CLEVELAND — The group working to bring professional outdoor soccer - and a new stadium - to Cleveland just scored a big goal: Landing a women's soccer team that could hit the field in early 2027.
On Wednesday, Cleveland Soccer Group said it’s bringing a Division II women’s team to the city. That team will be part of the WPSL Pro, a new league designed to fill the gaps between amateur soccer and top-tier professional teams.
The announcement comes just a few months after Cleveland lost out to Denver in a quest to secure one of those top-tier teams, through the National Women's Soccer League. Since then, Cleveland Soccer Group has strategized - and found a way to keep moving the ball forward.
“We were disappointed not to get NWSL,” Michael Murphy, the group’s CEO and co-founder, said during an interview this week. “We went very hard at that … opportunity, got 16,000 season ticket pledges, and over the holidays, just took a step back and said, can we still complete the vision? Can we bring professional men's and women's soccer to Cleveland?”
Cleveland will be one of the founding WPSL Pro markets, joining Atlanta, Dallas, North Carolina, Oklahoma City, Sioux Falls and the San Francisco area. Cleveland Soccer Group is also taking an ownership stake in the league, which is set to debut next year.
Now Murphy and his teammates are focused on building a stadium, a 10,000-seat venue for the WPSL Pro team and a men’s team – an MLS Next Pro franchise that Cleveland secured in 2022.
Cleveland Soccer Group hopes to break ground this summer on a 14-acre site at the western edge of Downtown, just steps from the Gateway District. If that happens, the stadium could open as soon as the fall of 2026.
But there’s still lots of work to do – at a time when stadium financing, and the public’s role in it, is a tricky topic across Ohio.
“We’ve got to put the financing package together,” Murphy said. “And I see this as a true public-private partnership, with the city, the county, the state and Cleveland Soccer Group all playing a role. The financing plan is not pie-in-the-sky. It is very reasonable. We’re talking about a $50 million project here, plus or minus a little bit, that will have an enormous (return on investment) in the future.”
He said the proposal doesn't call for levying any new taxes. Instead, the group is asking for some of the tax revenues generated by the stadium to go toward paying for construction.
A city of Cleveland spokesman declined to comment on any discussions about public financing. A Cuyahoga County spokeswoman said the county is evaluating a proposal from Cleveland Soccer Group but has not made any commitments.
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The Cleveland Metroparks, working closely with Cleveland Soccer Group, inked a deal last year to buy the future stadium site from the Ohio Department of Transportation. The partners are wrapping up due diligence and facing a May deadline to make a non-refundable deposit.
The $4.25 million for the purchase is coming from Cleveland Soccer Group, which would lease the stadium property from the Metroparks. The partners envision a stadium that will be linked to Downtown and other city neighborhoods by walking paths and bike trails. A Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority train line runs right next to the site.
The 10,000-seat stadium is half the size of the building that Cleveland Soccer Group proposed last year, as part of its bid for an NWSL franchise. But the facility would be modular, designed to be expanded to 20,000 seats if there’s enough demand.
Think of it as a starter stadium for starter teams – since Cleveland Soccer Group still dreams of making another run at the NWSL.
The idea is that multiple teams, at various levels of the pro-soccer spectrum, could play there. Murphy said the stadium could host dozens of events every year, from lacrosse and rugby games to concerts.
“Our challenge is facilities, facilities, facilities,” Murphy said. “You need a soccer stadium in Downtown Cleveland. We’re the last top 40 market in the country without a soccer stadium or plans to build one – until right now.”
The push for soccer in Cleveland
Last year, Cleveland Soccer Group attracted national attention for its efforts to bring a National Women’s Soccer League expansion team to Northeast Ohio.
“We had a remarkable campaign for women’s soccer last year and proved Cleveland is a powerful market for a pro team,” said Gina Prodan Kelly, the group’s chief marketing officer. “WPSL Pro gives us the opportunity to do it right — for our fans, for Cleveland, and for the future of the game.”
Cleveland was named a finalist, along with Denver and Cincinnati, for the 16th NWSL team after the yearlong bidding process. But Denver ultimately bested the competition.
RELATED: No pro women's soccer team for Cleveland
Prodan Kelly said the WPSL Pro team is a way to build toward that bigger aspiration.
“Through this Division II team, we felt like we could create a really strong foundation, not only talent-wise, but commercially,” she said. “So being able to launch this team and be able to draw however many thousands of fans, we will create a commercially successful business. We'd be able to show the NWSL, which is our long-term goal, that we have this team, we have this ecosystem, we have this fan base.”
Game-day ready in 2026
As far as rosters go, Cleveland’s WPSL Pro team will be looking for players that need a little more development.
“Maybe they need another year to prove themselves. Maybe they're just leaving high school or college or whatever their place is and need a developmental step,” Prodan Kelly said. “We are strategically starting our season in April for WPSL Pro because we do want that opportunity to be able to capture any of those top-tier players who may have not made it through NWSL camps, or may have not been able to start the season.”
The team could also serve as a place for a player to go toward the end of her career, to continue to play or even coach.
In early 2026, Cleveland Soccer Group will start hiring for technical jobs, like sporting director. Then the group plans to start signing players.
Earlier this month, Cleveland Soccer Group announced that it's on the hunt for a place to build a training facility and headquarters. That facility, a separate project from the stadium, will be used by both the women’s team and the MLS Next Pro men’s team.
RELATED: Cleveland Soccer Group looking for location to host headquarters and training facility
The training complex is likely to end up in a suburb, since Cleveland Soccer Group needs 40 to 100 acres – enough space for grass and turf fields, offices, medical and recovery facilities and other buildings. Murphy said the group has received more than a dozen responses to its request for proposals.
“We need to be able to have a training facility … in 2026, but there are temporary solutions you can use,” he said. “Our real goal is to be training facility, stadium built, and play in the stadium by spring of ’27.”
Connecting with the community
Prodan Kelly said that over the next few weeks, the group will ask fans about what the look and feel of the women’s team should be, along with what they are hoping to see come game day.
“We really want to make sure that we're using this opportunity to tailor the experience to what our fans are looking for and also understanding the different types of fans that we expect to come to the games,” she said.
She imagines kids helping out on the field and youth and local soccer teams playing matches at the stadium before fans pour in for games.
“I was talking to someone recently … [who] played their high school championship at Progressive Field, and it was 25 years ago, and they were kind of standing at Progressive Field, looking out at the field and thinking, ‘Wow, like I was out there at some point I got to pull it, like, I get to be out there, like those guys.’ And it still stuck with him 25 years later, and that's what we want,” Prodan Kelly said.
There will also be opportunities for young players and local clubs to train with the team and participate in camps.
Starting today, fans will be able to make season ticket deposits for both the women’s and men’s soccer teams. People who made a season ticket pledge during last year’s campaign for an NWSL team will be credited for their next season ticket deposit.
“Cleveland is ready. The country is ready. And WPSL Pro is the league that will carry women’s soccer into its next era,” Prodan Kelly said.
