The Rowdies have called Al Lang Stadium home since the 2011 season. Located directly on the waterfront of downtown St. Petersburg, Al Lang Stadium boasts one of the most picturesque backsdrops of any soccer venue throughout North America. The Rowdies home pitch was the site of the club’s second championship win in 2012 NASL Soccer Bowl, as the Rowdies knocked off Minnesota in a dramatic penalty shootout to secure the title in front of the home supporters. Over the years, the Rowdies have welcomed top national teams and club sides from around the world to train at Al Lang Stadium.
History
Originally constructed in 1947, the stadium was named in honor of former St. Petersburg Mayor Al Lang, a visonary entreprenuer who avidly advocated for the city as a primary desitination for spring training baseball in the early 20th century. His efforts were successful, with the St. Louis Browns becoming the first to train in St. Petersburg in 1914. It didn’t take long for teams like the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, Boston Braves to follow suit. The Major League Baseball teams originally trained at Coffee Pot Park, an 850-seat ballpark located about a mile north of where Al Lang Stadium would eventually be contrsructed.
As more and more teams flocked to St. Petersburg, the city eventually chose to build a larger venue called Waterfront Park in 1923, located on the current site of Al Lang Stadium. Waterfront Park hosted legends like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Stan Musial, and Babe Ruth as the spring training home of the Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals.
After World War II, St. Petersburg demolished Waterfront Park and replaced it with Al Lang Stadium on the same site. The stadium continued to host spring training and minor league baseball – with a major rennovation in 1976 to expand capacaity to 7,227 – up until 2008 when the Tampa Bay Rays relocated to Port Charlotte for its spring training base.
Past Tenants at Al Lang
- New York Yankees (Spring Training, 1947-1950 & 1952-1961)
- St. Louis Cardinals (Spring Training, 1947-1997)
- St. Petersburg Saints (FIL/FSL, 1947-1965)
- New York Giants (Spring Training, 1951)
- New York Mets (Spring Training, 1962-1987)
- St. Petersburg Pelicans (SPBA, 1989-1990)
- St. Petersburg Cardinals (FSL, 1965–1997)
- Baltimore Orioles (Spring Training, 1991–1995)
- St. Petersburg Devil Rays (FSL, 1998–2000)
- Tampa Bay Rays (Spring Training, 1998–2008)
Al Lang on the Silver Screen
Al Lang Stadium was featured in the opening scenes of 1954’s Strategic Air Command, a military drama starring Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson.
Transition to Soccer
After playing the inaugural season of the Modern Era at Tampa’s George M. Steinbrenne Field, the Rowdies moved across the bay to Al Lang Stadium, ending a three-year stretch in which the venue was without a primary tenant. The Rowdies played their first match at Al Lang on April 9, 2011, with club legend Takuya Yamada recording the first goal in a 1-0 result over the Montreal Impact.
The Rowdies steadily invested in transitioning the stadium into a more soccer-friendly in their first few seasons in St. Petersburg. That process accelerated in late 2014 after the club acquired managing control of the city-owned stadium. Under the guidance of former Rowdies Owner Bill Edwards, the stadium underwent drastic rennovations, including the addition of midfield seating in the former outfield.
