Monterey.

That was followed by Central Valley Fuego FC, which played as part of USL League One until 2024. The team’s owners spent years looking at dozens of almost suitable stadium locations, including outside Selland Arena and Valdez Hall downtown. Eventually, the team purchased Blackbeard’s Family Entertainment Center and is in the process of building its own 4,000-seat soccer-specific stadium on five acres of unused land on the Chestnut Avenue diagonal near the Fresno airport.

Which means Fresno could have competing soccer stadiums.

Project buoyed by city investments

The city says it has momentum on its side moving forward with the USL. While past efforts to bring this kind of project downtown failed, the city now has more control over vacant properties and empty parcels of land, especially in and around Chinatown, District 2 Councilmember Miguel Arias said.

It also has millions of dollars of new infrastructure that’s been put into the area for things like gas and power capacities, cable and internet lines, but also new streetlights and paved alleyways in Chinatown. Those costs would have prohibited a project like this from getting off the ground, Arias said.

“The timing in right.”

Another key difference, according to the city, is that it is now dealing directly with the USL, which will be able to deliver broadcast rights for national TV and radio and ensure a long-term viability not tied to any individual ownership group.

“If owners come and go, they come and go,” Arias says.

“But soccer will stay in Fresno.”

This story was originally published January 13, 2026 at 3:14 PM.