Wake Med Soccer Park
WakeMed Soccer Park is a major soccer complex located in Cary, North Carolina, United States. Originally opened in 2002 as the home of the Carolina Courage of the WUSA, WakeMed Soccer Park is now the home to the Carolina RailHawks of the North American Soccer League. The North Carolina State Wolfpack men's and women's teams of the ACC play select matches there and the complex regularly hosts major tournaments such as the NCAA College Cup, the ACC Soccer Championships, and the NCHSAA high school state soccer finals.
The soccer complex consists of a purpose-built, soccer-specific main stadium, two lighted practice fields, and four additional fields. The main stadium and the 2 lighted fields (2 & 3) are all FIFA international regulation size (120 yards x 75 yards). The main stadium seats 6,883 and is expandable to 10,000 with temporary seating. Field 2 also has 1,000 permanent bleacher seats.
WakeMed Soccer Park opened in May 2002 as State Capital Soccer Park. The park is on 150 acres (0.61 km2) that the State of North Carolina has leased to Wake County. Money to build the soccer park came from $14.5 million in county-wide hotel room and prepared food and beverage taxes. The Town of Cary assumed responsibility for operations and maintenance in 2004 from Capital Area Soccer League. On January 26, 2006, the Town of Cary council amended its lease to allow it to sublet the property to Triangle Professional Soccer through the year 2011 for the exclusive promotion of professional soccer and lacrosse events at the complex.
The complex also sports a full-length, nationally recognized cross-country track and houses the offices of Triangle Professional Soccer.
SAS Institute, a privately held software company, has its worldwide headquarters in Cary. SAS had naming rights to the soccer park through June 30, 2007 with the option to extend their naming rights for an additional 3 years. On September 27, 2007, the Town of Cary announced that SAS had not exercised their option on the naming rights and that WakeMed Health & Hospitals had purchased the naming rights to the stadium. Effective January 1, 2008, the stadium became known as WakeMed Soccer Park. The naming rights agreement with Cary is good for 3 years and cost $300,000 per year.
In November 2011, the Town of Cary kicked off a $6.3 million expansion project. The finished expansion will add 3,000 permanent seats to the 7,000-seat stadium, 1,500 of the seats going to the north end zone and the other 1,500 to upper-level stands on the east side of the stadium. Also added on the east side will be a new three-story building to provide restrooms, concessions, and access to the additional seating from the third floor. Team locker rooms will be relocated to the ground level of the new structure to allow players direct access to the stadium from midfield and direct access from their team bus to the locker rooms.
Read more about Wake Med Soccer Park: Notable Events, Cross Country Events
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