Soccer fans know a pitch as the field where the game begins. Now Detroit City Football Club is building a new one in Corktown and they’re also making a pitch to neighbors.

Under Detroit’s Community Benefits Ordinance, big projects like this one must work with residents to address community concerns. 

That’s where the Neighborhood Advisory Council comes in. Nine members — chosen by residents, city council, and developers — will meet with the team over the coming months to hammer out how this project can benefit the neighborhood.

Producer Jack Filbrandt sat down with Detroit Documenters Robert De’Andrea and Noah Kincade to learn more about the Neighborhood Advisory Council and what’s at stake for residents. 

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Starting out as a recreational soccer league at Belle Isle in 2010, Detroit City Football Club has grown its footprint in Detroit and metro Detroit, quickly amassing a loyal and passionate fanbase. 

Now, over a decade later, a new stadium is helping usher in a new era for DCFC. AlumniFi Field is set to open for the 2027 USL Championship season. 

Construction is scheduled to begin by the end of this year in the Corktown and Southwest Detroit neighborhoods, pending Detroit City Council’s approval.

Detroit City Football Club Stadium Neighborhood Advisory Council will begin to accept nominations for the council. Any Detroit residents who live within the impact area and are over 18 are eligible to serve.

CEO and Co-founder of DCFC Sean Mann joined Tia Graham on The Metro to talk more about the stadium and the community that AlumniFi will call home. 

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Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Detroit City Football Club celebrated the naming of its new stadium with food, music, and artist renderings of the project. 

Club co-founder Sean Mann says the new grounds in southwest Detroit will be called AlumniFi Field. AlumniFi Credit Union is the team’s official financial partner.

The stadium will be located between Corktown and Mexicantown. Representatives from Mexicantown joined Mann for the announcement at The Mercado on Bagley St.  

Mann says the next step in the process is to craft a community benefits agreement with the city and surrounding neighborhoods.

“We’ve been very mindful from day 1 of creating a very neighborhood-oriented facility,” Mann says. “We’ve done over 50 informal and formal meetings with block clubs in the neighborhood.”

More than just a soccer field

Mann says the project will also include 15,000 square feet of retail space around the stadium, a 420-unit parking deck, and 76 units of affordable housing. He also says since the project is privately owned and financed, the club will pay property taxes on it.

Before crews can start building the stadium, they have to tear down the vacant Southwest Detroit Hospital. Mann says they’ve already had a few challenges, including hazardous chemicals in the water on site.

“All the water has been pumped and filtered,” he says. “Now we have to update our environmentals, and that’ll clear the way for us to start demolition shortly.”

Players and supporters react

Mann says the goal is to finish the stadium and open it in time for the club’s 15th anniversary in 2027. Team Captain Stephen Carroll says he hopes to lead Le Rouge onto the pitch. He says he hopes fans and families will be able to enjoy the stadium for generations to come.

“I have a 1-year-old son now, and hopefully he’ll be able to play in this stadium when he gets old enough” the Irish defenseman says. “It’s obviously a great step forward for this club, and the city, and the sport in general.”

DCFC has played its home matches at Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck since 2016. Northern Guard Supporter Jared Coke of Livonia says it’s a step in the right direction for the club and its fans.

“And not just for our team actually, but for the whole city,” Coke says. “We love soccer, this is a soccer city.”

Wayne State University will field a women’s soccer team in the fall of 2026. It will be the school’s first new varsity sport in over a decade.

WSU’s Director of Athletics, Erika Wallace, says the first order of business is hiring a head coach this year.

“We’re looking at someone who has ties to the area for recruitment purposes,” she says. “We’re also looking at head coaching experience, assistant coaching experience, some club coaching experience as well.”

Expanding opportunities for women

Wallace reviewed the athletic program when she took the job and found a need for more women student-athletes. She says adding soccer will help WSU comply with Title IX, a federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education.

“Proportionality is one of the prongs that you look at,” she says. “We have to make accommodations in order to stay relevant and in compliance with Title IX.”

Wallace says this will attract more students to WSU.

“We’re the only school in our conference that doesn’t have women’s soccer,” she says. “People will want to come here and play.”

The support is there

Wallace says funding for the new women’s soccer team will come from the athletic department’s general fund as well as philanthropic donations.

She also says Detroit’s soccer culture will sustain the program.

“We have some of the best clubs in the country here,” Wallace says.

Wayne State has a partnership with Detroit City Football Club, which fields men’s, women’s and youth sides.

Wallace says WSU will make some upgrades to the soccer pitch behind Tom Adams Field before the women’s team starts play.