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Soccer is big in Louisville — but is the stadium big enough?

LBF Reporter Stephen P. Schmidt is on the Access Louisville podcast this week to talk about his recent interview with John Neace, chairman of Soccer Holdings. Soccer Holdings owns Louisville City FC, Racing Louisville FC and the venue where both teams play — Lynn Family Stadium.

The stadium has 11,700 permanent seats, with a total capacity of 15,300 when standing room is considered. But in  the interview, Neace told Schmidt efforts are under way to look at ways to increase the capacity to 15,000 permanent seats in an effort to satisfy the requirements of being part of a Division 1 U.S. Soccer league, which the United Soccer League (USL) plans to launch in 2028.

Of course, this topic also gets us talking about the recent news that the United Football League's new Louisville Kings franchise is planning to use the venue starting in March. The stadium’s size was an ideal fit for the new UFL team — a team that was officially revealed just last week. 

Late in the show we talk about a couple of other projects going on around town, including the Kentucky Humane Society's new facility. 

The nonprofit is planning to build a new $37 million Animal & Community Campus off Preston Highway at 1111 Orchard Ave. CEO Alisa Gray recently told LBF's Joel Stinnett. Stinnett is also on this week's show and notes that the approximately 54,000-square-foot headquarters will allow KHS to consolidate the majority of its services and staff into one location, Gray said, while increasing space for dogs and cats by 30%.

We also go over the news that a new 27-story tower proposed in Downtown Louisville recently cleared a hurdle with a downtown building getting approval for demolition. 

Accesss Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcast and Spotify.