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WakeMed Soccer Park
	View of the stadium in 2007
	WakeMed Soccer Park Location in North Carolina WakeMed Soccer Park Location in the United States
Former names	State Capital Soccer Park ; (2001–2002); SAS Soccer Park; (2002–2007); Sahlen's Stadium ; (2017–2021); First Horizon Stadium ; (2024–present);
Location	Cary, North Carolina, U.S.
Owner	Wake County
Operator	Town of Cary
Capacity	10,000
Surface	Natural grass
Construction
Broke ground	2001
Opened	May 2002; 22 years ago
Construction cost	$14.5 million (plus $6.3 million expansion)
Architect	Envirotek, Inc.
Tenants
	List Carolina Courage (WUSA) (2001–2003); North Carolina FC (USLC) (2007–present); Raleigh Flyers (AUDL) (2015–present); North Carolina Courage (NWSL) (2017–present); North Carolina FC U23 (USL2) (2002–2009, 2011–present); NC State Wolfpack (NCAA) men's and women's soccer (2002–2007); ; ;
Website
	carync.gov/wakemed-soccer-park

WakeMed Soccer Park is a soccer complex in Cary, North Carolina, United States. It consists of a purpose-built, soccer-specific main stadium named "First Horizon Stadium", two lighted practice fields, and four additional fields. The main stadium and the two lighted fields (2 & 3) are all FIFA international regulation size (120 by 75 yards (110 m × 69 m)). The stadium seats 10,000, while Field 2 also has 1,000 permanent bleacher seats. The complex also sports a full-length cross-country course and houses the offices of Triangle Professional Soccer.

Originally opened in 2002 as the home of the Carolina Courage of the WUSA, WakeMed Soccer Park is now the home to North Carolina FC of the USL Championship and the North Carolina Courage of the National Women's Soccer League. The North Carolina State Wolfpack men's and women's teams of the ACC play select matches there and the complex hosts tournaments such as the NCAA College Cup, the ACC Soccer Championships, and the NCHSAA high school state soccer finals.

Construction history

WakeMed Soccer Park opened in May 2002 as State Capital Soccer Park. The park is on 150 acres (0.61 km²) that the state of North Carolina has leased to Wake County. Money to build the soccer park came from $14.5 million in county-wide hotel room and prepared food and beverage taxes. The Town of Cary assumed responsibility for operations and maintenance in 2004 from Capital Area Soccer League. On January 26, 2006, the Town of Cary council amended its lease to allow it to sublet the property to Triangle Professional Soccer through the year 2011 for the exclusive promotion of professional soccer and lacrosse events at the complex.

Expansion

In November 2011, the Town of Cary kicked off a $6.3 million expansion project. The finished expansion added 3,000 permanent seats to the 7,000-seat stadium, 1,500 of the seats going to the north end zone and the other 1,500 to upper-level stands on the east side of the stadium.

Also added on the east side were a new three-story building to provide restrooms, concessions, and access to the additional seating from the third floor.

Team locker rooms were relocated to the ground level of the new structure to allow players direct access to the stadium from midfield and direct access from their team bus to the locker rooms.^[3]

Naming rights

SAS Institute, a Cary-based software company, had naming rights to the complex through June 30, 2007, with the option to extend their naming rights for an additional three years. On September 27, 2007, the Town of Cary announced that SAS had not exercised their option on the naming rights and that WakeMed Health & Hospitals had purchased the naming rights to the complex for $300,000 per year.^[4]

Effective January 1, 2008, the complex became known as "WakeMed Soccer Park". On March 31, 2017, it was announced that Sahlen Packing Company had acquired naming rights to the main stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park, thus becoming "Sahlen's Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park". Sahlen's paid $400,000 over 5 years for the rights, with $100,000 going to the town of Cary and the rest to the North Carolina Courage.^[5] On April 30, 2021, WakeMed renewed its agreement through 2023.^[6] On December 18, 2024, the main stadium naming rights were purchased by First Horizon Bank, renaming the stadium as "First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park".

Notable events

2002 US men's soccer team World Cup Training Camp
2002 Women's Nike Cup 1st Round
2003 WUSA All-Star Game
2003 NCAA Women's College Cup
2003 ACC Soccer Championships
2004 ACC Soccer Championships
2004 NCAA Women's College Cup
2005 ACC Soccer Championships
2005 NCAA Men's College Cup
2006 Rochester Rhinos Spring Combine and Training Camp
2006 US men's soccer team v. Jamaica
2006 US men's soccer team World Cup Training Camp
2006 USL First Division All-Star Game (v. Sheffield Wednesday)
2006 US women's soccer team v. Canada
2006 State Games of North Carolina (soccer events, ceremonies)
2006 ACC Women's Soccer Championships
2006 NCAA Women's College Cup
2007 El Salvador v. Honduras International Friendly
2007 ACC Men's Soccer Championships
2007 NCAA Men's College Cup
2008 NCAA Women's College Cup
2008 Major League Lacrosse Rochester Rattlers vs. Philadelphia Barrage
2009 NCAA Men's College Cup
2009 Panama vs. Honduras International Friendly
2010 ACC Women's Soccer Championships
2010 ACC Men's Soccer Championships
2010 NCAA Women's College Cup
2011 US women's soccer team v. Japan
2011 US women's soccer team Training Camp
2013 NCAA Women's College Cup
2014 US women's soccer team v. Switzerland
2014 NCAA Men's College Cup
2015 NACRA Sevens Regional Olympic Qualifier
2015 Raleigh Flyers (AUDL) Southern Division Playoffs
2016 Carolina RailHawks v. West Ham United
2017 North Carolina FC v. Atlas CF
2017 North Carolina FC v. Swansea City
2017 United States women's national soccer team v. South Korea
2018 United States men's national soccer team v. Paraguay
2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship Group A
2018 NCAA Women's College Cup
2019 North Carolina FC v. Club Necaxa
2019 Women's International Champions Cup
2019 NWSL Championship
2019 NCAA Men's College Cup (Georgetown University)
2020 NCAA Men's College Cup (Marshall v. Indiana)
2022 El Salvador v. Panama International Friendly
The Soccer Tournament 2023
2023 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship semifinals and final
The Soccer Tournament 2024

Cross-country events

The grounds also host multiple high school cross-country races. Including dual meets, high school conference championships, Mid-East Region Championship, and the Nike Team Southeast National Regional meets. The course starts and ends behind the practice fields and runs along the perimeter of the grounds. It is known to give personal bests even with a difficult hill which must be run twice. The course record for the 5k distance is 14:32.2 by Brodey Hasty at the 2016 Great American Cross Country Festival. In recent years it has held the Atlantic Coast Conference's conference championship.

References

^ "Oops! Sorry, something went wrong | Carolina RailHawks". Archived from the original on March 29, 2015. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
^ "WakeMed Soccer Park – StadiumDB.com". stadiumdb.com. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
^ "Soccer Park Expansion Kicks off in Cary". Archived from the original on December 20, 2012. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
^ "Town of Cary and WakeMed Announce Soccer Partnership". Archived from the original on December 28, 2007. Retrieved September 27, 2007.
^ Gargan, Henry. "WakeMed Soccer Park's main stadium gets a name". newsobserver.com. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
^ "WakeMed Extends Soccer Park Naming Rights Through 2023" (Press release). North Carolina FC. April 30, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2023.

External links

35°47′10.19″N 78°45′18.38″W / 35.7861639°N 78.7551056°W / 35.7861639; -78.7551056

Events and tenants
Preceded by Home Depot Center Hermann Stadium Pizza Hut Park PPL Park Harder Stadium Railyards Stadium	Men's College Cup host 2005 2007 2009 2014 2019-2022 2025	Succeeded by Hermann Stadium Pizza Hut Park Harder Stadium Children's Mercy Park Lynn Family Stadium TBD
Preceded by Mike A. Myers Stadium Aggie Soccer Stadium Aggie Soccer Stadium Aggie Soccer Stadium Torero Stadium FAU Stadium Orlando City Stadium Avaya Stadium Stevens Stadium	Women's College Cup host 2003–2004 2006 2008 2010 2013 2015 2018 2020 2022-2024	Succeeded by Aggie Soccer Stadium Aggie Soccer Stadium Aggie Soccer Stadium KSU Soccer Stadium FAU Stadium Avaya Stadium Avaya Stadium Stevens Stadium Railyards Stadium