
By Lauren Ferrer | South Florida Sun Sentinel
Not every startup sports team has access to premiere facilities, game-changing technology, player benefits and up-to-date business resources in their first stages.
However, Fort Lauderdale United FC, a new professional women’s soccer team, is entering into a unique collaboration with Nova Southeastern University, sharing the cost of beefing up the on-campus stadium and reaping the myriad benefits of having access to NSU’s new and ambitious innovation center.
The football club, one of eight founding teams in the inaugural year of the USL Women’s Super League, is starting with a $7 million upgrade to the on-campus stadium, hoping that it’s central location will become a pillar of the Broward community.
“We aren’t just a club, we are a team identifying with Broward and the 954,” Co-founder and CEO Deon Graham said.
Ahead of the first season, kicking off in August, the team is partnering with Stadium Structures, LaBella Associates architecture and Craven Thompson to expand the former Miami Dolphins training facility from 2,000 to almost 7,000 seats, according to Fort Lauderdale United FC co-founder and chairman Tommy Smith.
“The vibe is going to be just that – a vibe,” Graham said. “It’s going to be an entertaining place with fast-paced energy.”
NSU previously contributed approximately $3 million to the initial renovation of the stadium for the university’s soccer teams, according to Associate Athletic Director for External Operations John Sung.
“We went through a whole renovation of getting things like new locker rooms for our teams,” Sung said. “We were excited in September when we launched it, and after redoing it again, we’ll be excited when we have the opportunity to be back on that field.”
The team, whose partners include Nike’s the Jordan Brand, Sheraton Suites Plantation and Mill Creek Apartments, is leasing the stadium from the university, and all stadium upgrades are considered donations to NSU.
“For us, the partnership with Fort Lauderdale Football Club gives us the ability to have an already world class facility and elevate it,” Sung said. “We’re just starting the relationship and are really excited about where this can go for both parties. At the end of the day, it’s going to give our community another stadium where people will be able to see some really good athletic events.”

Fort Lauderdale United FC has been working closely with the Town of Davie and City of Fort Lauderdale to make the experience reflective of the community it resides in.
“I am immensely proud to have a major professional women’s soccer sports team call Davie home,” said Town of Davie Mayor Judy Paul. “The joy of sports is inescapable and has the power and ability to break barriers and bring people of all walks of life together. Our athletic facilities will prove to be an asset for the players, coaches, or those who want to stop by to watch practices or games.”
Construction at the stadium is on schedule and set to be completed before the team’s home opener on Sept 29.
The grass field will be surrounded by three grandstands, with the east and west sides covered by canopies. Upgrades include an LED scoreboard and perimeter board, a fan engagement area, and a cutting-edge press box made of Lego-like modular pieces, according to Stadium Structures Managing Partner Brian Mishkin.
“Everything you see from a top-level stadium — that’s what you would come to expect where we’re at,” Smith said.
The league received Division One sanctioning from the U.S. Soccer Federation, allowing the league to compete at the highest level of professional soccer in the United States.
The new league’s start comes after a surge in viewership for women’s soccer, as the National Women’s Soccer League saw 95% increase in total viewership from last year.
The National Women’s Soccer League, also a U.S. first-division professional women’s league, first kicked off in 2012 with one Florida team, Orlando Pride, which joined in 2016.
South Florida soccer fans may remember the Boca Raton-based women’s soccer team, magicJack, who were terminated by the Women’s Professional Soccer league after one season.
More than just a place to play
Team CEO Graham said that the partnership with the school will give the players the opportunity to pursue free continued education, take internships and other benefits, including access to the innovation programs and resources at the Alan B. Levan NSU Broward Center of Innovation (Levan Center), where the team’s offices reside.
Each of the 20-22 contracted players will be paid a minimum salary of $45,000 plus medical and housing at NSU, Smith said.
Access to the innovation center will give the coaching and business arms of the team a leg up as well.
John Wensveen, NSU’s Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Director of the Levan Center, views the center as a start-up, which he thinks makes it the perfect place for a start-up sports business to grow.
Wensveen said that the team’s physical presence in the Levan Center will make a difference. “We have the ability to assist them by promoting accessible opportunities to emerging technologies that ultimately can make the team better in terms of performance, fan engagement opportunities, health, wellness and fitness,” Wensveen said.
Anybody associated with the team has access to programs like cybersecurity programming, an in-house media studio, technology makerspace and the volumetric capture scale — the only Sony powered publicly accessible studio in the U.S. that can create 3D capture for simulation purposes.
“In theory, I could put an athlete into the studio and have them simulate different types of motions … that can be used in a training or simulation or a data analytics type of environment,” Wensveen said.
According to Wensveen, the areas of opportunity piloted at the innovation center in collaboration with Fort Lauderdale United FC have the ability to “be adapted throughout the USL soccer league itself, or even brought into other sports environments in the amateur and professional worlds.”
Not only has construction provided temporary jobs, but because of the partnership with NSU, students interested in professional sports business have the opportunity to apply for internships and work with the team in a hands-on environment.
“The energy is here on campus,” Graham said. “We’re telling the students interested in sports business — come be in the building, come work with us.”
Both Smith and Graham have daughters who play soccer, and are excited to unite the Broward community and forge new paths for women in sports.
“I think what’s most impressive is the mission of encouraging women to go into sports and then making sure that there are more accessible opportunities for them moving forward,” Wensveen said. “I think this partnership will help break down barriers.”