World Wide Technology Soccer Park is a soccer complex which includes four

soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-pu ...

s, with the main field, West Community Stadium, holding 5,500 seats. Located in

Fenton, Missouri Fenton is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, and a suburb of St. Louis. The population was 4,022 at the 2010 census. History Due to its proximity to fertile land and the Meramec River, the Fenton area has been inhabited for o ...

, a suburb southwest of downtown

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, it is operated by St. Louis Scott Gallagher Soccer Club whose 275 teams and 3,600 players use it for both practice and games. It is also the home field for

Webster University Webster University is a private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, Missouri. It has multiple branch locations across the United States and countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs ...

's men's and women's soccer teams and was the home of

Saint Louis FC Saint Louis FC was an American professional soccer team based in St. Louis, Missouri. The team was founded in May 2014, and competed in the USL Championship. The team played their matches at West Community Stadium, a venue inside the World Wid ...

from 2015-2020. The complex has five playing fields—three turf and two grass—and one main exhibition turf field, most of which are lighted. The fields are primarily used for

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

but also host

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

and

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

teams. In addition to the playing surfaces, the complex features offices, home and away locker rooms, a fan shop, a banquet hall, a

veranda A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure. Although the form ''veran ...

overlooking the main field, two concession stands, a press box, and a private office.

History

Opening and Anheuser-Busch

The St. Louis Soccer Park opened in 1982 with funding from

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple glo ...

who outright purchased it in 1985 and renamed it the Anheuser-Busch Center. During the Anheuser-Busch ownership, the main exhibition field, known as West Community Stadium since August 2019, was opened and capable of seating 5,500 spectators, for hosting international, collegiate and youth soccer competitions.

August Busch IV August Adolphus Busch IV (born June 15, 1964) is an American businessman and former CEO of Anheuser-Busch. He was the last of the family to control the company, which was purchased in a hostile takeover in 2008 by InBev. Busch IV was known for ...

, the former CEO of Anheuser-Busch, who disliked going to Anheuser-Busch's headquarters, renovated a portion of the Soccer Park offices complete with his own luxurious and secluded office that includes a private bathroom (formerly soccer club coaches offices with a shower) and conference room. During Anheuser-Busch's takeover by Belgium beer maker

InBev InBev () is a brewing company that resulted from the merger between Belgium-based company Interbrew and Brazilian brewer AmBev which took place in 2004. It existed independently until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch in 2008, which formed Anheu ...

, the board and executives of Anheuser-Busch met in August's conference room at the Soccer Park. At one point during the takeover proceedings, August said "My war room is the Soccer Park" describing the frantic effort of the executives to save Anheuser-Busch from being sold.

St. Louis Soccer United

In March 2009, Anheuser-Busch wrote a letter of intent to transfer ownership of Soccer Park to Jeff Cooper and his organization

St. Louis Soccer United AC St. Louis was an American professional association football, soccer team based in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in December 2009, the team played its first and only season the next year in the NASL Conference of the temporary USSF ...

(SLSU) in order to strengthen SLSU's bid for a

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

. While the MLS bid failed, SLSU announced in May that

Saint Louis Athletica Saint Louis Athletica was an American professional soccer club that was based in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. Athletica started the 2009 season playing its home games at Ralph Korte S ...

, the

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...

team also run by SLSU, would play the rest of their home games at Soccer Park, having previously played at

Ralph Korte Stadium Ralph Korte Stadium, also known as "The Ralph", is a 4,000 seat stadium located on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Illinois. It is home to the SIUE Cougars men's and women's soccer and outdoor track & ...

on the campus of

SIUE Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Butler 1976, p. 18 It is the younger of the two major inst ...

. In the summer of 2011, Jeff Cooper and SLSU sold the soccer park to St. Louis Scott Gallagher, a local soccer club. Jeff Cooper originally received a bid for the Soccer Park from a non-soccer organization but this news spread to

World Wide Technology World Wide Technology, Inc. (WWT) is a privately-held technology services provider based in St. Louis, Missouri. The company has an annual revenue of $14.5 billion (the 27th largest private company in the US and the biggest black-owned company in ...

executives

Jim Kavanaugh James P. "Jim" Kavanaugh (born 1963) is an American businessman. He is known as the CEO and co-founder of World Wide Technology. Early life Kavanaugh received his Bachelor of Science in business administration from Saint Louis University in 19 ...

and Tom Strunk who, in an effort to keep soccer strong in St. Louis, personally financed the deal - estimated at $1.9 million - on behalf of St. Louis Scott Gallagher.

Current ownership

In March 2012, St. Louis Scott Gallagher broke ground on a $1.5 million renovation after it signed a partnership with Webster University and received sponsorship from

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

Windows Mobile Windows Mobile is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants. Its origin dated back to Windows CE in 1996, though Windows Mobile itself first appeared in 2000 as Pock ...

and

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...

in addition to a considerable donation from

, who had a number of executives play soccer at SLU. The renovations included replacing the main exhibition field and another grass field with turf, replanting the two remaining grass fields with

Bermuda grass ''Cynodon dactylon'', commonly known as Bermuda grass, is a grass found worldwide. It is native to Europe, Africa, Australia and much of Asia. It has been introduced to the Americas. Although it is not native to Bermuda, it is an abundant invasiv ...

, replacing the out dated scoreboard with a state-of-the-art video board and sound system, and converting one of the coaches' conference rooms into a first-class Team Pro Shop.

International games

References

External links

Official Site
{{Saint Louis FC Sports venues completed in 1982 Sports venues in St. Louis Soccer venues in Missouri 1982 establishments in Missouri Field hockey venues in the United States Former Major League Lacrosse venues Lacrosse venues in the United States USL Championship stadiums Sports complexes in the United States Sports venues in Missouri