THE CITY OF SANTA ROSA is exploring bringing professional soccer to Sonoma County, which could involve building a new stadium that would double as an entertainment venue.
The city opened a year-long window to negotiate exclusively with the United Soccer League, known as the USL, to potentially bring both men’s and women’s teams to the city. The letter of intent signed between the city and the league this week includes an option for a six-month extension to negotiate beyond the intended 12-month deadline, if an agreement can’t be reached in that time.
The USL, based in Tampa, Fla., includes three men’s leagues, two women’s leagues, a developmental league and a youth league. Some are professional and others are considered pre-professional. It is seeking to establish a relegation system similar to leagues in other countries that promote winners to better tiers and “send down,” or relegate, losing teams to lower tiers.
The top men’s league is called the USL Championship, which is sanctioned by the U.S. Soccer Federation, known as U.S. Soccer, as a division two professional league, according to the USL.
U.S. Soccer is a member of FIFA and is considered the governing body of amateur and professional soccer in the country. MLS is a division one league, the top tier sanctioned by U.S. Soccer, but it does not have a relegation system. The USL’s own internal relegation system would include establishing a new division one league of its own in 2027, maintaining the Championship league as its division two, and the USL League One as its division three.
The Santa Rosa men’s team would likely play either in the USL Championship or League One, a professional division three league. The Oakland Roots and Monterey Bay FC both play in the USL Championship.
The USL Super League is the top women’s league and is sanctioned as division one professional soccer. It launched in 2024 with eight original teams. The Santa Rosa women’s team would play in either the Super League or the USL’s top pre-professional women’s league, the USL W League.
“We are thrilled about the potential to bring both USL men’s and women’s teams to Santa Rosa,” said Justin Papadakis, USL’s deputy chief executive officer and chief real estate officer. “Santa Rosa already has a strong soccer culture in place, and we feel the local community is ready for a club of their own,” he said.
City Manager Maraskeshia Smith said the city was seeking to bring the league to Santa Rosa to invest in residents’ quality of life and the city’s economy.
“Partnering with the USL to explore bringing professional soccer to our city reflects our commitment to creating exciting new opportunities for recreation, community pride, and regional engagement,” Smith said in a statement.
The initial phase of the city’s engagement with the league will include identifying possible owners and funding for the teams, a location for a stadium and its operation, and creating agreements for leases, according to the city.
Funding for the stadium is also undetermined, with the potential for using public or private financing, or a partnership between the two. The city cited the potential for other development that could surround a stadium, including housing, restaurants and businesses. City officials envision using a stadium for other sporting events, music and entertainment, fairs, trade shows and other high-capacity events.
A community meeting on the partnership will be held on June 4 at 4 p.m. The location has not been set. Automatic email updates on the process are being offered by the city.