29-565: Chase Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida , United States. Built on the site of the former Lockhart Stadium , the 21,550-seat stadium is the home pitch of Inter Miami CF of Major League Soccer (MLS) and its MLS Next Pro reserve side Inter Miami CF II . Chase Stadium opened in 2020 as an interim venue for Inter Miami CF until the completion of the Miami Freedom Park stadium. The stadium
58-401: A naming rights agreement with Fort Lauderdale-based car retailer AutoNation ; the agreement was officially announced the next day. The stadium was branded as DRV PNK Stadium, a tie-in with AutoNation's breast cancer awareness campaign (with pink also being one of Inter Miami's main kit colors). On February 20, 2024, the day before Inter Miami CF's opening match of the 2024 regular season ,
87-589: A partnership with Brightline to provide passenger trains from Miami and West Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale station with a dedicated shuttle for fans. The service, named the GOOOL Getter, will have three round-trips before and after home matches. Soccer-specific stadium A soccer-specific stadium , mainly in the United States and Canada, is a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function
116-503: A permanent stage at one end of the stadium used for staging concerts. A soccer-specific stadium typically has amenities, dimensions and scale suitable for soccer in North America, including a scoreboard, video screen, luxury suites and possibly a roof. The field dimensions are within the range found optimal by FIFA : 110–120 yards (100–110 m) long by 70–80 yards (64–75 m) wide. These soccer field dimensions are wider than
145-469: Is adjusted based on demand. A second expansion was completed in January 2024 that increased capacity to 21,550 seats. A new section in the southwest corner, along with more seats in the northeast and southeast corners, added 1,200 seats; the expansion also included six "opera boxes" and nine "theatre boxes" with suite-like seats. On December 9, 2020, the stadium hosted its first international match between
174-425: Is generally between 18,000 and 30,000 for a Major League Soccer franchise, or smaller for college or minor league soccer teams. This is in comparison to the much larger American football stadiums that mostly range between 60,000 and 80,000 in which the original North American Soccer League teams played and most MLS teams occupied during the league's inception. As opposed to gridiron-style football stadiums, where
203-488: Is located near Interstate 95 at its junction with Commercial Boulevard (State Route 870) in Fort Lauderdale. The stadium has three designated parking lots for pre-purchased ticketholders and an additional lot for other visitors. The nearest Tri-Rail commuter rail station is Cypress Creek , but additional nighttime train service is not provided for Inter Miami CF matches. In April 2022, Inter Miami CF announced
232-589: Is particularly visible in European American football leagues and conflicts between teams sharing the stadium (a notable example are Eintracht Braunschweig and the Braunschweig Lions which share a stadium) and (often municipal) owners of the stadiums sometimes arise, leading to attempts at single sport-specific venues. In Australia the term has much the same meaning as that in the United States. The dominance of Australian rules football in
261-616: Is sometimes used in countries where the sport is known as football rather than soccer, although the term is not common in countries where football is the dominant sport and thus football-specific stadiums are quite common. The term tends to have a slightly different meaning in these countries, usually referring to a stadium without an athletics track surrounding the field. Some soccer stadiums in Europe are also used for other sports, including rugby, American football, and field hockey. The problem with oversized stadiums designed for another sport
290-670: Is the primary headquarters for the team and its youth academy, in addition to further training grounds. The Fort Lauderdale Strikers announced in 2016 that they were moving out of Lockhart Stadium, after which the stadium fell into a state of disrepair. In January 2019, Major League Soccer expansion team Inter Miami CF announced its intentions to pursue the Lockhart Stadium site to serve as the club's training ground for its first team, youth academy, and then-future USL League One (USL1) team Fort Lauderdale CF . The Fort Lauderdale city council unanimously approved Inter Miami's bid for
319-406: Is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-purpose stadium which is for a variety of sports. A soccer-specific stadium may host other sporting events (such as lacrosse , American football and rugby ) and concerts, but the design and purpose of a soccer-specific stadium is primarily for soccer. Some facilities (for example SeatGeek Stadium , Toyota Stadium and Historic Crew Stadium ) have
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#1732782979428348-562: Is used for local regular season high school football games as well, with some schools which played games at the stadium including Fort Lauderdale High School , Pine Crest School , American Heritage School , and North Broward Preparatory School . In September 2023, the stadium was announced as the venue for the inaugural Florida Beach Bowl , a college football bowl game for teams from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) within NCAA Division II . Chase Stadium
377-577: The LA Galaxy . Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the MLS season was paused. Fort Lauderdale CF therefore played the first match of the new stadium, a 0–2 loss to Greenville Triumph SC . Inter Miami CF would not play home matches until August 22, 2020, when they beat their in-state rival Orlando City SC 3–2 in the first MLS match at the stadium. On April 8, 2021, it was reported that Inter Miami CF had reached
406-576: The Miami International Autodrome , the temporary Formula One circuit built at Hard Rock Stadium for the Miami Grand Prix . The Fort Lauderdale city government announced on June 21 that Inter Miami CF would need to cease work on the seating expansion due to alleged installations done without permits; the club claimed that no work had commenced. An agreement between the club and the city was quickly struck to resolve
435-739: The United States and El Salvador ; the United States won 6–0. During the 2021 MLS season , CF Montréal used the stadium to play their home matches since the start of the season after travel restrictions prevented the team from playing their matches in Montreal. Chase Stadium has also hosted American football games, including the Miami Hurricanes spring game , and the Florida High School Athletic Association state championships. The stadium
464-459: The sidelines due to risk of further injury. For college and professional basketball , a "press row" along the sideline across the way from the scorer's table is set up instead for broadcasters and statisticians, while most writers work from a traditional press box position. The press box is considered to be a working area, and writers, broadcasters, and other visitors to press boxes are constantly reminded of this fact at sporting events. Cheering
493-404: The 1990s, after the multi-purpose stadium era. The term "soccer-specific stadium" was coined by Lamar Hunt , who financed the construction of Columbus Crew Stadium , the first soccer-specific stadium constructed specifically for Major League Soccer. In the 2000s, other Major League Soccer teams in the United States began constructing their own stadiums. Canada's first soccer-specific stadium
522-579: The Lockhart Stadium site in March 2019. In April, the Fort Lauderdale City Commission gave approval to Inter Miami to begin the demolition process. On July 9, 2019, the Fort Lauderdale City Commission unanimously approved a 50-year lease agreement for the Lockhart Stadium site with Inter Miami; under the terms of the agreement, the city of Fort Lauderdale will retain ownership of the property while Inter Miami will be responsible for
551-548: The construction, operation, and maintenance of the new facilities. The stadium is intended to be an interim facility for Inter Miami CF until the completion of the proposed Miami Freedom Park stadium in Miami ; the expansion franchise was granted on the condition that a stadium eventually be built in Miami. On November 13, 2019, Inter Miami CF announced that the club's inaugural home match would be scheduled for March 14, 2020, against
580-628: The front row of seats is elevated several feet above the field of play to allow spectators to see over the heads of substitute players and coaches on the sidelines, soccer-specific venues typically have the front row closer to the level of the pitch. In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, first-division professional soccer leagues in the United States, such as the North American Soccer League and Major League Soccer, primarily used American football fields, many of which were oversized in terms of seating capacity and undersized in terms of
609-441: The lower tier state league clubs own their own venues which also qualify as soccer specific. Press box The press box is a special section of a sports stadium or arena that is set up for the media to report about a given event. It is typically located in the section of the stadium holding the luxury box and can be either enclosed or open to the elements. In general, newspaper writers sit in this box and write about
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#1732782979428638-487: The on-field event as it unfolds. Television and radio announcers broadcast from the press box as well. Finally, in gridiron football , some coaches (especially offensive coordinators ) prefer to work from the press box instead of from the sideline in order to have an "all 22" view of both the offensive and defensive players, along with coaching personnel ordered to by physicians due to medical conditions, or injuries which require rehabilitation and prevent them from being on
667-408: The permitting dispute, as well as outstanding payments the club owed for a temporary parking lot used by the stadium that is planned to be converted to a public park. The 3,000 new seats were completed ahead of Messi's unveiling on July 16, along with new security measures and barriers on the pitch and near the players entrance. The press box was expanded from 37 to 52 seats with an auxiliary area that
696-519: The regulation American football field width of 53 + 1 ⁄ 3 yards (48.8 m), or the 65-yard (59 m) width of a Canadian football field. The playing surface typically consists of grass as opposed to artificial turf , as the latter is generally disfavored for soccer matches since players are more susceptible to injuries. However, some soccer specific stadiums, such as Portland's Providence Park and Creighton University's Morrison Stadium , do have artificial turf. The seating capacity
725-633: The southern states means that unlike in New South Wales and Queensland , rectangular stadiums and grounds capable of hosting top level A-League soccer are rare. Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide, South Australia is an example of such a soccer-specific stadium, being built in the 1960s and progressively updated, the vast majority of matches played there are soccer, with very rare Rugby League or Rugby Union games. The Wyndham City Stadium and Wyndham Regional Football Facility are also examples. Many of
754-441: The team announced a multi-year naming rights partnership with JPMorgan Chase . The stadium was rebranded as Chase Stadium effective immediately. Following Lionel Messi 's June 2023 announcement of his planned move to Inter Miami CF, the club's managing owner Jorge Mas stated that the corners of the stadium would be filled to add 3,000 to 3,200 seats to handle some of the expected demand. The new sections use bleacher seating from
783-528: The width of the soccer field; they often used artificial turf (none of which, at the time, were approved for international soccer under FIFA rules). Although many of the baseball parks had smaller capacities, natural grass, and a wider field, these parks were generally in use during summer, when North American–based soccer leagues, such as Major League Soccer, also hold their seasons, and the irregular field dimensions and sightlines were often considered undesirable. Soccer-specific stadiums first came into use in
812-554: Was BMO Field in Toronto , home to Toronto FC . This stadium was renovated to accommodate Canadian football for the 2016 and subsequent seasons. The distinction is less prominent in Canada, where MLS's attendance figures are comparable to those of the domestic Canadian Football League , and the CFL's wider field means fewer compromises must be made to accommodate both; Tim Hortons Field
841-450: Was built purposely to both soccer specifications and CFL regulations. Of the three Canadian cities that host both MLS and CFL teams, only one (Montreal) has separate stadiums for each. All USL Championship teams and USL League One teams will be required to play in self-owned, soccer-specific stadiums by the 2022 season. The following is a list of current USL stadiums that are soccer-specific stadiums: The term "football-specific stadium"
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