St. Louis’ new soccer team finally has a name and we can’t wait to cheer on St. Louis City Soccer Club!

Bringing Major League Soccer to St. Louis has been a long, long process. There were huge hurdles to get over, including who was going to pay for all of this and where in the heck these games would happen.

But St. Louis worked out the details and we’re in the process of building the team a brand new stadium on prime real estate right next to Union Station.

With all of our established local sports teams taking hard hits during the pandemic, all eyes were on the announcement today. There are big hopes is that St. Louis City SC will bring not just excitement, but an economic and public boom to downtown; those hopes exist alongside longstanding concerns about the equity of publicly financed stadiums and whether a new sports team deserves millions in tax credits.

Still, it's indisputable that the game of soccer is so important to many people in St. Louis. In addition to being loved by our large Catholic population who grew up playing it in school, the Beautiful Game is also close to the hearts of our beloved immigrant populations, who often carried their love for the sport from their home country all the way to St. Louis.

Soccer is unique among sports because, essentially, all somebody needs to play is one ball and a little bit of space. That makes the game a hit in varied territories across the world and in all economic conditions. From lush lawns to dusty deserts to wet alleyways to warm rooftops, anywhere in the world can become a soccer field if you have a ball.

Congratulations, St. Louis. And go St. Louis City SC. We can’t wait to see you on the field.