{"id":355839,"date":"2025-11-04T20:52:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T20:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/355839\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T20:52:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T20:52:11","slug":"north-carolina-fc-to-cease-operations-after-2025-season-apply-for-membership-in-new-top-league-wral-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/355839\/","title":{"rendered":"North Carolina FC to cease operations after 2025 season; apply for membership in new top league :: WRAL.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Carolina FC, a men\u2019s soccer team in the United Soccer League\u2019s Championship division, won\u2019t field a team for the next two seasons as it applies for membership in a new USL Division One league.<\/p>\n

And tries to build a new 15,000-seat stadium.<\/p>\n

NCFC plays at First Horizon Stadium at the WakeMed Soccer Park complex in Cary. Steve Malik is the chairman of NCFC. He is also chairman of the National Women\u2019s Soccer League\u2019s NC Courage.<\/p>\n

NCFC\u2019s franchise agreement ends at the conclusion of the 2025 season. The club, seeded third, hosts No. 6 seed Rhode Island FC in the Eastern Conference semifinals on Saturday at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

USL announced in February that the new Division One league would launch for the 2027-28 season<\/a>. It would have promotion and relegation, standard features in European soccer, with its lesser leagues.<\/p>\n

The USL is not affiliated with Major League Soccer. Charlotte FC plays in the MLS.<\/p>\n

Franchises in Division One must have a stadium with a minimum capacity of 15,000, an ownership group with a combined net worth of at least $70 million for financial viability, according to U.S. Soccer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

First Horizon Stadium holds 10,000. In 2019, Malik and John Kane of Kane Realty proposed a $2-billion entertainment district development project<\/a> in downtown Raleigh. The project, which became known as Downtown South, would have featured a 20,00-seat open air stadium and nearly $2 billion in private development. It has never been built.<\/p>\n

But Malik hasn\u2019t given up on the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a deeply difficult decision, one that comes after extensive thought and consideration of the future of professional soccer in our community, which has proven itself a major league sports market,\u201d Malik said in a statement released by the team. \u201cI love North Carolina FC and have been incredibly proud to see this club succeed on the field and serve our community. I am as invested in this team emotionally as I am financially.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, it\u2019s essential that we focus our immediate resources and energy on strengthening the foundation for professional soccer in Raleigh by continuing to invest in the Courage and resetting our men\u2019s strategy for the future. With the right infrastructure in place, Raleigh can become a world-class home for the sport for years to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo our NCFC players, staff, and fans, thank you. You have been the heart and soul of this club, and your passion, loyalty, and belief have made North Carolina FC something truly special. This is not goodbye, but a step toward building an even brighter future for the sport we all love.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Louisville City FC and Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC have also applied to join, while Detroit City FC and Sacramento Republic FC have plans to expand their stadium capacity to meet Division One standards.<\/p>\n

A club representative will contact NCFC season ticket holders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"North Carolina FC, a men\u2019s soccer team in the United Soccer League\u2019s Championship division, won\u2019t field a team…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":355840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[173631,221,62,67,132,68,40672,173630],"class_list":{"0":"post-355839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ncfc","9":"tag-soccer","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us","14":"tag-usl","15":"tag-wakemed-soccer-park"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115493414070803216","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}