Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
It’s still dark most mornings when Lutz Pfannenstiel parks his car and walks into work at St. Louis CITY SC’s headquarters. Pfannenstiel, the club’s sporting director, admits he lives in his own “crazy world,” full of seven-day work weeks and marathon days spent inside the club’s 31-acre compound in Downtown West. He was drawn to the United States during the summer of 2020, and left his native Germany to help build a professional soccer team from scratch in St. Louis. That ongoing task has required all of his heart, mind, and soul, giving him good reason to grind as he’s spent the past two years drawing CITY’s organizational blueprint.
“We started from ground zero,” Pfannenstiel said. “It was a white piece of paper—nothing at all. It was a hole in the ground. There was a motorway ramp where my office is now.”
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
So it’s understandable why Pfannenstiel took a moment to himself prior to Wednesday’s inaugural match at CITYPARK between the club’s developmental squad, CITY2, and Bayer 04 Leverkusen of the elite German Bundesliga. At 6:18 p.m., Pfannenstiel finished an in-house interview and walked onto the CITYPARK playing field. There, he paused, looked up at the scoreboard behind the south goal, and—for just a moment—he stopped working. After two years of toil, Pfannenstiel stood in the middle of the region’s gleaming, $458 million playground and soaked up the scene. Suddenly, all that effort had produced a tangible result.
“I would call it the neverending story since the day I arrived,” Pfannenstiel said. “There’s just always something to do. It’s fun, it’s crazy, it’s something really, really special. I think today was the moment when you felt, ‘Yes, it’s real. It’s reality.’ We just loved every moment of it.”
From a jersey reveal in the morning to a sold-out, stadium-opening exhibition Wednesday night, it was another full day for CITY.
This is how it unfolded.
PURINA HEADQUARTERS
11:03 A.M.
Photography courtesy Purina
The dogs came first.
There were several of them—a Dalmatian, at least one golden retriever, and a very yappy lil’ guy, among them—on hand in the atrium of Purina’s corporate office for an event that was years in the making. Purina signed on as CITY’s founding uniform sponsor in March 2021, so it was only fitting that the club received some canine assistance in revealing the long-awaited home jersey.
Following opening remarks from corporate luminaries, the dogs took over. With the help of one especially cute pup, which used its teeth to yank the cloth cover off the CITY jersey positioned on the dais, the club’s first uniform saw daylight for the first time just after 11 a.m.
A crowd of Purina employees clapped and hollered for the unveiling of the shirt, which looks pink but is officially colored something called “City Red.” The piping on the sleeves is done in “Energy Yellow” and “River Blue,” and an abstract design of the Gateway Arch runs down the jersey’s right side. Purina’s company logo is prominently displayed in the center of the chest.
“It literally has been a two- or three-year process to get to this point,” said Dennis Moore, CITY’s chief revenue officer.
The franchise went through several iterations of the jersey before picking this one. It will be used as the home jersey—and likely worn monochromatically with CITY Red shorts—for the 2023 and 2024 seasons, according to Moore. MLS clubs typically cycle through new home jerseys every couple of years. Right now, it’s one of the hottest pieces of merchandise in town.
LOU FUSZ PLAZA
12:04 P.M.
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
By late morning, a series of lines had formed in the grassy space adjacent to the concrete plaza on the east side of CITYPARK. There, fans who purchased the team’s first jersey during a blind presale earlier this month arrived to claim their gear.
Never mind that the temperature in St. Louis was only a few ticks above freezing, several men unbuttoned their coats and shirts to pull on the jersey as soon as they walked away from the booth. Nearby, a DJ filled the air with sick beats.
The party was only beginning.
LOU FUSZ PLAZA
4:46 P.M.
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
In honor of the guests from Leverkusen, CITY asked the Deutschmeister Brass Band—a subgroup of the German Cultural Society of St. Louis—to entertain fans congregating on the plaza. It was a festive affair, and it had to be. As the evening met the night, the air became brutally cold. The best ways to stay warm? Dance to some folksy German tunes, and/or guzzle some good booze.
As for the latter, there was plenty of that taking place on the plaza, as well as at the newly renovated Maggie O’Brien’s across Market Street. But the biggest, liveliest gathering was rocking across Olive Street at the Schlafly Tap Room.
SCHLAFLY TAP ROOM
5:45 P.M.
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Outside Schlafly, music blared as scores of fans decked out in CITY gear swilled beers and shared in the night’s revelry. Suddenly, over the din of the crowd noise, a voice barked instructions through a megaphone.
“We’ll march in 15, and we’ll make some god damn noise,” the voice said.
This was the site of the St. Louligans’ pre-game tailgate. The Louligans, the largest organized soccer supporters group in the region, have been fixtures at local professional soccer matches for more than a decade. Anyone can be a Louligan. And on this night, there were a lot of Louligans.
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
At precisely 6 p.m., the swarm of supporters began their march to CITYPARK—down an alley, across Olive, and through the stadium’s gates. All the while, the giant mass of humanity waved flags, carried banners, pounded drums, and—true to form—made noise. Lots of noise. Much of that commotion came through song. For the entirety of the Louligans’ three-minute walk to CITYPARK, the group belted what is sure to become a familiar refrain (sung to the tune of “When The Saints Go Marching In”):
“Oh St. Louis (Oh St. Louis)
Is wonderful (Is wonderful)
Oh St. Louis is wonderful
It's the home of the toasted ravioli
Oh St. Louis is wonderful”
Police officers stopped traffic as the Louligans crossed Olive, earning a few honks from idling cars. The Louligans promised noise, and they delivered on their vow.
CITYPARK
7:06 P.M.
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The match kicked off to chants of “S-T-L! S-T-L!” The CITY2 squad, which hadn’t played a competitive match since a season-ending loss in the MLS Next Pro Cup on October 8, seemed to feed off the energy. Expectedly, CITY2 looked a bit uneven as the match progressed, but the effort was there. After falling behind 1-0 on a tap-in by Leverkusen’s Callum Hudson-Odoi in the 36th minute, CITY2 nearly found an equalizer three minutes later. Eduard Löwen put a good boot on a free kick from just outside the box, only to watch it carom off the crossbar. Leverkusen’s Adam Hložek followed with two goals—one just before halftime, and another right after the break—to give the visitors their winning margin.
INTERVIEW ROOM
9:49 P.M.
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A win would have been neat, but this was an exhibition against a team from one of the planet’s elite leagues. “Let’s put it in perspective,” said John Hackworth, CITY’s director of coaching and the head coach of CITY2.
For Hackworth, the night was about so much more. He was heartened that so many young players were able to test themselves against top-level competition. And he was glad to see it happen in a lively atmosphere provided by the announced sellout crowd of 22,500. His counterpart, Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso, agreed.
“I think it’s a celebration to hold this first game in a beautiful new stadium—a proper football, soccer stadium,” Alonso said. “I think it has all the things to have a nice atmosphere. The crowd was really good. With a new team in the MLS, they are building the right basics to have a good future. Of course, the first season is not easy, for sure. But they have the support from the city. We know how supportive they are to soccer. It’s going to be exciting for everyone. From a distance, we will be following the run of St. Louis CITY.”
But first, a break. Players from both sides spoke excitedly about using the upcoming World Cup pause to take vacations. Hackworth, who’s been at the helm of CITY2 since March, was even asked what he’d like for Christmas.
“A day off,” he said.
“Denied,” Pfannenstiel replied.
He was joking. We think. After all, the boss does love a good, long day in the office, bouncing ideas off of colleagues. At this point in CITY’s timeline, Pfannenstiel knows how valuable those days are for building a franchise with good bones. That work is crucial. But at least for one night, he was able to enjoy a sample of what all that effort is beginning to yield.
“It was a nice taste,” Pfannenstiel said. “I would call it an appetizer for what’s happening next year.”
