LORAIN COUNTY, Ohio — A new club will soon join the roster of professional teams in Lorain County. An ownership group says it’s finalizing plans for a soccer team to play at the Lake Erie Crushers stadium by 2026.
The team, which has yet to be named, will be at the pre-professional level of the U.S. professional soccer “pyramid.” It will be part of USL2, which is two tiers below Major League Soccer (MLS) teams, like the Columbus Crew or Cincinnati FC.
Owners say the league and the Lake Erie Crushers organization have reached an agreement with them for the new soccer team. The club will play on the converted baseball field.
“What we’ll do is we’ll run the field down the left field line back to home plate. So we’ll use about 75% of the stadium,” said Andrew McDonnell, a North Ridgeville resident and partner stakeholder in the new team.
McDonnell, who is also a partner in the USL2 team Akron City FC, said he’s seen the groundswell of interest in professional soccer in recent years. Since the Akron team was promoted to the USL2 level, game attendance has doubled.
“Soccer is hugely underserved in the Cleveland market,” he said.
He said many USL2 teams average 4,000 fans per game. The Annapolis Blues, a team whose fanbase is a similar size to Lorain County, has regularly attracted 10,000 fans.
McDonnell pointed to the growing popularity of professional soccer events like the World Cup.
“If we have the same momentum coming out of this World Cup that we did, there will be plenty of soccer for Cleveland, Lorain, Geauga, Lake County,” he said. “Everybody will probably have a team in some capacity, which is the way it is in every country in the world, except the United States.”
Some communities said they’ve also seen the sport’s surging popularity.
Monday night, dozens of youth soccer players were training at the Root Road Park soccer complex in North Ridgeville.
“It’s been growing every single year. We started with a few hundred kids, maybe 200-300. Now we’re getting close to 400-500 kids every single year,” explained Tom Adomovic, a coach and board member for the North Ridgeville Soccer League.
He said many of the young players look up to the professional, local and high school teams, and a USL2 team close to home would be a benefit to the sport.
“I think that would be awesome - something just to have outside that the kids can go to, something local. I think it’s a great opportunity for the kids to keep moving forward,” he said.
McDonnell explained that fans will have the opportunity to vote for the new team’s name and uniform design. The owners are currently narrowing down options, but they’ve begun branding the team to fit with Lorain County’s identity.
“Our fan supporters group will be ‘the Assembly Line’ - kind of a take of the steel and auto industry that is the foundation,” he said. “Our team motto will be ‘from the farms to the factories for the county.’”
The team is already offering season ticket reservations and a fan supporter pack. A $25 pledge secures a place in line and an exclusive Lorain County FC t-shirt.
