Fort Worth to court international soccer team in push to promote youth sports
International soccer could be coming to Fort Worth as four members of the City Council are preparing to pitch the city to FC Barcelona.
Council members Cary Moon, Jared Williams, Michael Crain, and Chris Nettles are scheduled to travel to Barcelona from April 13-15. It’s part of a push to attract an international brand to raise Fort Worth’s profile as a destination for youth soccer.
The two will attend an FC Barcelona’s youth academy tournament to discuss Fort Worth’s efforts to become a player in sports tourism, Moon wrote in a text.
The city and the Fort Worth sports commission have been trying to find ways to jump into the youth sports market since 2019. The commission proposed building a 20-field youth soccer complex, which could bring as much as 100,00 visitors annually and $16 million to Fort Worth, according to 2019 estimates.
The city also surveyed the public in February to gauge interest in a minor league soccer stadium to be built in partnership with the Keller school district. The stadium would be near the intersection of Interstate 35W and Basswood Boulevard.
That survey included a question about a youth academy run by a “prominent European soccer club.”
A separate youth soccer complex could be built near Walsh, Moon said Monday, but he would not confirm whether FC Barcelona would be involved in that project.
The club runs a youth soccer academy in Miami similar to its European counterparts. The academies recruit and train players with the goal of preparing them to play professionally.
The City Council will vote on a resolution Tuesday directing staff to look at building the far north Fort Worth stadium. Of the 2,000 respondents surveyed, 61% expressed a positive view of a new stadium, according to a draft report.
A similar percentage supported building the stadium with public funds. However, only 28% supported it strongly, and 36% said they would not support spending public funds.
The draft report did not include results from the question about the prominent European soccer club.
It’s not clear what role FC Barcelona will play in the proposed far north Fort Worth stadium.
Moon is trying attract the United Soccer League’s Austin Bold FC to Fort Worth after the team’s new DFW-based ownership announced in December that it plans to move the team to “another major city in the state of Texas.”
That group is led by former Dallas Mavericks general manager Donnie Nelson, Texas Rangers president and chief operating officer Neil Leibman and motorsports executive Bobby Epstein.
Moon argued the stadium would be a net positive for the city regardless of whether it gets a professional team.
“It’s an opportunity to have an 2026 World Cup soccer team hosted in Fort Worth,” he said. “There’s a chance to have NCAA tournaments there. There’s a chance to have international friendlies there.”
The 2026 World Cup will be played in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
He pointed to the success of Dickies Arena, which recently hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and will host the NCAA gymnastics championship in April and the Professional Bull Riders World Final in May.
“As Fort Worth moves forward with competing in sports tourism, any conversations we can have with FC Barcelona will benefit our efforts,” Moon wrote in a text.
This story was originally published March 28, 2022 at 5:04 PM.
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