Transforming Lugnuts’ Home from Baseball to Soccer is No Easy Task – VIDEO

It’s a long and tedious process turning a baseball diamond into a soccer field.  It’s a process that the grounds crew for the Lansing Lugnuts (Single-A, Midwest League and Ignite soccer team haven’t done often.  Friday night’s installment was only their second go-around, and it’s been a learning experience.  Read more and watch news report here.

Soccer Makes Home Debut at Lugnuts’ Ballpark

45 minutes into the game, the Lansing Ignite Football Club (USL League One) brought 3,369 fans to their feet by scoring the team’s first home goal inside Cooley Law School Stadium on Saturday night.  The affair was a historic one — the first professional soccer match to be played in Michigan since the Detroit Express in the North American Soccer League back in 1980.  Read more here.  View photo gallery here.

View from the @LansingIgnite home opener. pic.twitter.com/fFJmoyXndI

— Graham Couch (@Graham_Couch) April 13, 2019

City Gives Approval for Soccer at Lugnuts Ballpark

The Lansing (MI) City Council unanimously approved a deal this week to bring professional soccer to Lansing’s downtown baseball stadium beginning this spring.  The team will be called the Lansing Ignite and owned by the owner of the Lansing Lugnuts (Single-A, Midwest League).  The team will play in the United Soccer League Division 3, an offshoot of the longstanding USL and a league loosely affiliated with Major League Soccer.  Read more here.