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Starfire Sports
Starfire Sports is a multi-purpose stadium and sporting facility in Tukwila, Washington, United States. It is located on the banks of the Green River, just south of Seattle. The stadium is operated by the nonprofit corporation Starfire Sports and is home to several soccer and rugby teams. At the time of its opening, CEO Chris Slatt claimed it was "the largest synthetic-turf soccer complex in the U.S."
From 2008 to 2024, Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer has had offices and training facilities at the complex, whose main stadium hosted the Sounders' second-division incarnation in 2008 and has since staged the team's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup matches. The Sounders' affiliate team, the Tacoma Defiance, played at Starfire from 2015 to 2017 and has returned for select games starting in 2022. The Sounders vacated the Starfire complex in favor of a new facility at Longacres in nearby Renton, Washington, which opened in 2024.
Starting in February 2023, Seattle-based Seattle Reign FC of the National Women's Soccer League will use the Starfire complex for training facilities as the complex's primary tenant, having previously played home games there for their 2013 season.
The Seattle franchise of Major League Rugby, the Seattle Seawolves, began play at Starfire Sports in spring 2018.
The site was formerly Fort Dent Park, operated by King County. In addition to the existing grass soccer fields, the park included a cricket pitch and softball fields in the areas now occupied by artificial-surface soccer fields. Severe budget cuts in 2002 led the county to schedule the closing of this park, among others, at the end of the year; however, parks located within municipal boundaries were offered to those cities. That offer sparked the formation of Starfire Sports by Slatt, Steve Beck, and Mark Bickham, who negotiated a 40-year lease with Tukwila to allow them to build and operate the complex. The deal would relieve the city of an estimated $500,000 in annual maintenance costs which would likely have caused it to refuse the county's offer had Starfire not stepped in. Starfire planned to cover operating and maintenance costs through user fees and advertising banners and hopes to retire the $10 million construction costs over the course of several years.
The original plan for the facility was to build a 2,500-seat stadium that could host the Seattle Sounders, then a second-division team; the Sounders requested a stadium with at least 5,000 seats. New construction included four lighted outdoor soccer fields with FieldTurf, including the stadium with its 2000-seat grandstand, along with the indoor facility.
Beginning in summer 2004, English Premier League powerhouse Manchester United offered training at Starfire as part of their Soccer Schools program. This came to an end in December 2007. In the late 2000s, the complex was proposed as the site of a larger 28,000-seat venue that would host a Major League Soccer expansion team. Starfire was instead chosen as the training grounds for the expansion team awarded to Seattle Sounders FC.
The city of Tukwila still maintains a wooded part of the 54-acre (220,000 m2) site as a public park. An expansion was unanimously approved by city leaders in a public hearing at the beginning of 2008 for the offices and training facilities of Seattle Sounders FC. The team's practice fields replaced four existing softball fields on the campus.
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Starfire Sports
Starfire Sports is a multi-purpose stadium and sporting facility in Tukwila, Washington, United States. It is located on the banks of the Green River, just south of Seattle. The stadium is operated by the nonprofit corporation Starfire Sports and is home to several soccer and rugby teams. At the time of its opening, CEO Chris Slatt claimed it was "the largest synthetic-turf soccer complex in the U.S."
From 2008 to 2024, Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer has had offices and training facilities at the complex, whose main stadium hosted the Sounders' second-division incarnation in 2008 and has since staged the team's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup matches. The Sounders' affiliate team, the Tacoma Defiance, played at Starfire from 2015 to 2017 and has returned for select games starting in 2022. The Sounders vacated the Starfire complex in favor of a new facility at Longacres in nearby Renton, Washington, which opened in 2024.
Starting in February 2023, Seattle-based Seattle Reign FC of the National Women's Soccer League will use the Starfire complex for training facilities as the complex's primary tenant, having previously played home games there for their 2013 season.
The Seattle franchise of Major League Rugby, the Seattle Seawolves, began play at Starfire Sports in spring 2018.
The site was formerly Fort Dent Park, operated by King County. In addition to the existing grass soccer fields, the park included a cricket pitch and softball fields in the areas now occupied by artificial-surface soccer fields. Severe budget cuts in 2002 led the county to schedule the closing of this park, among others, at the end of the year; however, parks located within municipal boundaries were offered to those cities. That offer sparked the formation of Starfire Sports by Slatt, Steve Beck, and Mark Bickham, who negotiated a 40-year lease with Tukwila to allow them to build and operate the complex. The deal would relieve the city of an estimated $500,000 in annual maintenance costs which would likely have caused it to refuse the county's offer had Starfire not stepped in. Starfire planned to cover operating and maintenance costs through user fees and advertising banners and hopes to retire the $10 million construction costs over the course of several years.
The original plan for the facility was to build a 2,500-seat stadium that could host the Seattle Sounders, then a second-division team; the Sounders requested a stadium with at least 5,000 seats. New construction included four lighted outdoor soccer fields with FieldTurf, including the stadium with its 2000-seat grandstand, along with the indoor facility.
Beginning in summer 2004, English Premier League powerhouse Manchester United offered training at Starfire as part of their Soccer Schools program. This came to an end in December 2007. In the late 2000s, the complex was proposed as the site of a larger 28,000-seat venue that would host a Major League Soccer expansion team. Starfire was instead chosen as the training grounds for the expansion team awarded to Seattle Sounders FC.
The city of Tukwila still maintains a wooded part of the 54-acre (220,000 m2) site as a public park. An expansion was unanimously approved by city leaders in a public hearing at the beginning of 2008 for the offices and training facilities of Seattle Sounders FC. The team's practice fields replaced four existing softball fields on the campus.
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