Ricky Caplan, Becky Burleigh, Fred Taylor and Tim Tebow are part of the group that aims to bring women's and men's professional soccer to Northeast Florida. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on December 12, 2023 at 9:06 pm
A new professional soccer organization in Jacksonville unveiled its long-awaited name and crest Tuesday. Sporting Club Jacksonville is preparing to play in the United Soccer League later this decade.
The colors and motto — Lift Every Voice — came from more than a year of conversations with soccer enthusiasts throughout the region.
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The club, initially announced in August 2022, will be popularly known as Sporting Jax. Its women’s team will compete in the USL Super League in 2025; its men’s side is expected to kick off in the USL Championship in 2026.
“To actually have these colors and see how the community came out and breathed into this is just unbelievable,” majority owner Ricky Caplan said of the club and its crest. “I can’t wait. My son is just bouncing with excitement to put it on.”
Since the initial announcement, Sporting Jax has held multiple community meetings to meet supporters and sought to foster connections with youth clubs and high school programs. It has recruited former Jacksonville University men’s coach Mauricio Ruiz and former University of Florida women’s coach Becky Burleigh onto its staff.
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On the men’s side, the USL Championship is the second-highest division in professional soccer in the United States below Major League Soccer. Meanwhile, the Super League will compete with the NWSL as the highest level of professional soccer in this country.
Caplan said the club expects to announce in early 2024 where it will play. Tuesday, when minority owner Fred Taylor acknowledged the work ahead, he cited the need to “get the city on board.”
A club official noted the facility would be a 15,000-seat stadium that would be open to the Northeast Florida community and youth tournaments.
“This has been one of the most difficult decisions that we’ve had to make,” Caplan said. “It’s taken a lot of time, a lot of conversations. What I can say is we have it narrowed down to our final two sites. I hope that we will be able to share that early next year.”
The race to field a men’s professional soccer club in Jacksonville for the first time since 2018 has ramped up in recent weeks. In November, the Jacksonville Armada announced it will begin play in 2025 in MLS Next Pro, a developmental league affiliated with Major League Soccer. That announcement had the backing of Mayor Donna Deegan, a half-dozen City Council members and leaders from the business community, but Tuesday’s event also featured legends of the local sports scene.
Taylor said having Tim Tebow as a minority owner lured him to the project. Leaders in Northeast Florida’s club, varsity and collegiate ecosystems also were in attendance.
What may separate Sporting Jax is creating a women’s team in conjunction with its men’s side. Northeast Florida has two Division I women’s programs and a pair of Division II collegiate programs that produce players who have played professionally, but not here.
USL Super League President Amanda Vandervort says expanding professional opportunities in the women’s game is not just the right thing to do, but a business opportunity in light of the United States Soccer Federation’s application to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup.
“You know that your return on that investment will come leaps and bounds in the next couple of years,” Vandervort said. “And, especially, if you’re investing for the long term. …It’s such an exciting time for our sport and those who can see that future.”
Lead image: Ricky Caplan, Becky Burleigh, Fred Taylor and Tim Tebow are part of the group that aims to bring women’s and men’s professional soccer to Northeast Florida. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
