Garner: Summer Of Soccer 'here to stay' as team returns home for July

When it comes to the sports teams around the city of Pittsburgh, each one has their own special event on the sporting calendar. For the Steelers, they have their Friday Night Lights session in Latrobe. For the Penguins, it’s the night before Thanksgiving. For the Pirates, it’s having the first pitch of the home opener taking place at 4:12 pm. 

And for the Riverhounds, they have their Summer Of Soccer. 

Now in its second year of existence, the project gives the fans of the team something to look forward to in July, as all four of their games in the USL Championship will take place under the lights of Highmark Stadium. But as team president Jeff Garner explained to me in an exclusive interview for DK Pittsburgh Sports, putting the concept together is certainly no easy task. 

Having four home games on the bounce involves a lot of moving pieces, not just from the business side, who will want to use the time of year to pack the stands and sell tickets, but also on the sporting side of things with Bob Lilley, the rest of the coaches and the players who have had to sacrifice some comfort in the early part of the season to accommodate the fixture list. 

“Because of the weather here in March, April, even in May, sometimes the weather can be pretty challenging, we've had to battle that just this year. And so to Bob and Rob Vincent’s credit on the sporting side, they have been willing to work together with the business side to try to give the business side the best opportunity to sell the most amount of tickets. 

“Competitively, it's tough to play a lot of road games early in the season. It's not the easiest way to start, we had a pretty tough schedule to start as well, but they've been willing to work with the business side to be able to help us by playing a little bit more on the road so that In July and mid-summer and through the rest of the season we get to play some really critical games at home.

“It's a compromise. I don't think the business side got everything they wanted, I don’t think the sporting side got everything they wanted, but we came up with a compromise to say ‘Listen, we want to win games, right? That's a priority for us, we want to win a championship. So it can't all be about selling tickets and it can't all necessarily be about the schedule.’ 

“So Bob has been great to work with, to be able to find a marriage of those things to say ‘This gives us a good chance to win games’. And honestly, strategically, it worked out really well this way last year.”

The Hounds are certainly going to need to repeat the success of last season, when they put up two wins, two draws and one defeat at home in July if they are to jumpstart their 2024 campaign and try to push for a run in the playoffs, as they currently find themselves 11th in the Eastern Conference. 

Whilst it might be called the Summer Of Soccer because of the constant action on the pitch, Garner isn’t oblivious to the fact that the sport might not necessarily be to everyone’s taste, even if the attendance numbers continue to grow and the Hounds reach new audiences. 

As a result, the Hounds have ensured that whilst soccer will be the main focus on the night, it will not be the only focus, as they continue to build their reputation as a club that encourages fun for everyone.

“It's the promotions that really support and help grow the Summer Of Soccer. We've got the Zooperstars coming back as halftime entertainment, we've got a Mount Rushmore giveaway, which is part of our Hall of Fame night, so that's four faces of Pittsburgh Riverhounds history that will be given away. One that I’m most excited about is that ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan the former WWF wrestler will be here on July 6th. We've got a puzzle mosaic giveaway. We even have another $1 beer night on July 20th. So every game you come to this summer, you're going to get a great experience. 

“If you're here for the soccer, there’s going to be some great, really competitive action as we we're going to be fighting for a playoff spot, it's going to be intense. But if soccer isn't exactly your speed, we've got something for you all of those different nights.

“We're trying to attract different fans and different audiences and so each night is going to be a little bit different. So the Summer Of Soccer, yes it's about soccer, but it's also about all the promotions and fun stuff that we have going on around that."

If this summer is as big a success as it was for them last year, and if both the playing and business sides of the club agree to keep running it back, then you can expect to see the Hounds at home all of July on the calendar for next year, and maybe even the year after that, because in Garner’s eyes, this isn’t going to be going away anytime soon. 

“We're looking to become a part of Pittsburgh summer, every summer. And so I think we'll continue on this path where we'll look for the heaviest part of our home season to be during the summer. I think that plays well for our fan experience, it plays well competitively, it plays well for for us from a business standpoint selling tickets and the types of promotions we want to do.

“So yeah, I think Summer Of Soccer is something that's here to stay.”