Bridgeport lands MLS NEXT professional soccer team; will play in new waterfront stadium
Courtesy photo
An early rendering of the proposed soccer stadium in Bridgeport.
Professional soccer could be coming to Bridgeport following the announcement of MLS NEXT Pro’s newest expansion team, the Connecticut United Football Club (CT United FC).
MLS NEXT Pro, a division III professional league launched by Major League Soccer in 2022, announced Tuesday morning that Connecticut Sports Group was awarded the league’s fifth independent expansion team. With a target start in 2025, CT United FC will compete with 31 other clubs in the MLS NEXT Pro league — 27 run by MLS and four others independently owned.
The team’s home field will be a planned waterfront soccer stadium along the Pequonnock River approved by Bridgeport officials last year as part of a mixed-use development.
The development still needs to get its funding lined up and the Connecticut soccer team is contingent on the new stadium getting built.
The development will likely require some state funding support, Connecticut Sports Group has said. If the development moves forward, it will also include a mix of residential units, retail and dining space, community greens, a waterfront walk and a hotel.
Connecticut Sports Group, founded by André Swanston, is developing the stadium. Swanston co-founded Tru Optik, a data management and streaming media marketplace based in Stamford that he sold in 2020 to TransUnion for more than $100 million.
The new team will debut a few years after professional soccer came to Connecticut’s Capital City with the Hartford Athletic.
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