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NW Arkansas would be an excellent place for a @USLLeagueOne club. Here's why:
USL League One targets areas with 150k-1 million people and no local pro club. NWA has around 550k people, is the 13th fastest growing metro in the past decade, growing 21.54%. It's projected to hit 1 million people by 2045.
The closest pro club to NW Arkansas is FC Tulsa at 2 hours away. The area only has never had a pro club; the only pro sports team here is the MiLB NWA Naturals. This sounds similar to two well supported USL1 teams, Omaha and Madison.
USL looks to expand to young areas, and NWA is just that. The 4 main cities in the area (Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville) have a combined average age of 31.7, and 18-44 year olds range from 40-55% of their populations.
USL also looks to expand to diverse areas. 28% of NWA's population is ethnically diverse, compared to 5% in 1990. Hispanics have rapidly moved to the area in recent decades, making up 35% of Springdale and 19% of Rogers.
USL looks for areas with an established corporate presence. NWA has 3 Fortune 500 companies - J.B. Hunt, Tyson Foods, and Walmart. Each have been here for 55+ years. 1,400 companies that do business with Walmart, like Coca-Cola and Disney, have employees in the area.
People in NWA pride themselves in giving to the community. $425k was raised last year for 200+ local nonprofits by NWA Gives, while Support Local NWA launched a site in March offering gift cards for 300 local businesses.
NWA is passionate about sports, with attendance for Arkansas Razorbacks football, basketball, and baseball consistently being in the top 25 in the nation. The NWA Naturals, the local MiLB team, have 39k followers on Facebook, and 22k on Twitter.
NW Arkansas’ @AmericanOutlaws chapter, @AO_Fayetteville, has 750+ likes on Facebook. Our Facebook group, USL to NW Arkansas, has 64 members and counting after only a week and a half. NWA has lots of soccer fans, they need a local team to support
Two youth soccer clubs, Arkansas Comets and Sporting Arkansas have 20+ years of history in the area. Comets have 450+ players aged 7-18. Most these kids quit playing soccer after they graduate; a pro club would give the best players a next step
NW Arkansas has all the ingredients to be a successful @USLLeagueOne club. It's League One size, rapidly growing, crazy about sports, and is starved of local pro soccer. All it needs is for USL to give it a team to get behind.
@EdwardsUSL @USL_HQ @justinpapadakis @USLsteven @Ry_Madden @USLSpoon @League1Fun @L1Unfiltered @FYVgov @Springdale_AR @RLACC @BentonvilleGov @NWArkCouncil @LioneldJordan @Rogers1881 @BentonCoAR @WashingtonCoAR
@NWArkansas @4029Mitch @AlyssaOrange @dj45williams @findingnwa @fayflyer @BvillePride @VisitRogers @ExpFayetteville @SpringdaleAP @bentonvillecvb
