Chattanooga, Tenn. bills itself as a “Soccer Town,” but that didn’t shield it from criticism about using public money for the 2026 World Cup. While the Tennessee city didn’t host any matches, it served as the base camp for Spain‘s national team during the group stage, which required an outlay of $600,000 in security costs.
Yet the community felt the benefits almost immediately. The Royal Spanish Football Federation alone booked 184 rooms hotel rooms, fully occupying the Embassy Suites in Downtown Chattanooga, and that doesn’t account for the fans who came into town to support La Roja or stayed in the area because of its proximity to Atlanta.
Mayor Tim Kelly said Chattanooga’s hotel owners and restaurateurs described the impact as “significant,” while also soapboxing about the positive mentions of his city on the internet, which he noted “went through the roof globally.”
“That’s hard to put a number on,” Kelly said. “But I think I would certainly put a number higher than $600,000 on it.”
Though the World Cup is set to end on Sunday, as Spain faces Argentina in the tournament final, Chattanooga stands to gain from its hospitality in at least one other way. The city is home to an MLS Next Pro club, one of a few minor league sports teams in town. Hosting one of the most prolific international soccer programs could boost Chattanooga FC for years to come, minting the “Scenic City” as a destination for players, raising its profile among sponsors and fostering a fanbase that just broke an attendance record with more than 6,000 spectators at a July match.
The club has grown steadily the last few years, saying its revenue has more than tripled since 2022, when it disclosed $1.1 million in a public report, with 87% of that money coming from corporate partnerships, ticket sales and youth programs. Chattanooga FC expects the topline to grow another 10% this year, with “similar momentum for the foreseeable future,” according to a representative for the club.
Chattanooga FC wasn’t necessarily founded to be a money-maker, but rather as a tool for community development and a “welcome mat” for the newly constructed Volkswagen plant. Kelly and a group of local businessmen and community leaders started the team in 2009 as an amateur club, playing with college players across a three-month season. When a competing USL League One club arrived nearly a decade later, Chattanooga FC moved into a fledging professional division of the National Premier Soccer League.
To further entrench the club’s role in the community and capitalize the business for its transition, the club’s founders offered shares directly to the public in 2019. By doing so, Chattanooga FC became the first sports team to take advantage of the passage of the 2016 JOBS Act, which allowed private companies to crowdfund from non-accredited investors in exchange for equity. It ended up raising $872,750 from 3,254 backers, according to the platform WeFunder, where the offering took place.
After a stint in the National Independent Soccer Association and an ownership change—Davis Grizzard, a member of the family that owned the flour miller Grain Craft, invested in 2019 during the WeFunder campaign and became the club’s chairman and primary owner in 2020—Chattanooga joined MLS Next Pro in 2024, giving the club access to the league’s benefits, including a revenue-sharing arrangement.
The lower division was launched by MLS in 2022 to bridge the gap between a club’s youth academy and top team, and to spread soccer to additional markets the league doesn’t cover. MLS franchises with Next Pro teams have differed in how they operate them; some use the platform primarily for talent development, while others try to build out fully operational businesses that generate real revenue. In April, private equity giant KKR bought into MLS Next Pro to push the strategy more toward the latter.
Six clubs affiliated with MLS franchises currently playing in Next Pro have their own branding; three of those currently play outside of their parent club’s market, and Toronto FC II is moving to Barrie, Ontario, for 2028, when it will receive a complete makeover.
There are also three fully independent clubs, including Chattanooga FC, with four more on the way for 2027. When entering the league, Chattanooga FC discussed becoming Atlanta United’s affiliate but ultimately pushed to maintain its independence.
Landing Spain during the World Cup was a “real testament to the city of Chattanooga,” Ali Curtis, president of MLS Next Pro, said, “and one of the reasons why we know that we wanted to have that team in our league is because [it’s] an amazing city and can support not just professional soccer, but as you can see, it can support international soccer as well.”
Ultimately, Curtis sees potential for league’s ancillary territories to capitalize on the World Cup. In 1994, the last time the tournament was played on North American soil, the U.S. simply didn’t have the infrastructure to incubate the sport. Now markets like Chattanooga; Mansfield, Texas; or Huntsville, Ala. offer MLS an opportunity to support fandom in many places that have evolved into “soccer-loving” communities.
Curtis also expects the sport’s momentum to continue in other ways, including corporate engagement, stadium and training facility construction and player development.
“I think five years from now you’re going to wake up, and our league is going to be significantly different than it is today, and I think the club there in Chattanooga will be as well,” he said. “So it’s no surprise to us that Spain chose Chattanooga.”
That validation has been a source of pride for Kelly. The mayor is no longer involved in the day-to-day of Chattanooga FC, and his stake is in a blind trust due to his governmental responsibilities; he’s instead focused on how to leverage the popularity boost into wider economic development for the city.
In the meantime, he said, “There are a lot of CFC jerseys floating around Spain now.”