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WakeMed Soccer Park

Coordinates: 35°47′10.19″N 78°45′18.38″W / 35.7861639°N 78.7551056°W / 35.7861639; -78.7551056
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WakeMed Soccer Park
View of the stadium in 2007
WakeMed Soccer Park is located in North Carolina
WakeMed Soccer Park
WakeMed Soccer Park
Location in North Carolina
WakeMed Soccer Park is located in the United States
WakeMed Soccer Park
WakeMed Soccer Park
Location in the United States
Former names
  • State Capital Soccer Park
    (2001–2002)
  • SAS Soccer Park
    (2002–2007)
  • Sahlen's Stadium
    (2017–2021)
  • First Horizon Stadium
    (2024–present)
LocationCary, North Carolina, U.S.
OwnerWake County
OperatorTown of Cary
Capacity10,000[1][2]
SurfaceNatural grass
Construction
Broke ground2001
OpenedMay 2002; 22 years ago (May 2002)
Construction cost$14.5 million (plus $6.3 million expansion)
ArchitectEnvirotek, Inc.
Tenants
List
Website
carync.gov/wakemed-soccer-park

WakeMed Soccer Park is a soccer complex in Cary, North Carolina, United States. It consists of a purpose-built, soccer-specific main stadium named "WakeMed Soccer Park Stadium", two lighted practice fields, and four additional fields. The main stadium and the two lighted fields (2 & 3) are all FIFA international regulation size (120 by 75 yards (110 m × 69 m)). The stadium seats 10,000, while Field 2 also has 1,000 permanent bleacher seats. The complex also sports a full-length cross-country course and houses the offices of Triangle Professional Soccer.

Originally opened in 2002 as the home of the Carolina Courage of the WUSA, WakeMed Soccer Park is now the home to North Carolina FC of the USL Championship and the North Carolina Courage of the National Women's Soccer League. The North Carolina State Wolfpack men's and women's teams of the ACC play select matches there and the complex hosts tournaments such as the NCAA College Cup, the ACC Soccer Championships, and the NCHSAA high school state soccer finals.

Construction history

[edit]

WakeMed Soccer Park opened in May 2002 as State Capital Soccer Park. The park is on 150 acres (0.61 km2) that the state of North Carolina has leased to Wake County. Money to build the soccer park came from $14.5 million in county-wide hotel room and prepared food and beverage taxes. The Town of Cary assumed responsibility for operations and maintenance in 2004 from Capital Area Soccer League. On January 26, 2006, the Town of Cary council amended its lease to allow it to sublet the property to Triangle Professional Soccer through the year 2011 for the exclusive promotion of professional soccer and lacrosse events at the complex.

Expansion

[edit]
East stand of the renovated stadium as seen in 2014

In November 2011, the Town of Cary kicked off a $6.3 million expansion project. The finished expansion added 3,000 permanent seats to the 7,000-seat stadium, 1,500 of the seats going to the north end zone and the other 1,500 to upper-level stands on the east side of the stadium.

Also added on the east side were a new three-story building to provide restrooms, concessions, and access to the additional seating from the third floor.

Team locker rooms were relocated to the ground level of the new structure to allow players direct access to the stadium from midfield and direct access from their team bus to the locker rooms.[3]

Naming rights

[edit]

SAS Institute, a Cary-based software company, had naming rights to the complex through June 30, 2007, with the option to extend their naming rights for an additional three years. On September 27, 2007, the Town of Cary announced that SAS had not exercised their option on the naming rights and that WakeMed Health & Hospitals had purchased the naming rights to the complex for $300,000 per year.[4]

Effective January 1, 2008, the complex became known as "WakeMed Soccer Park". On March 31, 2017, it was announced that Sahlen Packing Company had acquired naming rights to the main stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park, thus becoming "Sahlen's Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park". Sahlen's paid $400,000 over 5 years for the rights, with $100,000 going to the town of Cary and the rest to the North Carolina Courage.[5] On April 30, 2021, WakeMed renewed its agreement through 2023.[6] On December 18, 2024, the main stadium naming rights were purchased by First Horizon Bank, renaming the stadium as "First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park".

Notable events

[edit]

Cross-country events

[edit]

The grounds also host multiple high school cross-country races. Including dual meets, high school conference championships, Mid-East Region Championship, and the Nike Team Southeast National Regional meets. The course starts and ends behind the practice fields and runs along the perimeter of the grounds. It is known to give personal bests even with a difficult hill which must be run twice. The course record for the 5k distance is 14:32.2 by Brodey Hasty at the 2016 Great American Cross Country Festival. In recent years it has held the Atlantic Coast Conference's conference championship.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Oops! Sorry, something went wrong | Carolina RailHawks". Archived from the original on March 29, 2015. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  2. ^ "WakeMed Soccer Park – StadiumDB.com". stadiumdb.com. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  3. ^ "Soccer Park Expansion Kicks off in Cary". Archived from the original on December 20, 2012. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
  4. ^ "Town of Cary and WakeMed Announce Soccer Partnership". Archived from the original on December 28, 2007. Retrieved September 27, 2007.
  5. ^ Gargan, Henry. "WakeMed Soccer Park's main stadium gets a name". newsobserver.com. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  6. ^ "WakeMed Extends Soccer Park Naming Rights Through 2023" (Press release). North Carolina FC. April 30, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2023.
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to WakeMed Soccer Park.

35°47′10.19″N 78°45′18.38″W / 35.7861639°N 78.7551056°W / 35.7861639; -78.7551056

Events and tenants
Preceded by Men's College Cup host
2005
2007
2009
2014
2019-2022
2025 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Women's College Cup host
2003–2004
2006
2008
2010
2013
2015
2018
2020
2022-2024 		Succeeded by
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