In the 120-year history of competitive soccer in San Francisco, no city club has had a field to call their own. That will change next July when the San Francisco Glens take to the pitch in their newly built soccer-specific facility on Treasure Island.
The 1,500 seat stadium will have a full-sized FIFA regulation turf pitch and two smaller 5 v 5 training fields and a hardtop futsal court. It will also include locker rooms, concessions, a press box, meeting rooms, storage, and a study hall room for Glens academy players to use before and after practices.
It’s a giant leap for the club with humble beginnings as an amateur team starting play in the San Francisco Soccer Football League (SFSFL) in 1961. Today the Glens run the largest youth soccer academy in the city, with over 1,000 kids playing on 70 teams.
“As soccer continues to grow in San Francisco, the fields are getting more and more impacted,” noted Mike McNeill, the San Francisco Glens Executive Director. “It made a lot of sense for us considering how much money we’re putting into renting fields and to alleviate those costs and put them into something that we can control.”
The San Francisco Glens received approval to build a 1,500-seat stadium on Treasure Island. (SF Glens)
The Glens’ deep roots in San Francisco began as an Irish-American team in the SFSFL. Achieving success on the pitch, the team made it to the National Amateur Cup final in 1979 and 1990. Both times they finished runner-up in the tournament of the top amateur soccer teams in the county. Today they continue to have two adult teams play in the SFSFL.
In 2010 the SF Glens Board of Directors decided to expand into youth soccer. From a few recreation teams, their youth organization snowballed. In 2015 they merged with another youth development soccer club, Evolution SC, creating the SF Glens Academy.
Today they are the most prominent youth soccer club in the city, offering soccer teams from recreation squads to their Academy sides. In 2018 the Glens joined the USL League Two, a top amateur soccer development league in the county, to create a pathway for their youth soccer players to advance to the professional level. Over the past three years, thirty-four Glens Academy players have either turned pro or joined college teams.
The groundwork for the stadium was helped by one Glens member’s deep ties with the San Francisco Gaelic Football Association who play games on grass fields on Treasure Island. That connection help facilitate the Glens introduction to the Treasure Island Development Authority.
“There was some groundwork and common trust between the two [Gaelic Football and the Authority],” McNeill explained.
After a year-long process working together with the authority, they identify a plot of land between Avenues M and I and 9th and 8th Streets on the west end of the island where the stadium could be built. The Glens proposal was unanimously approving at a Treasure Island Development Authority board meeting on February 10.
“This has always been part of the vision of Treasure Island that we have parks and open space and recreational facilities, and so soccer and you are giving the opportunity for kids to learn that game is quite wonderful,” noted V. Fei Tsen, the President of the Board of Directors after they approved the agreement.
“This facility is going to be open to clubs in the local soccer community. It’s not just going to be something the Glens are going to use,” explained McNeill. “San Francisco is land-locked in a sense with the amount of fields. With the amount of interest at the youth level, we need more fields. So hopefully, we can be of service to the community.”
For their first two seasons in the USL League Two, the Glens made due creating a fun fan experience at their current home stadium, San Francisco Park and Recreation’s Boxer Stadium. But, McNeill notes, by having their own stadium, “…we’re looking forward to it to be a unique experience and as professional as possible.”
Construction on the facility will start in July. The first step will be to raze the current structures on the property. The field and stadium will start to take shape by winter, with an expected opening date of late spring or early summer in 2022.
McNeill notes that the stadium may not be available for the club’s 2022 USL League Two season-opening game, but they hope to play at least a few games there next season.
The Glens have made no secret of their ambitions to continue to grow as a soccer organization, including possibly with a professional team. With that in mind, McNeill noted they made sure the modular stadium’s seating capacity can be expanded in the future.
“That was important to us when we were talking with the different [modular stadium building] companies. That is something that we wanted to able to expand on the current footprint,” McNeill explained.
Since the stadium announcement, McNeill has received positive feedback across the Bay Area soccer community.
“This is something that is exciting for soccer in San Francisco and the Bay Area,” he added. “Being able to offer some extra space to these other clubs everyone is excited about. I’ve gotten a lot of congratulations from rival clubs as well.”
To help pay for the stadium’s cost, the Glens will be looking to sell the naming rights for the facility, as well as raise funds from organization members and the whole Bay Area soccer community.
“We’ve had a number of interested families, people, and organizations who just want to help see this be successful and help fund it,” said McNeill.
When asked about potential accessibility issues for players and their families driving to Treasure Island, especially during commute hours, McNeill explained that the Glens will continue to play many of their youth matches at public soccer fields in San Francisco. However, they are looking forward to the expanded public transit and ferry service coming soon to Treasure Island that will increase accessibility to the stadium in the future.
“The big use [for the stadium] will be on the weekends when [traffic] is much easier out there,” he added.
Besides the excitement of their stadium announcement, McNeill noted the club is looking forward to their youth players returning to the field this weekend after being unable to play for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re super excited,” he said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve played a youth soccer match.”
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Douglas Zimmerman curates the Beautiful Blog, which covers the ‘beautiful game’ of soccer in the Bay Area and worldwide. He recently released a photo book documenting the fans of the World Cup that he started in 2002.
Follow on Twitter: @zimpix
