https://ussoccerplayers.com/2019/10/end-...own-future.htmlThat will leave the Battery homeless for a least a time, though they are framing this as a move they want to make anyway. Fan demographics and conventional wisdom have shifted significantly since 1999. The club want to get closer to the, stop me if you've heard this before, urban dwellers and millennials who have replaced suburban soccer moms and dads as American pro soccer's target audience of choice.
Club officials have expressed interest in returning to Stoney Field, the city-owned field in downtown Charleston they shared with local high school sports in their early years. It's more accessible to more people and adjacent to the local minor-league baseball park. The problem, at least in the short term, is that the half-century-old venue was built atop a landfill and is sinking into the alluvial soil of a city essentially built atop a river delta.
That's necessitated a multi-million-dollar renovation project of Stoney Field that won't finish until Fall 2020 at best. The Battery has expressed interest in chipping in funds to ensure that it's rebuilt with soccer in the plans. That will need approval from the city government. It's far from clear how far along those efforts are. In the meantime, Johnson Hagood Stadium, the football venue at The Citadel military academy nearby, looks like the Battery's best option for 2020.
It's hard to understand why Charleston sold their historic ground before locking down a new one. Perhaps the developers gave them an offer they couldn't refuse. The club has yet to confirm where they will play their home games next year, though, telling local media that an announcement will come after season's end. Sources tell USSoccerPlayers that the Battery will definitely compete next year, yet it's not clear exactly what the club's long-range prospects are. As much may have changed over the past two decades, ownership will likely still need to invest significantly to make a lower-division team work.
