Steinbrenner Field will be the first home of the FC Tampa Bay Rowdies when they play their inaugural season in the United States Soccer Federation Second Division, with a home opener planned for early May.
Standing inside the club's new home, Rowdies owner and president Andrew Nestor said he was excited everything was starting to come together for the franchise.
"It's very exciting," Nestor said. "It's been a long year-and-a-half, restructuring, relaunching a league, building an entire organization from scratch, putting together not just an organization but a winning team that we feel will compete for a championship in our first year. To be able to announce that we're going to play in such a great venue and really start to look forward is very exciting."
The Rowdies will still try to build a soccer-specific stadium that will become their permanent home. Plans for that are still in progress, though, with Nestor not willing to say where the stadium might be built.
The Rowdies should find out the specific date of their season opener and home opener soon. The league's schedule is expected to be announced early next week with opening weekend currently scheduled for April 10. Nestor said the side will open the season on the road. When the team does host its home opener, the playing surface will be stripped across the outfield and over a portion of the infield around first base.
As well as lining up their stadium plans, the Rowdies also introduced three of the 13 players who have been signed by the team: University of Tampa All-American Pascal Milien, Jesuit graduate Joe Donoho and Yendry Diaz, a Cuban player who defected when the North American Olympic qualifying tournament was held in Tampa two years ago.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement
Advertisement