FC Edmonton says it is not making progress in securing a larger stadium, which it says it is seeking in order to become more sustainable.
The NASL club has played its home matches at Clarke Stadium since 2012. Overall, professional soccer has been making strides in Canada, and FC Edmonton has posted a solid per-game average attendance mark of 3,391 this season. However, that has not helped the club so far in its pursuit of an expanded stadium.
Under a strategy that was approved by the Edmonton City Council a few years ago, the city would look at expanding Clarke Stadium in the event that FC Edmonton reached certain attendance goals. To this point, FC Edmonton’s attendance has not been enough to reach those goals at the 5,000-seat Clarke Stadium. The club contends that a larger stadium is needed to make it more financially sustainable, but owner Tom Fath says it has not been able to come up with a firm plan in discussions with the city. More from Global News:
“Our target is ‘we need to become sustainable,’ and in order to become sustainable we have to be filling out a bigger stadium than we have now.”
In any discussions Fath has had with the city, he said they’ve been preliminary, and a price tag hasn’t even come up yet.
There is no timeline to have the strategy return to the new city council after the Oct.16 election.
Clarke Stadium originally opened in 1938, but it was significantly renovated in 2001 and has received some improvements since FC Edmonton’s arrival.
Image courtesy NASL.