The U.S. Soccer Federation is tapping the municipal market this Thursday as it seeks to fund its new headquarters and training facility in Georgia.
U.S. Soccer will issue $200 million of tax-exempt revenue bonds through the Fayette County Development Authority.
The bonds will help finance most of the project’s expected $225 million cost. Arthur M. Blank, co-founder of Home Depot and owner of the National Football League’s Atlanta Falcons and Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United FC, has already committed $50 million to the project.
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The bonds are structured as serial maturities from 2026 to 2044, as well as term bonds with maturities in 2049 and 2054, according to the investor presentation.
The bonds are rated BBB by Fitch Ratings, with a stable outlook.
The bonds are secured by “a senior lien on certain revenues of U.S. Soccer,” as well as by a debt service reserve account, Fitch said.
The borrower will need to make “periodic early set aside of an installment equal to the next required payment,” the rating agency said, and the debt service reserve fund will hold six months’ worth of “average annual debt service and approximately 20 months of capitalized interest will be funded at closing, providing ample liquidity.”
Goldman Sachs serves as the lead manager. Alston & Bird acts as the bond counsel.
The Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer Training Center will be a “first-of-its-kind facility for U.S. Soccer and will serve as a home and destination for soccer in the United States,” according to the investor presentation.
It broke ground in April and the goal is to open the facility before the 2026 World Cup.
The project differs from sports stadiums, which have seen tremendous growth over the past several years, reaching a 17-year high in 2023, according to a Moody’s report.
While increasingly popular, sports stadiums supported by state and local government can
Meanwhile, the national training center is more like a community center, said Gregory Carey, chairman of public finance and global co-head of sports franchise at Goldman Sachs.
It will create over 400 jobs and bring cash flow into the state of Georgia, he noted.
Additionally, unlike stadiums, which are owned by sports teams, U.S. Soccer is a not-for-profit organization.
Public subsidies for a non-for-profit organization are “more palatable” than those given to a rich team owner, said Andrew Zimbalist, an economics professor at Smith College, but overall, he finds the cities offering subsidies to attract sports teams “inappropriate and distasteful.”
One of the consequences of building a sports stadium is the addition of more luxury products and premium seating, along with charging money for concessions. This, Zimbalist said, caters to the higher-income individuals who can enjoy it.
However, that is not the case with the training facility, which provides a “development center” for U.S. Soccer rather than “knocking out” lower-income people, like stadiums do, he said.
The 200-acre site for the project will boast more than a dozen outdoor soccer fields, a full-sized indoor pitch and indoor futsal court and more than 200,000 square feet of office headquarters, high-performance, and meeting spaces, the investor presentation noted.
The project will consolidate U.S. Soccer’s headquarters and training facilities — currently domiciled in Chicago and California, respectively — leading to cost savings.
“It’s really [about] being all together in one location,” said Chelle Adams, U.S. Soccer CFO.” “We have a lot of synergies that we get, but also it’s in support of the 27 national teams and our mission to grow soccer in the United States through our coaching programs, referee programs.”
Fayette County was chosen for the headquarters, in part, due to the nearby Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which provides easy access to U.S. Soccer’s National Training Center, Adams said.
For the project to get approved, the bonds had to be validated, Carey said, noting the project has been “well received” with no one contesting the validation.
“We’ve done a lot of outreach to local committees and the neighbors, and we’re not bringing in a massive stadium that’s going to bring in a lot of folks at one time for events,” Adams said. “This is a training facility for elite athletes so we can work with them.”
The project has also received support from Blank and Dan Cathy, chairman of Chick-Fil-A and founder of Trilith, among other local donors and national corporate partners, such as Coca-Cola, the investor presentation notes.
Founded in 1913, the U.S. Soccer Federation is the national governing body for soccer.
U.S. Soccer oversees 27 national teams, including senior, youth and extended national teams.
“U.S. Soccer’s premier position in the U.S. soccer ecosystem,” reflects its BBB rating, Fitch said.
“As the sole representative of U.S. soccer in international competitions, such as the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics, U.S. Soccer holds a significant and valuable role,” the rating agency said.
U.S. Soccer “benefits from a solid revenue base of contractually obligated income streams, including medium- to long-term media and sponsorship agreements with strong corporate partners,” Fitch said.
“The strong existing revenue base and conservative debt structure provides for high debt service coverage ratios and low leverage,” the rating agency added.
However, despite its “strong” financial metrics, “a more limited league structure with only two income-generating teams and a relatively lower percentage of contractually obligated income compared to peers” constrain its rating, Fitch said.
Growth opportunities do exist, most notably the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will give U.S. households exposure to the game and attract new sponsors and fans, the rating agency noted.
There is also the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles and a bid to host the 2031 Women’s World Cup in the coming years, which will provide further opportunities for growth.