It’s official! The Fresno area will once again have a pro soccer team, that team will play in its own, soccer-specific stadium (anticipated to open in time for its first season in 2022!), and it will be called “Fuego FC.” As astonishing as that news is all by itself, the new team and stadium are just two components of a much grander vision that’s the brainchild of a local entrepreneur who immigrated to the US from Mexico, attended Dinuba High and Fresno State, and developed several successful local businesses. That man, Juan Ruelas, and his wife, Alicia, are setting out to develop a pipeline through which young Valley soccer talent will be able to progress all the way from youth soccer to the United Soccer Leagues, and perhaps even beyond, without ever needing to leave the Fresno area. There’s a LOT to unpack, so let’s get started.
The Return Of The Fuego
The loss of professional soccer in 2019 was a devastating blow to the Central Valley’s soccer community. Not only did Fresno FC’s demise bring an end to two years of high-level soccer in the Valley, it also meant the end of the long-standing Fresno Fuego men’s team, as well as the Fresno Freeze women’s team. The Fuego, Fresno FC’s wildly successful predecessor, had been incorporated into Fresno FC’s structure as part of the deal to bring the USL to Fresno. The Foxes’ owner, Ray Beshoff, took the rights to the Fuego with him when he left the Valley. Alas, much of the soccer community will be excited to learn that the Fuego name will be making a comeback.
A Grand Vision
The idea that led to the Fuego’s “reboot” actually had its genesis in youth soccer. Geographically, Fresno sits close to the center of California. So, it would stand to reason that the greater Fresno area would be the perfect location to hold state-wide events like youth sports tournaments. However, there are very few regional or statewide youth tournaments that actually take place the Fresno area. Even more frustratingly, talented youth soccer players generally must travel outside of Valley to get the type of training they need to compete at a high level.
Juan Ruelas, like many Valley parents, discovered this problem as his children, who grew up playing soccer, needed to travel long distances to compete in soccer tournaments and to find quality, high-level training facilities. At one point, Ruelas drove one of his children to San Jose twice per week to attend a soccer academy, but that experience gave him an idea.
Juan and Alicia knew that the Central Valley had (and still has) a giant pool of talented young soccer players. What if, he reasoned, there was a top-tier soccer academy located in a Central Valley, so that youth didn’t need to travel 2-3 hours by car to attend one (or, even worse, forego attending one entirely)? And, what if that academy was co-located with facilities that had the ability to host statewide tournaments, capitalizing on Fresno’s central location? Thus, Juan and Alicia began forming a vision for a sort of soccer player’s fantasyland, one with acres of regulation sized soccer fields, multiple futsal courts, an indoor field, and an academy that would rival the best in the state.
However, their vision did not stop there. Ultimately, the two wanted to provide Central Valley youth with a pipeline through which they could progress all the way from their very first soccer team to the USL and even MLS. In order to do that, they wanted to make sure that there was a professional team located in the Fresno area. Initially, they planned to partner with Fresno FC, but after things didn’t work out and Fresno FC ultimately left, Juan got in touch with some of Fresno FC’s former staff, including Chris Wilson, the former VP of Operations for the Foxes, who I sat down with last week to discuss the project. Ultimately, they were able to work out a deal with the USL to re-acquire the Fuego name and the rights to the Fresno area for USL soccer.
Infrastructure, Infrastructure, Infrastructure
After years of searching around the Fresno area, Juan and Alicia settled on a plot of land that’s located in Madera County near Children’s Hospital Central California. The location is close to the 41 freeway, making it only about a 5 minutes’ drive from Riverpark (where many area hotels are located) and 15 minutes from downtown. It’s also less than 10 minutes east of the 99 freeway (side note: hopefully this project will be the catalyst that finally gets Madera County to sign off on improving Avenue 9, which is a narrow country road that can be almost as busy as Herndon Avenue at times).
After purchasing the land and having it zoned for the soccer park and academy, they began drawing up their plans. Much of the legwork has already been completed, and Fuego FC is currently in the process of obtaining the final necessary permits and completing the remaining environmental studies. They anticipate breaking ground on the fields and academy next year.
The most exciting part of the project for Valley soccer fans – the new soccer stadium – is also slated to break ground in 2021. While exact details for the stadium have yet to be finalized, Wilson did share some general information about the venue. He emphasized that nearly every aspect of the stadium is being designed with fans in mind and as a direct result of fan feedback. Most of the stadium’s approximately 5,000 seats will be located along one of the two sidelines, with standard “flip-up” stadium seating on one side, and bleachers on the other. “We wanted to provide an affordable option” said Wilson of the bleacher seats.
Supporter group seating will be behind the goals, and will be able to accommodate all four of the current groups. There will be a few premium suites with associated VIP amenities too. Wilson also hinted about partnerships with local breweries, pubs, and restaurants, both as concession options, as well as potential locations for pre- and post- match festivities.
Late last week, news leaked that the Fuego and the City of Fresno were in negotiations for part of the Fresno Convention Center complex. According to its agenda, the city council is set to declare Selland Arena, Valdez Hall (the old “exhibit hall”), and the associated surface level parking lot as “surplus properties” during this week’s meeting. That would presumably clear the way for the Fuego to bid on the property.
However, there’s been no indications that a deal is anywhere near finalized, and quite a few hurdles need to be cleared for Fuego FC to even acquire the land, should they ultimately choose to. There’s also no evidence that Selland Arena needs to be torn down to make way for a stadium (side note: both the Fresno Monsters hockey team and Fresno Fire basketball team have expressed interest in playing at least some of their games in Selland). As some might recall, Fresno FC attempted to build their stadium on that same piece of land, but ran into problems related to the Cosmopolitan’s parking lot. The Cosmopolitan is still open, so it’s unclear how that problem would be resolved. It does, however, appear that the City of Fresno is significantly more enthusiastic this time around about keeping soccer downtown.
Another possible option for the stadium would be building it in Madera County alongside the rest of the soccer academy facilities. Stay tuned for more information about the stadium’s location in the coming weeks and months as plans are finalized.
USL League One
The Central Valley Fuego, as the team will be known, will begin play in USL League One in 2022. League One is the third league of soccer in the United States, below MLS and USL Championship, but still fully professional. Fans of the original Fuego will likely recognize at least one team – FC Tucson – which also used to be in the “PDL” league and regularly faced the Fuego. It is likely that Tucson will (at least initially) be Fresno’s main rival in USL One, although there are rumors of other potential new California teams as well.
Other teams in League One include Madison, a franchise that’s well known across the US soccer pyramid for their flashy social media presence and off the wall but popular promotions (ranging from a “pool party night” where they gave away hard seltzer and inflatable flamingos; to a “bro pack” that included a tank top, aviator sunglasses, and a can of natural light; to a Vatican-style release of “pink smoke” when they chose a new head coach), as well as Omaha, Richmond (Virginia), and Ft Lauderdale. “We’re going to be traveling more than some NFL teams” said Wilson of the spread-out league…aside from Fresno and Tucson, every other team is east of the Rockies.
A Lofty Vision
From all appearances, the new Fuego FC organization (which will officially be named the “Central Valley Fuego Fútbol Club”) are making all the right moves to ensure the long-term success of their soccer academy and their team. Already, their front office has organized multiple behind-the-scenes focus groups comprised of former Fresno Fuego and Fresno FC employees and organizers, supporter group leaders, and other Valley soccer enthusiasts. They’ve taken what they have learned from those interactions and their own experiences (remember, many of the people behind the new Fuego team had a hand in the original Fuego and/or the Foxes), and put together what they believe is a winning formula:
- Fuego FC will be a continuation of the original Fresno Fuego, a popular and successful brand that still has major appeal around the Valley.
- The organization will be “unapologetically bilingual,” with English and Spanish equally represented and interwoven together.
- The organization will build a presence throughout the Valley, not just in the Fresno area. This will include everything from running clinics and player appearances, to offering academy scholarships and free tickets, to helping fund the construction of facilities like futsal courts.
- Perhaps most importantly, their process will be designed to take youth soccer players, give them a pipeline through which they can progress and grow their talents, and then use that pipeline to fill the Fuego’s roster. Eventually, the goal is for the majority of the Fuego’s professional players to be from the Valley.
Incorporating the above components, Juan and Alicia Ruelas (and the rest of the organization) came up with a five-year plan comprised of four major goals that they believe are 100% attainable:
- To have the best team in USL League One, with multiple local players on the roster.
- To have a soccer academy that is recognized and competes on a national level.
- To bring back a USL League Two team (formerly the PDL) as another stepping stone to the Fuego.
- To bring back a women’s team.
Eventually, Juan and Alicia would like to bring USL Championship back to Fresno, and they believe that such a goal is attainable with enough fan support. “We need people to come to games,” said Wilson about the possibility of anything beyond USL League One. The Foxes averaged just over 4,100 fans per game in 2019, an attendance number that would have made them second among all USL League One teams, but put them just below half of their fellow Championship teams. In order to make advancing beyond League One practical, that number would likely need to grow.
However, with enough support, anything is possible. While still a decade or more away, Ruelas is hopeful that his vision will help lay the groundwork for the Fresno area to one day be in the running for an MLS team, and he thinks such an opportunity could come along with enough support and should the region’s population grow fast enough.
Wrapping It All Up
One can’t help but be impressed with everything that the Ruelas family is doing to bring a first-rate youth soccer academy and professional soccer team and stadium to the Central Valley. Every aspect of the project, from the soccer complex and stadium to the team itself, is being 100% privately financed, mostly by he and his wife, with no public money going towards the academy or stadium.
While the Ruelas family and Fuego FC are not asking for a single penny of public funding, they ARE asking the Valley for its support. That’s where everyone reading this article comes in. After news about the convention center land broke last week, I read dozens of comments online showing support for the new Fuego team, many asking “what can I do to help?” To that I say: buy tickets (you can already put down a deposit on season tickets) and merchandise, bring your friends and family, share your passion for soccer and for the Fuego with others, join a supporter group, get your kids involved in the academy, and, in general, show the world that the Valley is 100% behind this project.
After a year without a local team to root for, the Valley’s supporter groups are definitely ready to get behind the Fuego. “Fire Squad is extremely excited about the announcement of the Fuego, the connection to the history of football in our area and the development of this franchise for all the valley, from youth to professional level. We can’t wait to join together as supporters and root for a team that truly represents us all. Dale Fuego!” said Ed Stewart, head of Fire Squad Fresno. Another member’s comment, while simple, may have put it best: “let’s gooooooooo!”
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