WakeMed Soccer Park is one of the premier soccer complexes in the United States and is the home of North Carolina FC and 2019 NWSL Champion NC Courage. It opened in 2002 as the home of the Women’s United Soccer Association’s Carolina Courage.
The North Carolina Football Club announced a sponsorship deal with Sahlen’s Packaging Company on March 31, 2017 that renamed the 10,000 seat stadium to Sahlen’s Stadium and made the Buffalo-based meat packing company the exclusive hot dog provider of the stadium. The Sahlen family previously owned the Western New York Flash.
The soccer complex consists of a purpose-built, soccer-specific main stadium, two lighted practice fields built to the same specifications as the stadium field, and four additional practice fields. Fields 1 (main stadium), 2, and 3 are all FIFA international regulation size (120 yards x 75 yards).
WakeMed Soccer Park opened in May 2002 as State Capital Soccer Park. It sits on 150 acres on the eastern edge of Cary that the State of North Carolina has leased to Wake County. Money to build the soccer park came from $14.5 million in county-wide hotel room and prepared food and beverage taxes. The Town of Cary assumed responsibility for operations and maintenance in 2004 from the Capital Area Soccer League.
On January 1, 2008, WakeMed Health & Hospitals, a private, not-for-profit health care organization based in Raleigh, acquired the rights to name the park from the Town of Cary. SAS, a Cary-based software company, previously held the complex’s naming rights.
The complex also sports a full-length, nationally-recognized cross country course.
In addition to serving as the home of the North Carolina FC and NC Courage, WakeMed Soccer Park has also been the host of men’s and women’s ACC soccer tournaments, men’s and women’s NCAA College Cups, as well as U.S. Men’s and Women’s national team friendlies.
DIRECTIONS TO WAKEMED SOCCER PARK
WakeMed Soccer Park
101 Soccer Park Drive
Cary, NC 27511
From Interstate 40 Eastbound (From Chapel Hill, Durham)
- Take the Cary 54 exit (exit 290) off Interstate 40.
- Turn right at the top of the exit ramp, heading toward Cary.
- Turn left onto Southeast Maynard Road.
- Take a left on Chatham Street after crossing the railroad tracks.
- WakeMed Soccer Park is ½ mile on the right.
From Interstate 40 Westbound (From Fayetteville, Wilmington)
- Take exit 291 (Cary Towne Boulevard)
- Turn right onto Cary Town Boulevard
- Turn right onto Southeast Maynard Road.
- Turn right onto East Chatham Street.
- WakeMed Soccer Park will be ½ mile on the right.
From Downtown Cary
- Head east on Chatham Street toward Raleigh.
- WakeMed Soccer Park will be on the right.
From Raleigh/Beltline
- From the Beltline, take the Western Boulevard exit and head west toward Cary.
- Continue after the merger with Hillsborough Street until the road becomes East Chatham Street.
- WakeMed Soccer Park will be on the left, one-half mile before the Maynard Road intersection