USL club Rio Grande Valley FC Toros will host the inaugural game at H-E-B Park, an international friendly against Liga MX club C.F. Monterrey, on March 22.
H-E-B Park has been the club’s dream for some time. The club hoped to play games at the stadium last season, their inaugural season in USL, but among other things, heavy rains delayed the construction timetable.
The new stadium will hold 9,700 fans for soccer, expandable to 16,000 for concerts. Stadium amenities include full kitchen concession facilities, thirty-three suites, a playground, practice facilities, an executive lounge and sports bar. The stadium environs also include a “fiesta fairgrounds” with an amphitheater that can be used for community events.
“This is a jewel,” Toros president Bert Garcia told RGV Proud in January. “This, I believe will be the best for the USL league that we’re in.”
He also stated highlighted the amenities that H-E-B Park will offer. “The quality of the seats, the spacing of the seats, the quality of the pitch, the video board, the concessions, the suites. I think there’s a lot to offer for all ranges of people.”
Rio Grande Valley FC Toros is a hybrid affiliate of the Houston Dynamo of MLS, with the Dynamo running the soccer operations and Lone Star LLC, the same ownership group as the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League, running the franchise day-to-day.
In addition to Toros home games, the stadium is expected to host pre-season and exhibition matches of both the Dynamos and the Houston Dash, an NWSL club, as well as concerts and other large scale community events.
After the friendly against Rayados, Toros will open 2017 USL play hosting in-state rivals San Antonio FC on March 26.
This article first appeared in the weekly Soccer Stadium Digest newsletter. Are you a subscriber? Sign up here for your free subscription!