Owner of APEX Everett looking to own new soccer team
Published 3:43 pm Monday, October 5, 2026
EVERETT — An Everett businessman is attempting to put together an ownership group that would acquire a United Soccer League expansion franchise in the city of Everett, according to an announcement last week.
John Carswell is the owner of the APEX Everett building that hosts a restaurant, bar and music venues in downtown Everett. Carswell said he is working alongside a sports business consultant, Fred Rivera, to gather investors interested in bringing a professional soccer team in USL League One, currently the second division of the United Soccer League, or USL. mh shifted “downtown” and broke into two sentences.
Carswell is the first person to publicly express interest in owning the new soccer teams that could occupy the city’s proposed Outdoor Event Center, set to be located in the downtown area. Upfront funding from the USL, along with lease revenue from the soccer teams, will be vital to completing the stadium project with an estimated cost of $120 million, per city officials.
City officials have previously said that the Everett AquaSox and United Soccer League would contribute about $17 million in upfront capital dollars to the stadium’s construction, as well as around $100 million in lease revenue over the next 30 years.
The city has already allocated about $23.2 million to the project, most of which was loaned from its general fund. Everett plans to repay those loans through a bond measure, paid back by stadium revenues and, potentially, increased business taxes. Other sources of funding include contributions from Snohomish County and the state.
Other members advising the group, according to Rivera, include a Seattle University soccer coach, Peter Fewing, and a former executive with the Seattle Sounders, Felipe Mendez.
Carswell said he was interested in putting together the ownership group because he saw the opportunity to bring professional soccer to the city, and felt the downtown stadium could be a real boost to businesses in the area. The most recent World Cup also left him impressed, he said, and left him feeling that Everett was “primed to bring some competitive soccer to the city.”
“Seeing what soccer is doing right now in the United States, as well as how popular that sport is in the Pacific Northwest, it just seemed like a really good fit,” Carswell said Friday.
The group has informed the USL that it is interested in starting the new franchise in Everett, according to Rivera, and the league has given the group “exclusive rights” to put together the ownership.
“We are working on assembling a group of investors who are like-minded and interested in seeing this city, this region and this team succeed in the new stadium,” Rivera said.
A USL spokesperson wrote in a statement that the league is “encouraged by the city’s commitment to bringing professional soccer to Everett and look forward to continuing to work with the city and the potential ownership group as we explore the opportunity.”
“As League One moves toward a more regionalized structure, a club in Everett would create natural rivalries with our Pacific Northwest clubs in Spokane and Eugene,” the spokesperson wrote on Monday.
In a statement, Mayor Cassie Franklin wrote that she is excited to see Carswell attempting to put together the ownership group.
“John has brought new energy to our city with the transformation of the former Club Broadway into APEX Everett – now a local and regional destination for arts, culture, entertainment and dining. I’m glad to see that same passion for Everett now leading the effort to bring a soccer team to our city,” Franklin wrote Monday.
City officials has previously said that if the stadium is built, it will be occupied by professional men’s and women’s soccer teams. Rivera said that if the ownership group gets the franchise rights from the soccer league, the group would be able to create both men’s and women’s teams.
“We’re really early in this process to understand timing and launch date, but there will be that opportunity,” Rivera said.
It’s also too early to know what the price tag might be for the expansion rights and how much money the group would need to raise to move forward with the venture, according to Rivera.
“We have some ideas, but until we spend a little bit more time on this, we don’t want to put a tag on it,” he said.
Any naming ideas for the possible teams? Not yet, Rivera said.
“I think it’s going to be important to all of us that the community is involved at every step of the way that it can be, so I suspect as we get further down the road that there’ll be an opportunity for appropriate input by the community,” he said.
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.