One Spokane Stadium celebrates two years of bringing community together

SPOKANE, Wash. — One Spokane Stadium has been open for just over two years, serving as home to 17 different teams and creating a gathering place for the Spokane community.

The downtown facility hosts professional soccer teams and high school sports.

“People want to be here, and it is showing with our ticket sales,” said Stephanie Splater, Executive Director of Athletics and Activities for Spokane Public Schools.

Splater said attendance numbers have tripled for soccer and football games since the stadium opened and that the stadium has seen more than 75,000 fans for high school sports over the last three years.

“Oh my gosh, the kids absolutely love it. From the experience of walking in a special gate down below to the locker rooms to then walking onto the field,” Splater said.

The stadium required years of planning and partnership between Spokane Public Schools, the United Soccer League, and the Spokane Public Facilities District.

Paul Christiansen, Director of Sports for the Spokane Public Facilities District, said USL games usually draw 2,000 to 3,000 fans.

“It’s been a busy two years. Just jumping into some programming that we actually don’t do a lot of in other parts of the district,” Christiansen said.

Christiansen said the stadium focuses on serving locals rather than drawing sports tourism like its neighbor, The Podium.

“This venue is more of a local venue,” Christiansen said. He instead described the stadium as a community meeting place.

“It is creating a lot more reasons to come downtown,” Christiansen said. “It’s a community meeting place that has been created here, you know, for the fans, for the USL soccer teams.”

Splater said having the stadium centrally located and in close proximity to all SPS schools has been a major bonus.

“It’s such a cool place for our students to be able to play and to perform, and then just also a really cool place for our families to connect,” Splater said.