DALLAS — Dallas City Council will vote Wednesday on whether to approve funding for a professional women's soccer team to call the Cotton Bowl stadium its home, a memo obtained by WFAA indicated.
The DFW-based USL Super League team will be the first professional women's soccer team in North Texas, the team said. It has teased an upcoming announcement Thursday on its social media pages.
The team will play up to 19 games in the Cotton Bowl in its first year, the memo said. The USL Super League has plans to kick off in late summer 2024 with teams in 13 cities, it said.
At its Wednesday meeting, City Council will vote on providing a subsidy of up to $296,000 annually for two years to the team. The money will go to security, site prep and other expenses associated with conducting games at the stadium, the memo said.
The move comes as the Cotton Bowl undergoes $140 million worth of renovations. The memo said the games will be held on the opposite side of the stadium from the construction and should have no impact on its timeline.
The Dallas organization is led by the Neil family, the team said on its website.
"The Neil family represents over 40 years of real estate investment banking, current and former athletes in U.S. Soccer / U.S. Deaf Soccer and professional baseball, sports tech entrepreneurship, and advertising, as well as decades spent in support of youth sports in North Texas," it said.
The potential addition of the USL team to Dallas comes two weeks after the City Council approved the Dallas Wings WNBA team's move to the Dallas Memorial Auditorium downtown.
The recruitment and retention of professional sports in Dallas has been a key focus of city officials, including Mayor Eric Johnson, in recent years.
The USL Super League has already announced plans for teams in Brooklyn, Charlotte, Fort Lauderdale, Lexington, Spokane, Tampa and Washington, D.C., it said online.