{"id":289660,"date":"2026-05-30T01:45:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T01:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/289660\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T01:45:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T01:45:26","slug":"why-cfc-at-erlanger-park-on-july-4th-makes-too-much-sense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/289660\/","title":{"rendered":"Why CFC at Erlanger Park on July 4th makes too much sense"},"content":{"rendered":"

On July 4th, the 250th birthday of the United States of America, it will be quite the scene in the Scenic City. <\/p>\n

For the first time in Chattanooga’s history, soccer will be played on a baseball field. <\/p>\n

“It seems like an almost impossible set of coincidences came together,” said Chattanooga FC Chief Business Officer Chad Emerson. <\/p>\n

Emerson said that when Erlanger Park was built, constructors ensured that a full FIFA-certified soccer field could fit in it. <\/p>\n

Then the schedule came out. And in the first week of July, the Chattanooga Lookouts were set for a lengthy road trip. Erlanger Park had no plans on July 4th. <\/p>\n

Add that the FIFA World Cup is in North America, top-ranked Spain is staying in Chattanooga, it is indeed America 250 and it really all seemed too perfect for a July 4th party with Chattanooga’s two downtown pro teams.<\/p>\n

“All of these pieces come together,” Emerson. “All eyes will be on Chattanooga July 4th as we play Inter Miami II at Erlanger Park.”<\/p>\n

But making this unique soccer-at-the-diamond game happen was not as simple as penciling it on the schedule. <\/p>\n

Stadiums all across North America are swapping turf for grass ahead of the World Cup. In Soccer, good grass is important, and this July, Erlanger Park will have to do the same.<\/p>\n

“We had to find some grass to be on the infield,” Emerson said. “That\u2019s a little bit hard in a World Cup year because all of the stadiums, like Mercedes-Benz Stadium and others, are transitioning from synthetic turf to grass.”<\/p>\n

But after some searching, CFC, the Lookouts and Erlanger Park did find grass. <\/p>\n

“We have a really good vendor in Sweetwater, Tennessee,” Emerson said. “They\u2019re going to put down the grass.”<\/p>\n

Emerson said the hope is that they’ll be able to donate that grass somewhere in the community to use as a brand-new, beautiful soccer pitch. <\/p>\n

And the Lookouts’ grounds crew has their schedule down pat for what’ll be a hectic week of transformation at Erlanger Park. <\/p>\n

“We\u2019ll start taking the mound out Sunday after our game,” said Sam Turner, the head of Erlanger Park’s grounds crew. <\/p>\n

“Sod company will come in Monday. They\u2019ll put a fabric down over the infield dirt. And then they\u2019ll come in with tiff tuff sod. They\u2019ll lay it on Tuesday. And we\u2019ll let it kind of do its thing until Saturday. Then paint it up and make it look like a soccer field.”<\/p>\n

Turner makes it sound simple and easy, but a lot of planning and preparation have gone into six crucial days between the Lookouts’ final June home game and CFC’s game on July 4th. <\/p>\n

\"Head<\/p>\n

Head of groundscrew at Erlanger Park, Sam Turner, explaining the layout for Chattanooga FC’s match at the Lookouts’ home<\/p>\n

Turner admitted it will be a stressful process. But he knows his team and his field are ready.<\/p>\n

“I think CFC\u2019s going to be really happy with the product that we put out,” Turner said.<\/p>\n

CFC will be happy, and so will the fans. A unique sporting experience without a bad seat in the house will end in typical July 4th fashion with a fireworks show. And both teams believe fans will forget they’re watching a soccer game in a park built for baseball.<\/p>\n

“It will look like a soccer field dropped out of the sky and landed beautifully in the middle of Erlanger Park,” said Emerson.<\/p>\n

And as Emerson joked, “there will be a pitch, but it won\u2019t be thrown, it\u2019ll be played on.”<\/p>\n

Chattanooga FC vs. Inter Miami II will kick off at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 4th at Erlanger Park. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On July 4th, the 250th birthday of the United States of America, it will be quite the scene…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-289660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}