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- Howard says national stadium 20 years overdue
- Says U.S. Soccer aware of declining attendance
- Admits challenges playing across a large country
Noting that the USMNT had lower than expected attendance for several recent Gold Cup matches, former national team player Tim Howard focused on the lack of a designated stadium for U.S. Soccer. The former Manchester United and Everton goalkeeper expressed frustration that such a facility doesn’t exist.
“It’s baffling that we’re in 2025 and we don’t have a national stadium,” Howard said on his Unfiltered podcast with Landon Donovan. “But I think U.S Soccer is looking to do that, to build and create a national stadium – which again, we should have had 20 years ago. Every country does, you know? You cherish that and it’s kind of like a pilgrimage to go there and see your team play.”
Howard said that U.S. Soccer is aware of some of the attendance challenges, noting the federation is trying various tactics to increase crowd sizes at games played across different markets.
“That was a real concern,” he said. “That’s not something that went unnoticed by them. And so, obviously, doing other things to market differently and try and get more butts in the seats is something that they’re concerned with, yeah. Do things change if we have a singular national stadium? I don’t know. It’s a tough. it’s a big country.”
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The question of a national stadium touches on fundamental tensions within American soccer development, balancing centralisation against the sport’s growth across a geographically vast country.
The USMNT will continue preparations for the 2026 World Cup with upcoming September friendlies against Korea and Japan.
