Soccer-specific Stadium

Soccer-specific stadium (or football-specific stadium) is a term used mainly in the United States, Canada, Australia and South Korea coined by Lamar Hunt, to refer to a sports stadium either purpose built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer (association football) and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multipurpose stadium which is for a variety of sports including soccer. An SSS (FSS) may host other events such as other sporting events (mostly lacrosse, American football and rugby football), and concerts, but the design and purpose of an SSS is centered on soccer. Some facilities (most notably Toyota Park, FC Dallas Stadium and Columbus Crew Stadium) have a permanent stage at one end of the stadium used for the express purpose of staging concerts.

A SSS typically has amenities, dimensions and scale suitable for soccer in North America, including a scoreboard, video screen, luxury suites and possibly even a roof. The field dimensions are within the range found optimal by FIFA — 110–120 yards (100-110m) long by 70–80 yards (64-75m) wide, wider than the regulation American football field width of 53⅓ yards, or the 65 yard width of a Canadian football field. Lastly, the seating capacity is generally small enough to provide an intimate setting, between 18,000 – 30,000 for a Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise, or between 5,000 – 15,000 for a franchise in the North American Soccer League or USL Pro (whose attendance is subject to more variation), as opposed to the much larger American football stadiums in which most MLS teams were compelled to play at the league's inception (generally 60,000 – 80,000). The seating capacity for USL Premier Development League fields ranges from 1,000–5,000. The first major SSS in the United States is the Columbus Crew's Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, whereas Canada's first is BMO Field in Toronto, Ontario, home of Toronto FC.

Soccer-specific stadiums first came into use in the 1990s, during the decline of the multi-purpose stadium era. Prior to this, professional soccer in the United States primarily used American football fields, many of which were oversized in terms of seating capacity, undersized in terms of width of the soccer pitch, and often used artificial turf (which, at the time, was banned for international soccer under FIFA rules). Although most of the newer baseball parks were a better fit for the game of soccer, having smaller capacities and a wider field in which to place the pitch, these parks were generally in use during the summer season in which the United States plays most of its soccer. Thus, the professional soccer leagues in the United States began pressing for and constructing their own stadiums, much as the professional football and baseball teams had done in the years prior.

The term "football-specific stadium" is sometimes used in countries where the sport is known as football, although it is not as common in countries where football is the dominant sport and thus football-specific stadiums are quite common, or in countries where baseball is dominant (Far East, Central America and the Caribbean). The term tends to have a slightly different meaning in these countries, usually referring to a stadium without an athletics track surrounding the pitch.