Over 10,000 fans poured into the dusty parking lot of the Phoenix Rising Soccer Stadium on April 1 for the team’s season opener, and for the first time, they arrived at a stadium located in Phoenix.
LEARN MORE: Phoenix Rising FC soccer club will now play games in Phoenix
The stadium, located on 38th St. and Washington, was packed to the brim as airplanes flew overhead- not from a celebratory flyover, but from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport located just down the road.
They added to a raucous atmosphere in the same facility where the team played in the past; the stadium was deconstructed at its previous location at Wild Horse Pass in Chandler and rebuilt on land the City of Phoenix leased to Phoenix Rising for five years.
Mitch Ressler had been a season ticket holder for two seasons, and the previous stadium was only located two miles from his house. Yet, the move didn’t bother him.
“I think it’s better for the city. It’s more centrally located, it’s on the light rail so people can get to it,” Ressler said at his tailgate outside of the home opener.
The centrality of the location brought numerous features that fans said enhanced their experience, such as a central location for the fanbase, higher attendance and a light rail stop within walking distance.
The home opener, which ended in a 2-2 tie against San Diego Loyal SC, set a club record with 10,437 people in attendance. The team drew 6,309 fans to its home game against Monterey Bay F.C. on April 15.
Monica McPherson, a season ticket holder since 2012, said that through the first home games the team has made adjustments to the stadium to enhance the fan experience.
“They made the parking lot nicer for us tailgating,” McPherson said. “They made it so much easier for us to get in the stadium, and the lines were shorter for getting water.”
She said that the team “couldn’t have put the new stadium in a better place.”
“I think we’re starting to have roots. We’ll get the people that, when they moved us from the Tempe area out to our last one, we lost a lot of the east side people. When they moved the other direction, they lost west side people. Now, we’re central,” McPherson said.
The stadium bounced between four different sites before the newest location.
Tempe was home to Phoenix Rising when it had a 20-game win streak in 2019. That was the season that led Alexis Runninger to purchase season tickets.
Runninger, a resident of Phoenix, went to the season opener. She said the full stadium energized the team and that the location may have helped fill seats.
“Getting to the location, it’s very centrally located, and I’m hoping that’s why we had such a big crowd at the first game,” Runninger said. “I also love that it’s so close to public transit… it gives people from all over an option to get into the game.”
Soccer is one of the world’s most most-watched sports, with over one billion fans from all over the world tuning in for the 2022 men’s World Cup final, according to FIFA.
In Phoenix, Runninger said, soccer fans are from “all different walks of life.”
“You see all kinds of people who support all different things and have all different kinds of beliefs, all there to support and cheer on one common thing, the Phoenix Rising. I think that’s beautiful, especially with everything in the world today,” Runninger said.
The stadium offers more than just the game to enjoy. Fans can take part in $1 beer nights, and season ticket holders get special access to events.
Runninger said being a season ticket holder allows her to skip long food lines and gets her lower prices for food at the games.
Every time the light rail pulled up to 38th St. and Washington for the season opener, fans clad in red and black eagerly pushed their way onto the platform and were waved across the road.
Dinora Galvez, who took the light rail to the season opener, said she was happy the stadium was relocated because of the light rail.
“I hate the traffic, I hate the drive,” Galvez said. “It’s (the stadium) more accessible.”
Fans like Galvez can take advantage of the new partnership Phoenix Rising has with Valley Metro, where fans can use their tickets as light rail fare to and from the stadium.
“If you are traveling to the 38th St. and Washington area, and you decide, ‘Hey, I want to go out before for dinner, or go out to a bar and go before or after the match,’ you can use that match ticket to get you to and from,” said Susan Tierney, the communications manager at Valley Metro.
Valley Metro reported increased business at the first game, as according to its statistics boardings at the 38th St. and Washington station increased by 242% on gameday of the season opener.
The station had a total of 1,300 boardings that day, which is more than the average of around 530 for a Saturday in April, according to Valley Metro.
“There’s just so many places that we take people to, special events along the light rail line, (and) we want to show that we have a very viable system that they can count on to get them and from that special event,” Tierney said.
Tierney said similar ticket-plus-fare models have been used in the past; in 2008, Valley Metro started a partnership with the Footprint Center so that fans’ tickets to Mercury and Suns games could count as metro passes.
“You can come out to a game, then hop right back on the railway, that’s a huge plus for the community, and I think it’ll help the businesses grow around the area,” said Jason Minnick, Director of Communications and Community Relations for Phoenix Rising.
In the future, some fans said they hope the team can take the next step from the United Soccer League to Major League Soccer, the top-flight U.S. soccer league, but others were not so sure.
“I think that having an MLS team would change everything. The costs would be higher for everything, traveling would be extortionate,” McPherson said. “I want to win our USL, I want to go to the top and bring that cup home, and then maybe it might be different.”
She also said there are different fan rules in the MLS. McPherson is a part of Union 602, a Phoenix Rising fan group that works closely with Los Bandidos, another fan group that supports Phoenix Rising.
At games, McPherson said the fans “pop smoke,” where they release colored smoke into the air when the team scores a goal. She said that in the MLS, that would be different.
“It is the most amazing feeling to know that’s why you’re doing it, because they’ve just scored, it’s just incredible, and everybody’s chanting and bouncing and you can feel the stands moving,” McPherson said. “It’s the most incredible feeling ever.”
Runninger, on the other hand, said she hopes the MLS is in Phoenix Rising’s future.
“I really do hope with the stadium location, if we can continue having big crowds, we can make that happen, with, hopefully, some wins here, too,” Runninger said.
