Santa Rosa exploring professional soccer team
FILE ART - USL soccer game.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Santa Rosa wants a professional soccer team, and city leaders are exploring how to make that happen.
The city said it is in exclusive talks with the United Soccer League to see what bringing a team to the area could look like.
The USL is a U.S. soccer-sanctioned league, the same one that the Oakland Roots play in.
Right now, for men's soccer, the USL sanctions Division 2 and Division 3 professional leagues.
USL approached Santa Rosa city leaders to explore if the city can handle supporting men's and women's teams.
They signed a letter of intent in mid-March.
Scott Adair, Santa Rosa's chief economic development officer, gave a presentation to the city council on Tuesday.
And for the next year, Santa Rosa will try to answer questions like where they can build a stadium, who would own the team and how the team would impact surrounding neighborhoods.
Santa Rosa appeared on the USL's radar simply for its name recognition.
"I think everyone knows Santa Rosa and Sonoma from being one of the most beautiful places with the best wine in the world," said Justin Papadakis, USL's deputy CEO and chief real estate officer. "But when you look at the actual data, in terms of soccer and sports fans, Santa Rosa registers very strong."
Major League Soccer is the only league with Division 1 soccer in the country, and that's the league the San Jose Earthquakes play in.
The USL recently announced plans to sanction a new Division 1 league, playing parallel to MLS, which would include promotion and relegation. That means good teams are promoted to higher divisions, and lesser teams would be relegated to lower divisions.