Santa Ana Stadium, also known as Eddie West Field or the Santa Ana Bowl, is a city-owned and operated 9,000-capacity

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 ...

and

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 ...

stadium located in downtown Santa Ana. The field was named after Eddie West, a writer for the

Orange County Register ''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digital Fiest/Media News subsidiaries. ...

and tireless supporter of the Santa Ana College Dons and all Orange County sports. The city's stadium holds many events in addition to its high school and college football main draws, including children's and adult soccer games through local leagues, high school and college commencement ceremonies and more. The City of Santa Ana scheduled retrofitting of the stadium to begin on January 4, 2016 and end on April 30, 2016 but work was not completed until August 2016. Current tenants include the Santa Ana Unified School District's High School football teams, the Santa Ana College Dons football team, and the Mater Dei Monarchs football team. The upstart

United Premier Soccer League The United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) is an American soccer league that was founded in Santa Ana in Southern California, with teams in regionalized conferences throughout the United States, and recently Canada and Mexico. The league was found ...

, founded in Santa Ana, also holds occasional exhibition and league playoff matches at the stadium, for its various clubs.

Notable Events

Santa Ana College Santa Ana College is a public community college in Santa Ana, California. History In 1915, Santa Ana Junior College opened its doors to 25 students as a department of Santa Ana High School. It was the second community college founded in Orange ...

held its Centennial Commencement (1915-2015) at the stadium on the June 5, 2015. Santa Ana Stadium was the site of an international soccer match between the

Orange County Soccer Club Orange County Soccer Club was a Greater Los Angeles team active in the mid 1960s in a league called the Continental League. One of the highlights of its existence included an international match with Bayern Munich of Germany played on June 10, 1 ...

and the German side

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

, one of the most popular sports clubs with an estimated 87 million fans worldwide, on June 10, 1966, in which the clubs played to a 3-3 tie. The Orange County Soccer Club played in a league called the Continental League. That same year, in 1966, the Orange County Soccer Club played the final of the national tournament, the U.S. Open Cup (then called the National Challenge Cup), and played it again in 1967, but was unable to become champion on both occasions. On Friday, January 13, 1989

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América or simply América, is a professional football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

of the Mexican Primera División, now

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

, defeated

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...

of the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

at Santa Ana Stadium in front of 11,500 in attendance. In March 2011, Santa Ana Winds FC, formerly of the

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The NPSL is a semi-professional league, comprising some teams that have paid players and some that are entirely amateur. The league is officially ...

and later a founding member of the

, played an exhibition, at Santa Ana Stadium against a

Club Atlas Atlas Fútbol Club () is a Mexican professional football club based in Guadalajara, Jalisco that currently plays in Liga MX. It plays home matches at the Estadio Jalisco. Founded in 1916, Atlas has won three league titles and four domestic cups ...

youth squad. In December 2011, Winds FC played another exhibition at the stadium, this time against a

Chivas De Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara (); often simply known as Guadalajara () and their nickname ''Chivas'' (), is a Mexican professional football club based in Zapopan, Jalisco. Guadalajara is one of the ten founding members of the Mexican First Divisi ...

youth squad. In 2014,

Orange County Blues FC Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the second tier USL Championship. The team plays its home games a ...

of the

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a Association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues curren ...

played an international exhibition game at Santa Ana Stadium against

Atlético Marte Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico * Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy * Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic ...

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

Tenants

Regular

* SAUSD High School American Football * Mater Dei High School American Football

Occasional

* Santa Ana Winds FC (Have played occasional exhibition, non-regular season games at Santa Ana Stadium). *

(Scheduled local exhibitions and U.S. Open Cup matches for its various teams in the past). *

(Played an international exhibition game at Santa Ana Stadium against

on November 16, 2014).

Former

Cal State Fullerton Titans football The Cal State Fullerton Titans football program represented California State University, Fullerton from the 1970 through 1992 seasons. The Titans originally competed as a member of the California Collegiate Athletic Association from 1970 to 1973 ...

(

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

) *

California Sunshine The California Sunshine was an American soccer club based in Fountain Valley, California that was a member of the American Soccer League. The team was owned by Dr. Robert Everakes and his wife Alexandra, who was the general manager. Their home game ...

( American Soccer League) * Chivas USA Academy (

U.S. Soccer Development Academy The U.S. Soccer Development Academy (DA) was an American soccer league. Formed in 2007, the league features youth academies and youth clubs from various organizations, including Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League. The DA's mission ...

) *Los Angeles Rough Riders, Major League Rodeo (1978) *

Orange County Blue Star Orange County Blue Star was an American soccer team based in Irvine, California. Founded in 1997, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Southwest Division of the Weste ...

(

Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental association football, soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United Stat ...

) *

("Continental League") *

Orange County Zodiac Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

(

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

)

History

Santa Ana Stadium was built in 1963 by the R.E. Gallegos Construction Company.

International Soccer Record

Santa Ana Stadium has held U.S. Open Cup matches in the past and is scheduled to hold another on November 22, 2015, pending results.

U.S. Open Cup Record

On October 25, 2015, UPSL team "Ozzy's Laguna FC," which formed the PDL side "LA Laguna FC," lost a US Open Cup qualifying match against So Cal Premier League side Real Sociedad in penalty kicks at

East Los Angeles College East Los Angeles College (ELAC) is a public community college in Monterey Park, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and the Los Angeles Community College District. With fourteen communiti ...

thus losing the opportunity to host a US Open Cup match at Santa Ana Stadium.

Boxing

Former pro boxer

Oscar De la Hoya Oscar De La Hoya ( , ; born on February 4, 1973) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. His accolades include winning 11 world titles in six weight classes, including the lineal championshi ...

and his

Golden Boy Promotions Golden Boy Promotions, Inc. is an American boxing promotional firm based in Los Angeles, California. The company was established in 2002 by eight-time world champion (in six divisions) Oscar De La Hoya, borrowing his nickname "Golden Boy." Histo ...

presented a boxing card at Santa Ana Stadium on September 18, 2003, which was shown on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

Former proposed uses

MLS

Santa Ana Stadium was a site twice identified as an option 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 ...

franchise. Talks for a possible franchise began as far back as 2007, as then MLS investor Antonio Cue went to a State of the City Address to talk of possibly relocating

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. Guada ...

from the Home Depot Center in Carson to the Santa Ana Stadium site. Plans included relocating the Chivas USA Academy to Santa Ana as well. In 2011, the City of Santa Ana passed a Memorandum of Understanding to enter into a six-month negotiating window with MLS via Chivas USA, (MLS and its teams are a single entity) but MLS never committed to negotiating with Santa Ana for two main reasons. One was Major League Soccer's stance (through investor Antonio Cue) that the City of Santa Ana had to pay to remodel Santa Ana Stadium. The other reason was due to MLS's long insistence on getting a stadium built for their second LA area franchise at the site of the

Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena was a multi-purpose arena at Exposition Park (Los Angeles), Exposition Park, in the University Park, Los Angeles, University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was located next to the Los Angeles Memorial ...

at Exposition Park in Los Angeles. The Chivas USA Academy (U-16 and U-18) did play a season at Santa Ana Stadium then left the stadium to settle in Bell Gardens. In 2013, Sueño MLS Winner and Chivas USA player

Jorge Villafaña Jorge Antonio Flores Villafaña (born September 16, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a left-back. Career Youth Villafaña spent part of his childhood in Pénjamo, Guanajuato, Mexico before returning to the Unite ...

, who grew up playing soccer in Santa Ana, started a branch of the Chivas USA Academy that played at Santa Ana Stadium until the demise of the first team. Soon after the demise of Chivas USA, Major League Soccer investors in the Chivas USA replacement

Los Angeles Football Club Los Angeles Football Club, commonly referred to as LAFC, is an American professional Association football team based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The clu ...

franchise identified a number of locations in Greater Los Angeles for a possible home for their "LAFC." Santa Ana was again counted among the possible locations for an MLS franchise. A Santa Ana fan group sprouted on social media to attract LAFC to the Santa Ana Stadium site, given its proximity to downtown amenities minutes away on foot, but Major League Soccer through investors involved with LAFC, and with the help of park operator

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

, opted on building at Exposition Park in Los Angeles, a site that was identified for years by MLS as a top priority.

NASL

Santa Ana Stadium qualifies as a Division 2 stadium under the United States Soccer Federation's current divisional criteria. As such, the stadium was again identified and proposed for housing a professional soccer team, this time by grassroots efforts. Because the stadium has double the size of the USSF division 2 standard of 5000 seats, it was considered ideal for an investment at the Division 2 level. There were proposals to bring back

Los Angeles Aztecs The Los Angeles Aztecs was an American professional soccer team based in Los Angeles, California that existed from 1974 to 1981. The Aztecs competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1974 to 1981 as well as the 1975 NASL Indoor tour ...

and the

California Surf The California Surf were an American Association football, soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League (1968–1984), North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1978 North American Soccer League season, 1978 to 1981 North American ...

, (formerly owned by

Henry Segerstrom Henry Thomas Segerstrom (April 5, 1923 – February 20, 2015) was an American philanthropist, entrepreneur, cultural leader, and patron of the arts. Managing Partner of C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, he was the founding chairman of the Orange County Perf ...

, developer of

South Coast Plaza South Coast Plaza is a regional shopping mall in Costa Mesa, California. The largest shopping center on the West Coast of the United States, its pre-COVID sales of over $1.5 billion annually were the highest in the United States. Its 275 retail ...

), this time to Santa Ana Stadium. The original California Surf played at Anaheim Stadium for the duration of their short existence. In 2014, NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson stated the following regarding NASL expansion, "We’ve had conversations throughout California, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and others."

=Sting and Joe Sumner

= On December 11, 2015 Northern California soccer writer Evan Ream stated. " can confirm that the singer

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

is in fact involved with the Orange County bid." On January 21, 2016 writer Dave Martinez of Empire of Soccer quoted NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson concerning west coast expansion as saying, "We will start making announcements as early as four weeks or as long as eight weeks … At least one market … could be more.” The rumor that Gordon Summer, aka "Sting," was involved with an NASL club in Orange County turned out false. It was not him, but his son Joe Sumner that was involved but backed out of talks to start a club in the county. Joe Sumner went on to launch a club called

City of Angels FC City Of Angels FC is a Los Angeles area men's soccer club based in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California. They most recently played in the National Premier Soccer League. History The foundation of City of Angels FC was announced on J ...

that played one season in the National Premier Soccer League.

=Peter Wilt & Club 9 Sports

= In November 2016, consultant Peter Wilt of Club 9 Sports studied the possibility of launching an NASL expansion club at Santa Ana Stadium. Wilt and club executive Michael Collins visited Santa Ana Stadium and met with City of Santa Ana City Manager Gerardo Mouet and Councilman Vince Sarmiento to propose use of Santa Ana Stadium, and to determine the costs of upgrading the stadium's seats, lighting, locker rooms and the expansion of the playing field. The NASL Orange County group eventually opted on playing at Cal State Fullerton's Titan Stadium, however, within a year's time the NASL lost Division 2 sanctioning and teams to defection, causing the expansion groups to look for another league to play in. The NASL Orange County group eventually branded itself as

California United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Orange County, California. History The club was founded by Bronwyn & Pete Capriotti and Michael Collins, who have had connections to the adult amateur United Premier Soccer League. California ...

and announced its players would play in the United Premier Soccer League in 2018.

Gallery

File:SantaAnaCityStadium1.jpg, File:Santa Ana Stadium.jpg,

References

{{Cal State Fullerton Titans football navbox American football venues in California Boxing venues in California Cal State Fullerton Titans football Defunct college football venues Defunct National Premier Soccer League stadiums High school football venues in California Soccer venues in California Sports in Santa Ana, California Sports venues in Orange County, California Buildings and structures in Santa Ana, California