A Future For Civic

This article was originally posted on Lane Today in early 2014. It is Part 3 of a 3-Part Series on the sale of Civic Stadium in Eugene, OR.

Starting its fourth season in Major League Soccer, the Portland Timbers franchise has quickly become one of the most beloved in the league thanks in part to their fervent fans and the historic downtown stadium Providence Park.

That popularity isn’t restricted to the Rose City however. Just one hundred and twelve miles south along Interstate-5, Eugene’s Civic Stadium is hoping to duplicate the results of its bigger brother in Portland after being given a new life last February.

Civic Stadium was once known as the home of the minor league baseball team Eugene Emeralds. It has been vacant just over five years after the Emeralds moved to the University of Oregon-managed ballpark PK Park. Thanks to recent purchase of the property by a group known as Eugene Civic Alliance, it will have a new life in the form of a multi-use stadium best suited for sports such as soccer.

According to a feasibility report done by Vox Public Relations and commissioned by Friends of Civic Stadium, a local group in support of maintaining and renovating the ballpark. It was determined that soccer would have a viable future in the stadium. The study found that youth soccer in the area is growing, as is an immigrant population whose favorite sport on average is soccer. While Civic Stadium might not have the amount of history and significance in the city as Hayward Field, regarded as the most historic track stadium in the United States, Civic Stadium would still benefit as a soccer stadium due to the lack of a men’s soccer team at the University of Oregon and the amount of fan passion already found in the Pacific Northwest at the MLS level in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, Canada according to the report.

In order for Civic Stadium to have financial success in its new life, it will hope to draw many parallels with Providence Park in Portland. Providence Park was built in 1926, twelve years prior to Civic Stadium, and was once named Civic Stadium itself from 1966–2000. Providence Park’s main tenant for many years was the baseball team Portland Beavers who called Providence home from 1956 until 2010 when the team moved to Tucson, Arizona. The Eugene Emeralds were Civic Stadium’s main tenants from 1969–2009. The Emeralds played in the same league as Portland for four years until the Emeralds moved to a lower division.

Now, Providence Park is left with two soccer clubs, the Portland Timbers and womens soccer team Portland Thorns FC, along with Portland State football as its tenants following a massive renovation that finished in 2011. Similarly, Civic Stadium will have a soccer club as an anchor tenant known as Lane United Football Club.

Lane United FC managing director Dave Galas in a press release published on their website following the acquisition of Civic Stadium by the Eugene Civic Alliance said, “I’ve always seen Civic Stadium as the perfect venue for LUFC, but we have to take care to do what’s right for the club and what’s right for the community. The research I’ve done bears that out — that it’s ideal for all, because of the walkability, bike-ability, integration with the surrounding neighborhood, access to public transit, everything.”

Lane United FC will have a tough task to remain profitable in the sometimes-volatile market of minor league sports. Currently in the Premier Development League, Lane United FC had their first season as an organization last year and saw an average attendance of 463 in five of their seven recorded home games at their temporary home at Willamalane Center in Springfield.

For their efforts on the business front, Lane United FC was awarded the PDL Rookie Franchise of the Year at the end of last season.

Lane United FC’s attendance numbers were fourth highest in their division last season behind two MLS U-23 teams in the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers and independently owned Victoria Highlanders FC in Canada. This though does not guarantee an automatic sign of success. The same Victoria Highlanders FC who had an average attendance of 1,314 last season, nearly triple that of LUFCs, ceased operations out of the blue this offseason leaving Lane United FC the team with the highest average attendance last season without an MLS franchise to help absorb any losses.

Galas has high hopes though for Lane United FC. Eventually, with Civic Stadium being converted into a soccer stadium, Galas hopes to have Lane United FC rise up the soccer ladder from the fourth-tier PDL and their division of teams based in the Pacific Northwest to the nationwide third-tier United Soccer League. The USL is in a rapid growth period right now. Thanks to a partnership with the MLS, the USL has expanded to 24 teams from 14 teams last season with numerous MLS reserve teams flooding the league.

With the upgrade of estadio from Willamalane Center to Civic Stadium, Lane United FC will be able to meet the stadium requirement in order to get into the league. Galas has expressed on numerous occasions about moving up to the USL and has spoken to the league in the past regarding Lane United FC’s potential prospects. Lane United FC will have to generate much more revenue in order to survive in the USL in order to offset the added travel expenses plus the change from a roster filled with amateur players playing in the college offseason to pro players that’ll have to be signed to the roster for larger wages. Lane United FC will also have to make the determination whether or not they’d like affiliated with an MLS club or have no affiliation like four other current USL clubs (all three MLS teams based in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers, and Vancouver Whitecaps, have their own USL franchise).

When asked to comment about Lane United Football Club’s relationship with Civic Stadium financially, Eugene Civic Alliance advisory board member Nancy Webber said that Lane United pay a fee in order to use the stadium but terms of the agreement have yet to be finalized. Webber was also unable to provide the projected yearly maintenance costs for the stadium or additional revenue streams involving the stadium such as in-stadium advertisements and concessions.

Showing that the USL still has room to grow and potentially add Lane United FC in the near future, USL President Tim Holt last month went on record stating he foresees the league expanding to 30 or even 40 teams by 2020. However, once again showing the nature of the minor league sports business, Holt will not be around to see that expansion after resigning as president last week just three weeks away from the start of the 2015 USL season.