St. Louis CITY SC’s new soccer-specific stadium will now be known as CITYPARK instead of Centene Stadium, the club announced Tuesday.
The decision comes eight months after the initial naming rights agreement was announced for the state-of-the-art 22,500-seat venue that’ll debut when the expansion club launches in 2023.
“After discussions with Centene, we have agreed to reshape the current partnership with them and the focus moving forward will be on developing community health and wellness programming throughout the region,” said Carolyn Kindle, St. Louis CITY SC’s president and CEO.
CITYPARK and its surrounding stadium district is the largest urban professional sports campus in the United States and the only one with a stadium, team headquarters and practice facility all within the same footprint.
While Centene will no longer be CITY SC’s stadium naming rights sponsor, the two organizations will work together on community health and wellness initiatives promoting youth soccer and fitness. Initial programming includes collaborating on two initiatives:
- CITY SC’s CITY Futures Program, which brings the game of soccer to a diverse group of youth across the Bi-State area.
- A new effort to promote teamwork, fitness and competition between high school-age athletes in the community.
“We’ve always been about more than soccer and I’m so proud of how far we’ve come over the last two years,” said Kindle. “Our vision of building something to showcase what a world-class city like St. Louis has to offer is about to be unveiled to the world. I truly believe CITYPARK is something everyone in St. Louis will want to be a part of once we open our doors.”
STL’s new stadium features a 3,000-plus safe-standing supporter section and all seats are within 120 feet of the pitch. The entire 30-plus acre district also includes the WashU Orthopedics High Performance Center, three training pitches, a two-story retail pavilion and CITY SC’s corporate offices.
In the ramp-up to their inaugural campaign, STL recently sold out of season tickets. Led by head coach Bradley Carnell, their inaugural roster includes those like Swiss international goalkeeper Roman Bürki, Swedish international center back Joakim Nilsson and more.
