St. Louis selected for 2028 Olympic soccer at Energizer Park as LA28 confirms six host cities

St. Louis added to national footprint for Olympic soccer

St. Louis will host preliminary-round soccer matches during the 2028 Summer Olympics, becoming one of six U.S. cities outside the Los Angeles area included in LA28’s soccer venue plan. The matches are expected to be played at Energizer Park, the 22,423-seat downtown stadium that opened in 2022 and serves as home to MLS club St. Louis CITY SC.

The selection places St. Louis within an Olympic soccer format designed to operate across multiple regions before the tournament culminates in Southern California. LA28’s plan identifies a set of mostly soccer-specific stadiums that are already operating or scheduled to open before the Games, limiting the need for new permanent construction.

Which cities and stadiums are included

In addition to St. Louis, preliminary matches are slated for venues in New York City (a new soccer stadium in Queens planned to open in 2027), Columbus, Nashville, San Jose and San Diego. Five of the six venues are primarily affiliated with Major League Soccer clubs; San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium is a multiuse venue that also hosts soccer.

LA28 has indicated it is developing a match distribution designed to move teams progressively closer to the Los Angeles area as the competition advances. Under the current plan, the knockout rounds and medal matches are scheduled to be staged at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

• St. Louis: Energizer Park (MLS venue; opened 2022)
• Columbus: Lower.com Field (MLS venue; opened 2021)
• Nashville: GEODIS Park (MLS venue; opened 2022)
• San Jose: PayPal Park (MLS venue; opened 2015)
• San Diego: Snapdragon Stadium (opened 2022)
• New York City: Queens soccer stadium planned to open 2027

Competition timeline and what remains undecided

Olympic soccer is scheduled to begin on July 12, 2028—two days before the Opening Ceremony on July 14, 2028. LA28 has also described ongoing coordination with the International Olympic Committee on an extended competition window intended to improve recovery time between matches, a factor that could shape final scheduling.

Specific match dates for St. Louis, the number of games, and which tournament(s) would appear in the region have not been finalized publicly. LA28 has said stadium-by-stadium match distribution details will be released before the first ticket purchasing window planned for April 2026, with team-specific information to follow later.

Ticket access is expected to follow LA28’s draw-based process, with initial ticket sales beginning in April 2026.

Why the St. Louis venue fits the Olympic model

Energizer Park was built for top-level soccer and is situated in a downtown stadium district with an adjacent training and team operations footprint. Its selection aligns with LA28’s broader venue strategy of relying on existing facilities and established event operations. For St. Louis, the Olympic designation adds a global event to a venue that has already hosted major soccer dates, including international and tournament matches, and positions the region for a defined role in a nationally distributed Olympic competition.