Lockhart Stadium was a

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

used mostly for soccer in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

, United States. It was used in a variety of sports, particularly

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 ...

and

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

. Originally designed in 1959 for high school sports, the stadium's long-standing soccer connection began in 1977 when it became the home venue for the original

Fort Lauderdale Strikers Fort Lauderdale Strikers may refer to: *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983), member of North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983 *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–1994), member of American Soccer League from 1988 to 1989 and American Profes ...

of the original North American Soccer League (NASL). In 1998, it was refitted for soccer to house the

Miami Fusion The Miami Fusion was a professional soccer team based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They played in Major League Soccer (MLS) for four seasons, from 1998 to 2001. Announced in 1997 as one of the league's first two expansion teams, their best seas ...

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 ...

, but the team folded in 2002. It was also the home stadium of the

Florida Atlantic Owls football The Florida Atlantic Owls football program represents Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in the sport of American football. The Owls compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Amer ...

team from 2002 to 2010. Later it was the home of the

of the second iteration of NASL from 2011 to 2016. The stadium site was redeveloped in 2019 and 2020 with the construction of

DRV PNK Stadium DRV PNK Stadium (pronounced as Drive Pink Stadium, formerly Inter Miami CF Stadium) is a soccer-specific stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Built on the site of the former Lockhart Stadium, the 18,000-seat stadium is the home pitch of Inter M ...

for

club

Inter Miami CF Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami, known as Inter Miami CF or simply Inter Miami, is an American professional soccer club based in the Miami metropolitan area. Established in 2018, the club began play in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the 2020 ...

History

The stadium was built in 1959 as part of a new sports complex that also included the

Fort Lauderdale Stadium Fort Lauderdale Stadium was a baseball stadium located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida next to Lockhart Stadium. The stadium was demolished in June 2019 as part of the construction of Inter Miami CF Stadium for Inter Miami CF. The New York Yankee ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

park. It was originally designed to host

and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

competitions for four local high schools:

Fort Lauderdale High School Fort Lauderdale High School is a high school located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida that serves students in grades 9 through 12. The school is a part of the Broward County Public Schools district. Founded in 1899 as a school for whites, the high sch ...

, Stranahan High School, Northeast High School, and Dillard High School. The stadium was named for former city commissioner H. Y. "Doug" Lockhart and was dedicated at a football game on September 18, 1959. For nearly twenty years, Lockhart Stadium was primarily used for high school football and track, but occasionally saw use for state football as well as

. A more substantial role as a soccer venue came in 1977, when the

Miami Toros The Miami Toros was a professional soccer team in the North American Soccer League from 1972 to 1976. The club was founded in 1967 as the Washington Darts, and moved to Miami, where they played the 1972 season in the NASL's Southern Division ...

of the original

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

relocated to the stadium, renaming themselves the

. This began Lockhart's long association with the sport. The Strikers played there until 1982, when they moved to Minnesota. On November 23, 1980, the

United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) represents the United States in men's international soccer competitions. The team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and is a member of FIFA and CONCACAF. The U.S. team ha ...

defeated

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

2–1 in a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

qualifier at Lockhart, the first U.S. win over Mexico in over 46 years. After the departure of the Strikers, the stadium largely returned to its original use for high school sports for several years. The stadium would, however, play host to

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

scrimmages during training camps in the late 1990s. In 1998, the stadium was renovated for use by the

(MLS). The renovation increased capacity to 20,000 and redesigned the field expressly for soccer. This was an unusual move at the time, as all other MLS teams played in football stadiums, and started the league's eventual trend toward

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. The stadium continued to host high-profile soccer games through this period, including

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

's 1998 victory over

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...

in the

Interamerican Cup The Copa Interamericana ( en, Interamerican Cup) was an annual club football competition contested between a representative from North America (CONCACAF) and South America (CONMEBOL). Established in 1969, it was discontinued in 1998 after CONCACA ...

. However, the Fusion were contracted by the league in 2002. In 2003 Lockhart was refitted once again for use by the

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Florida, Dania Beach, Davie, Florida, Davie, Fort Lauderd ...

Owls Owls are birds from the Order (biology), order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly Solitary animal, solitary and Nocturnal animal, nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vi ...

college football team. In 2011, the Owls began playing at the on-campus

FAU Stadium Howard Schnellenberger Field at FAU Stadium is a college football stadium located at the north end of the main campus of Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in Boca Raton, Florida. Opened in 2011, it is home to the Florida Atlantic Owls football te ...

Boca Raton Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christi ...

's final South Florida crusade took place at the Lockhart Stadium in 1985. The stadium was host to the 2007 Caribbean Carnival for Broward County, after Miramar turned their request down. The stadium also hosted the 2008 and 2009 MLS combines. In 2009, Miami FC moved to Lockhart Stadium from Miami. They changed their name to the

in 2011. The

announced in 2016 that they were moving from Lockhart Stadium to a stadium at

Central Broward Regional Park Central Broward Park & Broward County Stadium, formerly Central Broward Regional Park and Central Broward Stadium, is a large county park in Lauderhill, Florida, and the only dedicated cricket stadium in the United States. It is owned and ope ...

. A $70-million Schlitterbahn Water Park proposed for the 64 acres taken up by Lockhart Stadium was tied up in court being challenged by the owners of Rapids Water Park in Riviera Beach. After the Strikers' 2016 departure, the stadium fell into a state of disrepair. In late January 2019,

expansion team

announced its intentions to pursue the Lockhart Stadium site to serve as the club's training ground for its first team, youth academy, and

USL League One USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019. The Division III league is operated by United Soccer League, the same group that operates the Division II USL Championshi ...

reserve side

Fort Lauderdale CF Inter Miami Club de Fútbol II, commonly known as Inter Miami CF II, is an American professional soccer club based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that plays in the MLS Next Pro, the third-tier of American soccer. The club was established on Feb ...

. The development would also include an 18,000-seat stadium, which will serve as the long-term home of Fort Lauderdale CF as well as the interim home of the first team while the

Miami Freedom Park Miami Freedom Park is a proposed 25,000-seat soccer-specific stadium to be built in Miami, Florida, United States as the home of Major League Soccer team Inter Miami CF. In spring 2022, final approval was given by the city of Miami to build a st ...

stadium is under construction. The Fort Lauderdale city council unanimously approved Inter Miami's bid for the Lockhart Stadium site on March 19. On April 2, the Fort Lauderdale City Commission cleared Inter Miami to begin the demolition process; as part of the deal, the team was to begin clearing the site within 180 days, with demolition of the stadium beginning on May 8. On July 9, 2019, the Fort Lauderdale City Commission unanimously approved a 50-year lease agreement for the Lockhart Stadium site with Inter Miami; under the terms of the agreement, the city of Fort Lauderdale will retain ownership of the property while Inter Miami will be responsible for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the new stadium and facilities.

USA Eagles Internationals

The stadium hosted two

USA Eagles The United States men's national rugby union team represents the United States in men's international rugby union. Nicknamed the Eagles, it is controlled by USA Rugby, the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United Stat ...

internationals in 2003 and 2016.

References

External links

Fort Lauderdale Strikers

Stadium image
{{Former MLS stadiums North American Soccer League stadiums Soccer venues in Florida Sports venues completed in 1959 Sports venues demolished in 2019 High school football venues in the United States Florida Atlantic Owls football Defunct college football venues Former Major League Soccer stadiums Rugby union stadiums in Florida Buildings and structures in Fort Lauderdale, Florida Tourist attractions in Fort Lauderdale, Florida Sports in Fort Lauderdale, Florida North American Soccer League (1968–1984) stadiums 1959 establishments in Florida 2019 disestablishments in Florida National Premier Soccer League stadiums Sports venues in Broward County, Florida