MUSC Health Stadium was a
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- ...
located in the
Daniel Island
Daniel Island, South Carolina is a island located in the city of Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Named after its former inhabitant, the colonial governor of the Carolinas, Robert Daniell, the island is located in Berkeley County and ...
area of
Charleston, South Carolina that served as the home of the
Charleston Battery
The Charleston Battery are an American professional soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are one of the oldest continuously operating professional soccer clubs in th ...
of the
USL Championship
The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...
.
Originally named Blackbaud Stadium, the stadium was opened in 1999. At the time, Blackbaud (along with
Columbus Crew Stadium
Historic Crew Stadium, previously known as Columbus Crew Stadium and Mapfre Stadium, is a soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It primarily served as the home stadium of the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer from 1999 ...
, which opened the same year) was the first modern-era stadium in the United States designed for soccer. The stadium was originally named after
Blackbaud
Blackbaud (NASDAQ:BLKB) is a cloud computing provider that serves the social good community— nonprofits, foundations, corporations, education institutions, healthcare organizations, religious organizations, and individual change agents. Its p ...
, a software company founded by Battery majority owner Tony Bakker. The company's headquarters were adjacent to the stadium.
The stadium seated 5,100 people, mostly in two large stands on either side of the field. The stadium is modeled after lower-division
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
soccer stadiums and featured an on-site pub, called "The Three Lions".
The stadium regularly hosted sporting events besides Battery matches, including
United States women's national soccer team
The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four Women's World Cup titles ( 1991, 1999, 2015, an ...
soccer, and
United States national rugby union team
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 Sta ...
matches. The stadium also hosts concerts and other festivals, including several editions of the Southern Ground Music and Food Festival headlined by the
Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band is an American country music band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy De Martini ( fiddle, vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass guitar, guitar, baritone guitar, banjo, ukul ...
.
In early 2008, the Battery announced a plan to convert much of the stadium to
solar energy. The panels could offset up to 12 tons of
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...
per year.
On July 30, 2015, the Battery sold naming rights for the stadium to the
Medical University of South Carolina
The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) is a public medical school in South Carolina. It opened in 1824 in Charleston as a small private college aimed at training physicians and has since established hospitals and medical facilities ac ...
through 2019, in an expansion of a partnership between the university's hospital system and the team.
In August 2018, the stadium hosted the
Major League Lacrosse
Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff ...
league championship game. It was the first MLL game held in South Carolina.
The Southern Ground Music and Food Festival was hosted in 2011:
Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band is an American country music band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy De Martini ( fiddle, vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass guitar, guitar, baritone guitar, banjo, ukul ...
,
Clay Cook
Douglas "Clay" Cook (born April 20, 1978) is an American songwriter, producer, and musician who is best known as a member of the Zac Brown Band. After dropping out of college, he and classmate John Mayer formed the band Lo-Fi Masters. Cook co-wro ...
,
Eric Church
Kenneth Eric Church (born May 3, 1977) is an American country music singer-songwriter. He has released nine studio albums through Capitol Nashville since 2005. His debut album, 2006's '' Sinners Like Me'', produced three singles on the ''Billboar ...
,
Warren Haynes
Warren Haynes (born April 6, 1960) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his work as longtime guitarist with the Allman Brothers Band and as founding member of the jam band Gov't Mule. Early in his career he was ...
, Blue Dogs (from Charleston),
Moon Taxi
Moon Taxi is an American indie-alternative rock band based in Nashville, Tennessee. The band was founded in 2006 by Trevor Terndrup (vocals, guitar), Tommy Putnam (bass), Spencer Thomson (guitar, programming), Tyler Ritter (drums), and Wes Baile ...
,
My Morning Jacket
My Morning Jacket is an American rock band formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1998. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Jim James, bassist Tom Blankenship, drummer Patrick Hallahan, guitarist Carl Broemel, and keyboardist Bo Koster. The ...
,
Train
In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...
, and
Fitz and the Tantrums
Fitz and the Tantrums are an American indie pop and neo soul band from Los Angeles, California, that formed in 2008. The band consists of Michael Fitzpatrick (lead vocals), Noelle Scaggs (co-lead vocals and percussion), James King (saxophone, ...
. In 2012, the festival had:
Gregg Allman Band
The Gregg Allman Band, also known as Gregg Allman & Friends, was a Southern rock/blues rock group that Gregg Allman established and had led since the 1970s, during periods when Allman has been recording and performing separate from the Allman Br ...
,
The Avett Brothers
The Avett Brothers are an American folk rock band from Concord, North Carolina. The band is made up of two brothers, Scott Avett (banjo, lead vocals, guitar, piano, kick-drum) and Seth Avett (guitar, lead vocals, piano, hi-hat) along with Bob C ...
,
Charlie Daniels Band,
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are an American rock band from Vermont, formed in 2002 in Waitsfield by drummer Matt Burr, guitarist Scott Tournet, and singer Grace Potter. They began their career as an indie band, self-producing their albums an ...
, and
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Michael Franti (born April 21, 1966) is an American rapper, musician, poet, activist, documentarian, and singer-songwriter, known for his participation in many musical projects, most with a political and social emphasis, including the Beatnigs ...
. In 2013, the festival had
Band of Horses
Band of Horses is an American rock band formed in 2004 in Seattle, Washington. Led by singer-songwriter Ben Bridwell, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes, the band's current line-up also inclu ...
,
Jason Mraz
Jason Thomas Mraz (; born June 23, 1977) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his debut studio album, ''Waiting for My Rocket to Come'' (2002), which spawned the single " The Remedy (I Won't ...
,
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album '' Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (1 ...
, and
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted m ...
. In 2016, it had
Thomas Rhett
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
,
A Thousand Horses
A Thousand Horses is an American country music band formed in 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. The band is composed of Michael Hobby (lead vocals), Bill Satcher (lead guitar), Zach Brown (guitar and vocals), and Graham Deloach (bass and vocals). Their ...
,
Kacey Musgraves
Kacey Lee Musgraves (born August 21, 1988) is an American country singer. She has won six Grammy Awards, seven Country Music Association Awards, and three Academy of Country Music Awards. Musgraves self-released three solo albums and one as Texa ...
,
The Marshall Tucker Band
The Marshall Tucker Band is an American rock band from Spartanburg, South Carolina. Noted for incorporating blues, country, and jazz into an eclectic sound, the Marshall Tucker Band helped establish the Southern rock genre in the early 1970s. W ...
(from Spartanburg), and
Bruce Hornsby
Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock, heartland rock, and blues rock musical traditions ...
.
Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band is an American country music band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy De Martini ( fiddle, vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass guitar, guitar, baritone guitar, banjo, ukul ...
played at the festival every year from 2011–2016.
On May 29, 2019, MUSC Health Stadium was sold to an affiliate of Atlanta-based Holder Properties Inc for $6.475 million. After the 2019
USL Championship
The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...
season, the stadium will be demolished to make way for commercial redevelopment. The final Battery game at the stadium took place on October 19, 2019 against
Bethlehem Steel FC
Philadelphia Union II is an American professional soccer team based in Chester, Pennsylvania competing in MLS Next Pro. Founded in 2015 as Bethlehem Steel FC, the team is the official affiliate of the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer. T ...
.
USA Eagles Internationals
''USA scores displayed first.''
References
External links
MUSC Health Stadium(Charleston Battery official website)
{{USL Venues
Charleston Battery
College soccer venues in the United States
Soccer venues in South Carolina
Rugby union stadiums in the United States
Buildings and structures in Berkeley County, South Carolina
Sports venues in Charleston, South Carolina
USL Championship stadiums
Sports venues completed in 1999
1999 establishments in South Carolina