Pitch to Pro

Stoppage Time Special: How Soccer is Changing Northwest Arkansas

• Ozark United FC

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This Stoppage Time Episode pulls a powerful snippet from one of our earliest Pitch to Pro conversations - Ep. 16 - From Local Chambers to Soccer Fields: Pioneering Progress in Northwest Arkansas.

Soccer isn't just a sport; it's an engine for economic growth and a force for community connection. In this archival highlight, we revisit a moment that explored how professional soccer is helping transform Northwest Arkansas through both cultural integration and economic momentum.

As fans pour into Rogers from across the four-state area, local businesses—from restaurants to breweries to retail shops—see meaningful boosts. The sport’s economic footprint is already rivaling established regional draws like the AMP, while also sparking long-term infrastructure improvements.

But beyond dollars, soccer serves as a cultural bridge. With over 60% of Northwest Arkansas residents having roots elsewhere—many from soccer-loving countries—the game offers a shared language that builds inclusivity and belonging. It's a vital layer of connection that traditional sports can’t always offer.

Even then, the vision was clear: professional soccer wasn’t just entertainment—it was a “community shared value” in the making. Collaborations with youth leagues, schools, and local institutions pointed to a deeper model of community integration.

Listen back with us and see how the seeds planted back then are now helping shape the future of Northwest Arkansas—on and off the pitch.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Stoppage Time edition of the Pitch to Pro podcast. This is a highlight reel of some of the best moments from the show so far, and every other week we will be bringing you a special five to seven minute segment featuring the best stories, tales and moments of the podcast.

Speaker 2:

From a nuts and bolts tourism standpoint, you're an attraction. It immediately becomes a professional sports team. That is an attraction that's going to draw people in from the four state area around here to come in for games, to see stars, to spend their money while they're here and go home afterwards. So it's new dollars that come into the destination and all of that. So from a nuts and bolts standpoint, you're a great amenity and a great attraction that's added here and it's something that we can go out and promote that not everybody has. You're a unique attraction as well.

Speaker 2:

But then from the community standpoint and knowing the impact and the appeal of soccer in Rogers and Northwest Arkansas, knowing the investment of our schools and our families and our kids in the largest game on the planet and the impact that can have to get ingrained in the community, it's a double play, it's a twofer that gets you excited about having that. And then the way you've gone about doing business, quite frankly, and coming out and engaging with organizations like the Chamber and Destination Rogers about how do we partner, how do we collaborate. Can you help us get in front of the right people? We want to be a big community partner that speaks to the way business should be done, and that excites me about what the future holds for the club and for the community as we all grow together. Well, thank you.

Speaker 3:

And I look at it from an economic standpoint as well, not just as it a great quality of life amenity and something you know, a feather in the cap, but it's also that secondary impact of people are coming to the game. Well, okay, what are they going to do before the game? They get. You know they're going to go to rendezvous junction and have a beer they're going to. You know they're going to eat at public safety. That's investment in. You know road construction amenities, you know all of that stuff that benefits the residents as well. And so, just looking at that, I mean I consider it on the same level as the AMP in terms of the economic impact that it's going to bring.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, that's that's great to hear you guys's perspectives. Thank you, and I think that's what a lot of people you know. Some of the feedback that we've gotten from from just residents in in a lot of the listing sessions and and online surveys and all the the listing that we've done thousands of hours collectively across all platforms, is because this is the world's game, like you said, jr, and the broadest appeal in terms of you know, over 60% of our population is now from here. They're from the rest of the world, yes, and we love our Razorbacks so much. We love the naturals.

Speaker 3:

As a Kentucky fan, I'm not a big fan of the Razorbacks right now. Oh hell, no, he's my next guest. There we go, you think?

Speaker 2:

Come, he's my next guest. There we go, you think come on.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, exactly, I wish maybe we'll get him. Welcome, coach Calipari. For those I know the reference. But because of that, I think this is potentially going to potentially and what we hope, what we aspire to, is that this is going to be something that unlocks a new avenue of growth in interconnectivity between our different communities, not just Rogers Fayetteville, but also. We have an incredibly diverse community, absolutely, and I think that's wonderful and how it's growing and bringing not just different backgrounds but diversity of thought, which always drives innovation and all these other different things. I mean, there's a whole lot of other studies out there that show that that's great for a community, and I think we're we're still figuring it out on how do we work together. We do it very well. I mean, how do we get all of us involved in a lot of different ways and different vehicles to use to do that, and I think that this could be one of those.

Speaker 3:

Sports is a universal language and it brings people together. I mean it always does. It's common fan bases. I mean yeah.

Speaker 1:

It's not going to solve it, but like can it be another lever that we can all pull together and unify in a way that maybe some other things can't? And that's what is also. That's been just feedback, but also what we know from doing it. Mr Warren Smith has done it multiple times. I can speak to that more than I can, but that's what gets us so excited.

Speaker 2:

I think too there's a term that we talk about in advocacy, with destination advocacy, and it's about becoming a community shared value. And I can see that as the club gets ingrained in the community and it's not just something where other people go to and then leave, but it becomes part of the community From local clubs, local teams, talent, education, all the above using the facility. That's what we hope is going to happen in the future, exactly, yeah, I think that's the goal is, if you become that shared value, then people care about you as much as you care about them and everybody grows.

Speaker 1:

I love that. Well, thank you guys so much for joining me today. I think this has been just an awesome discussion and I look forward to our continued partnership. You guys have been fantastic.

Speaker 3:

So we appreciate you guys and everything you're bringing to the table. I mean it's we. We cannot express how excited we are Once we see happening and we we want to be right there on opening day and 26 and just yeah, it's, it's, it's just going to spur so much more for for Rogers and Northwest Arkansas. So we truly appreciate you guys selecting us to be here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Thank you. It's going to be here before you know it, guys.

Speaker 2:

I promise it seems like a ways away but but I guarantee you again, it's a marathon, not a sprint. You blink and it's going to be here. We'll have to do this again sometime in a couple of times in the future and just talk about some of the other developments that are going on through the area, that are going to complement and help your organization, and your organization can help some of these other developments down the line too. Absolutely, I just invited myself back Consummate salesman.

Speaker 1:

Gladly have you guys back, for sure.