ST. LOUIS — St. Louis is now a four-sport town.
Professional baseball, hockey, football once again, and now soccer all call St. Louis home.
The new downtown soccer stadium, CityPark, is partnering with St. Louis-area restaurants to provide tasty treats.
At Balkan Treat Box in Webster Groves, husband and wife co-owners Edo and Loryn Nalic are cooking up a couple of new projects in the wood oven. They’re opening new counter space, available for soccer fans inside and outside CityPark.
During a busy mid-week lunch rush, Loryn said, “We’re going to do a beef kabob, which is bread we bake in-house. It’s got a nice creamy yogurt sauce, a little bit of a spicy sauce, some toppings. We’re also going to do a loaded French fry which has something on it, including smoked, cured beef and fresh herbs. It’s super tasty.”
St. Louis SC Vice-President of Operations Joe Abernathy spoke to 5 On Your Side from the owner’s suite.
“This is the ultra-bar to the south,” said Abernathy, looking out windows upon the stadium. “You can see that big glass opening opens up to the field. We have 900 seats outside that support that club. And then below you have the lower bowl. You can see the grower lights out on the field, right now.”
A large, slow-rolling grid shined an eerie yellow light upon the grass field, despite the mid-winter temperatures.
Abernathy said with the March 4 home-opener for a brand new team in a brand new stadium, CityPark still has jobs to fill.
“We’re always looking for good people,” said Abernathy. “If you keep an eye on our website, you’ll see openings, but I know our concessionaire is still looking for some food and beverage servers, our security contractor is still looking for some guards.”
Back at Balkan Treat Box, Nalic is anticipating their new stadium space next to Steve’s Hotdogs.
“There’s a number of games, per year,” said Nalic. “We’re prepared to do those, so we’re getting the volume together for that. And then just staffing. We’re currently hiring for the soccer stadium staff.”
The new CityPark contains 22,500 seats.
The employment section of the St. Louis SC website has stadium jobs listed as well as food and beverage retailer positions with stadium partners.