The Portland Hearts of Pine USL League One soccer team, which will begin play in 2025, has already set league expansion team records for season-ticket deposits, merchandise sales and social media growth.

This summer, the club will take several more important steps before its debut, including renovation work at its home field, the 6,000-seat Fitzpatrick Stadium. The club will also look to hire its first coach.

As part of a nonexclusive lease agreement, which is rent-free for up to 10 years, Portland Hearts of Pine is required to spend at least $1 million in renovations and improvements to the city-owned stadium prior to playing its first game. Team President Kevin Schohl said renovation costs “will absolutely be north of a million dollars before we begin playing. Around $1.5 million in upgrades is probably more the number.”

Shortly after the renovation work begins in August, the club intends to name its coach, who will be in charge of the on-field product. The USL League One season runs from mid-March through October, followed by playoffs.

“It’s an important position to get right. At this level, the coach is also the general manager,” said Gabe Hoffman-Johnson, a founding investor and the club’s point person throughout its nearly five-year process of bringing a USL League One franchise to Portland.

Hoffman-Johnson said that while the club will always be focused on bringing the community together, it also wants to find the right coach who can build a competitive roster from scratch.

“We also want to win on the field,” he said.

The first phase of renovations includes a new artificial playing surface, enhanced lighting, construction of two locker rooms, and essential improvements to the dilapidated press box.

A new playing surface, which Schohl estimates will cost $700,000, is the biggest expense. That project won’t begin until after the Portland-Deering Thanksgiving Day football game, with the work expected to be done in December.

Schohl said there are still some issues that need to be worked out with the city, including the brand and contractor for the turf field work. Furthermore, it’s uncertain if other sports that use the stadium – such as lacrosse – will have playing lines sewn into the field.

The current turf was installed in the spring of 2015. Schohl said the city would’ve had to budget for a new surface within the next few years. The soccer club, though, thinks its important to have a high-quality field for its inaugural season and also plans on installing a shock pad layer under the turf, which the current field does not have.

Another major expense is replacing current light bulbs with LED lights at a cost of about $300,000. Needed in part to satisfy USL broadcast requests, the lights will be brighter and more energy-efficient.

This summer’s work will start with what Schohl termed “site work,” involving utilities. There will be a need to get electricity to both sides of the away bleachers, which are on the I-295 side of the property. Currently, those areas are paved and are used to store maintenance equipment.

A beer garden area sponsored by Portland brewer Bissell Brothers will be set up at one end of the away bleachers. The company recently announced its status as the Hearts of Pine’s first “founding partner.”

“Our partnership is much more than just the alcohol service here on game days,” said Pete Bissell, the brewery’s owner. “This is way more than ‘when do they need beer.'”

Bissell said his company was involved with designing the club’s brand and has hosted many soccer watch parties to promote the USL-to-Portland movement. When the club was officially granted its USL League One franchise, the announcement was made at Bissell Brothers’ Thompson Point flagship location.

The cost of constructing two 60-foot long locker rooms isn’t finalized, but Schohl said it will be in the “hundreds of thousands.” The locker rooms will be located behind the away bleachers near the back of Hadlock Field. Hearts of Pine will have a locker room for club use only. The away team locker room will be available for Portland High teams, as well as other squads that use Fitzpatrick.

Other construction punch list items include buying removable football goal posts (to be installed after the 2024 season), installing a limited number of improved seating options, featuring seat backs, and to make the unheated, outdated press box usable for a professional league.

The 12-team USL League One is considered a third-tier league in the United States professional soccer pyramid. Major League Soccer is the only first-tier league, and USL Championship is the lone second-tier league.

Portland is one of six expansion franchises scheduled to make its League One debut in 2025. The others are in Naples, Florida; Santa Barbara, California; Lancaster, California; Westchester County, New York; and Sherman, Texas.

Hearts of Pine plans to offer up to 4,500 season tickets. It has received deposits for over 2,500 season tickets since sales opened on April 27, when the club announced its name and team colors, and unveiled its distinctive crest.

The minimum cost for a season ticket, which will cover around 18 games, will be $220, Schohl said. There will be several pricing tiers that are yet to be determined.

The crest, which online soccer site Goal.com said “may very well be the best crest in North America now,” has helped the club sell merchandise to fans in 41 states, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom.

The club also states that it doubled web traffic compared to all recent USL League One club launches, including those in much larger cities such as Santa Barbara and Spokane, Washington.

“Watching the momentum building in Portland and across the entire state of Maine has been tremendous,” said USL League One President Lee O’Neill.

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