American Soccer's New Home Comes to Life in Frisco
FRISCO – American soccer will have its new home fully ready in October 2018.
The new National Soccer Hall of Fame is a celebration of the past, honoring those who have helped develop the sport, while celebrating the early blueprints that highlight just how far the game has progressed in the United States over the years.
“I am so glad you called it an experience and not a museum,” John Harkes, a 2005 Hall of Fame inductee, said on Tuesday as the new branding and opening weekend details were announced at Toyota Stadium. “As vast and diverse as this country is, it is vitally important that we actually have a beautiful home once again. We will now be able to share the history and the success of soccer in the U.S.”
The Hall of Fame’s new home is not meant to simply be a place holder for the sports history, but rather an opportunity for people to immerse themselves in an interactive experience bringing the stories and history back to life with modern technology.
“This is something that makes Frisco so incredibly special and unique for cities in America,” said FC Dallas President Dan Hunt. “What strikes me most of this project is the absolute magnitude of it. I knew it was going to be big, but we made it Texas-sized.”
While the sport has progressed over the years on and off the field, the National Soccer Hall of Fame will be monumental, highlighting itself as a center and home for the sport in the country. Since 2010, U.S. Soccer has been without a Hall of Fame, with the previous location in Oneonta, New York closing in February 2010.
The new home in Frisco would not have been possible without the collaboration between FC Dallas, U.S. Soccer and the City of Frisco, in what U.S. Soccer’s General Secretary and CEO Dan Flynn describes as a “partnership that has a shared vision and an emotional connection.”
“The sport of soccer in the U.S. is growing in virtually every area,” Flynn continued. “In fact, in U.S. Soccer we firmly believe soccer can be the pre-eminent sport in this country. And yes, we say that even after this difficult set back our Men’s National Team suffered in World Cup Qualifying.”
It was just 50 years ago when the NASL became the first sustained professional soccer league in the United States. While it held promise, the league ultimately failed, putting a dent onto hopes of those who wanted to see soccer flourish, including Lamar Hunt, the father of Dan and Clark Hunt, who worked tirelessly to bring the Hall of Fame to Texas, celebrating their father’s legacy as a pioneer of American soccer for generations to come.