Which MLS NEXT Pro team would inhabit a proposed soccer stadium in Columbia, South Carolina? That is the mystery Soccer Sheet has investigated since a memorandum of understanding between the city and an MLS venture appeared on a Columbia city council agenda last week.
While the stadium plan is in its early stages, the city council unanimously passed a resolution to enter into a memorandum of understanding with Hometown Soccer Holdings (HSH), a joint venture of Major League Soccer and private equity firm KKR, to “support the development of a [MLS] affiliated Soccer Stadium.”
Sources with further knowledge of the plans told Soccer Sheet the intended anchor tenant for the stadium is “an existing MLS NEXT Pro team.” That would rule out a new expansion team, and based on multiple conversations Soccer Sheet’s understanding is that the team that moves to Columbia would be affiliated with a Division I MLS club.
As it stands, the closest existing NEXT Pro team is Crown Legacy FC, the second team of Charlotte FC. Two other teams — Carolina Core FC of High Point, N.C. and Atlanta United 2 — are within a 3 hour drive of Columbia.
A spokesperson for Carolina Core told Soccer Sheet the club had no plans to move.
Charlotte FC, Tepper Sports & Entertainment, and Atlanta United FC declined to comment for this story. The Mayor of Columbia, Daniel J. Rickenmann, did not respond by press time.
More Hometowns for Soccer
HSH has become a major player in MLS NEXT Pro, Major League Soccer’s development league that sits on the third tier of the U.S. soccer pyramid. It bills itself as a “platform created to support the evolution of MLS NEXT Pro,”
HSH has already announced the 2027 launch of New Jersey MLS NEXT Pro in Edison, N.J., and have unveiled a plan to move Sporting Kansas City’s NEXT Pro affiliate to Des Moines.
Based on the company’s public statements, all HSH clubs will be affiliated with a Division I MLS team, ruling out an independent team like Carolina Core FC.
Columbia is a similar market to others where HSH is making its mark; it doesn’t have a team in the “Big Five” men’s professional leagues, nor a WNBA or NWSL team. Unlike Charleston and Greenville, S.C, Columbia also doesn’t have a professional USL club.
Despite a metropolitan area of 879,918 people, Columbia is home to only one minor league team: the Low-A baseball Columbia Fireflies. That makes a well-resourced NEXT Pro team an exciting prospect for the city.
“Folks want to put a soccer stadium here, so I think that’s a great thing for our community. Let’s see where it goes,” said Rickenmann before the council vote.
The MOU describes the potential stadium as a “State of the art multi-use outdoor sports and entertainment venue” anchored by an affiliated MLS NEXT Pro team, making the economic development potential of the venture even more attractive to the city.
You can read the entire MOU as adopted here.
Who Is on the Move?
Both Charlotte FC and Atlanta United declined to comment on this story; however, they’re the only two clubs with MLS NEXT Pro affiliates near Columbia.
On the business side, Crown Legacy FC would make sense for the move: they’ve made tickets free to improve attendance, and they compete for fans with another Division III professional team the market: the Charlotte Independence. Columbia is closer to Charlotte than Atlanta: a 90-minute drive as opposed to a a 3-hour one. Finally, HSH is based in Charlotte and knows the quality of both the Legacy and the Charlotte FC organization.
However, Legacy’s strength has always been player development, not attendance. Legacy alum Patrick Agyemang is now playing in the British Championship and for the U.S. Men’s National Team. Idan Toklomati and Rodolfo Aloko have also gone from Legacy standouts to first team starters. There’s a good argument that moving the team could harm player development and make it harder for Crown Legacy players to feature with Charlotte FC, which is a priority for both head coach Dean Smith and the club.
Finally, the State of South Carolina’s last development venture with Tepper Sports ended in a bankruptcy settlement after construction was halted and agreements were terminated. The state may not be interested in partnering with the organization again.
While Atlanta United 2 is farther away, their second team has seen a steep decline in support since their founding, with attendance in the hundreds before leaving the USL Championship for NEXT Pro. Columbia to Atlanta is a similar drive to the one between Kansas City and Des Moines. If Carolina Core FC’s success in High Point is any indication, attendance could improve dramatically in a market with less competition.
Hometown Soccer Holdings was unable to reply to questions about the MOU’s passage by press time, but if they think a move from Kansas City to Des Moines - another town without a professional minor league soccer team - is feasible, Atlanta United 2 moving to Columbia seems more likely.
For now, the Columbia stadium is still years away, still in the proposal phase, and the tenant is still a mystery. However, if everything goes to plan, we’ll probably see at least one NEXT Pro team make a big move.