‘We will be playing in August.’ Lexington Sporting Club updates progress on new stadium.
Construction on Lexington Sporting Club’s permanent soccer stadium remains on track for its teams to begin playing there in August of this year, new club chief executive officer Kim Shelton said Wednesday.
“Footers are being poured, steel is on the way, if not here,” Shelton said. “So we should be seeing steel beginning to be erected mid-March. So it’s happening. So we hope to be playing, we plan to be playing, we will be playing in August.”
First announced in October 2023, the soccer-specific stadium off Athens Boonesboro Road near Interstate 75, slated to initially have a capacity of 5,000 “with the potential to expand to a maximum of 11,000,” is being built at the same location as the club’s youth fields. It will serve as LSC’s new home — for the men’s USL League One (the third tier of American men’s professional soccer) team, the recently Division One-sanctioned USL Women’s Super League Team and the LSC youth clubs.
Shelton said with all the investments to the infrastructure, the momentum and excitement within the organization is growing.
“The momentum is definitely growing,” Shelton said. “And when people kind of look at and see everything that we’re doing from an infrastructure perspective with these fields, with the facilities out there and now the stadium in process, the momentum is, you can feel it definitely in our offices and around the guys and as we’re talking now players for the Women’s Super League team, the momentum is there and the excitement is definitely building.”
New LSC head coach Darren Powell said he’s enjoyed watching the stadium’s progress during the offseason.
“Obviously, we’re in the midst of building a stadium,” Powell said. “Which is going in a really good direction. We go there every day and train by it and sometimes you set the cones up in the morning, come back, talk to the players and it’s even different by the time we get back. It’s quite exciting.”
The Lexington Sporting Club’s primary men’s team, already in the midst of its preseason schedule, opens its second-ever USL League One season March 9 against Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC at Georgetown College’s Toyota Stadium.
LSC’s 22-game USL League One regular season, which includes 11 home matches, extends to Oct. 26. The men’s team will also play at least eight additional matches in the League One Cup, a newly created in-season competition.
Six home matches are scheduled after Aug. 1, meaning if construction remains on track the team will make the move from Georgetown to Lexington well before the end of the 2024 season.
Lexington’s Women’s Super League team is also scheduled to debut in August, with more information expected soon about that team’s roster construction and game calendar.
“Message for the fans?” Shelton said. “Brace yourself, right? Here we come. Because, you know, we know we’ve been in Georgetown and we’re so grateful for the Georgetown community for embracing us. But we’re coming to Lexington here coming in August and really excited to allow for our youth players to be out there practicing and playing and seeing what’s happening and kind of being able to visualize their dream as a professional athlete at the stadium right next door to where they play.”
Lexington Sporting Club 2024 men’s schedule
Regular season
(Home games in all capital letters)
March 9: NORTHERN COLORADO, 7 p.m.
March 15: CHATTANOOGA, 7 p.m.
March 23: At One Knoxville, 6:30 p.m.
March 29: GREENVILLE, 7 p.m.
April 6: At South Georgia, 7:30 p.m.
April 14: SPOKANE, 7 p.m.
June 1: At Forward Madison, 6 p.m.
June 23: At Spokane, 9 p.m.
July 6: UNION OMAHA, 7 p.m.
July 13: SOUTH GEORGIA, 7 p.m.
July 27: RICHMOND, 7 p.m.
Aug. 3: At Charlotte, 7 p.m.
Aug. 16: At Central Valley, TBA
Aug. 24: FORWARD MADISON, 7 p.m.
Sept. 7: At Northern Colorado, 9 p.m.
Sept. 14: ONE KNOXVILLE, 7 p.m.
Sept. 18: CENTRAL VALLEY, 7 p.m.
Sept. 21: At Richmond, 6 p.m.
Oct. 5: At Greenville, 7 p.m.
Oct. 12: At Union Omaha, 5 p.m.
Oct. 19: CHARLOTTE, 7 p.m.
Oct. 26: At Chattanooga, 7:30 p.m.
League One Cup
April 28: FORWARD MADISON, 7 p.m.
May 11: CENTRAL VALLEY, 7 p.m.
May 25: At Chattanooga, 7:30 p.m.
June 8: At One Knoxville, 7 p.m.
June 29: At Greenville, 7 p.m.
July 20: At Forward Madison, 8 p.m.
Aug. 10: ONE KNOXVILLE, 7 p.m.
Aug. 31: CHATTANOOGA, 7 p.m.
‘A destination place.’ Lexington Sporting Club locks in plan for permanent soccer stadium.
