MUSC Health Stadium was a
soccer-specific stadium
A soccer-specific stadium, mainly in the United States and Canada, is a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-purpose stadium whic ...
located in the
Daniel Island
Daniel Island, South Carolina is a body of land located in the city of Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Named after its former inhabitant, the colonial governor of the Carolinas, Robert Daniell, the island is located in Berkeley Co ...
area of
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...
that served as the home of the
Charleston Battery
The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are the oldest continuously operating professional socc ...
of the
USL Championship
The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...
.
Originally named "Blackbaud Stadium", the stadium was opened in 1999. At the time, Blackbaud was the first modern-era stadium in the United States designed for specifically soccer, as
Columbus Crew Stadium
Historic Crew Stadium, previously known as Columbus Crew Stadium and Mapfre Stadium, is a soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It primarily served as the home stadium of the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer from 1999 u ...
opened after Blackbaud later that the same year. The stadium was originally named after
Blackbaud
Blackbaud, Inc. is a cloud computing provider that supports nonprofits, foundations, corporations, education institutions, healthcare organizations, religious organizations, and individual change agents. Its products focus on fundraising, webs ...
, a software company founded by Battery majority owner Tony Bakker. The company's headquarters were adjacent to the stadium.
The stadium seated 5,100 people, mostly in two large stands on either side of the field. The stadium is modeled after lower-division
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Culture, language and peoples
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
* ''English'', an Amish ter ...
soccer stadiums and featured an on-site pub, called "The Three Lions".
The stadium regularly hosted sporting events besides Battery matches, including
United States women's national soccer team
The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is governed by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central Ameri ...
soccer, and
United States national rugby union team
The United States men's national rugby union team, nicknamed the Eagles, represents the United States in men's international rugby union competitions. USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States, a ...
matches. The stadium also hosts concerts and other festivals, including several editions of the Southern Ground Music and Food Festival headlined by the
Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band is an American country music band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy De Martini (fiddle, vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass guitar, guitar, baritone guitar, banjo, ukulele, ...
.
In early 2008, the Battery announced a plan to convert much of the stadium to
solar energy
Solar energy is the radiant energy from the Sun's sunlight, light and heat, which can be harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating) and solar architecture. It is a ...
. The panels could offset up to 12 tons of
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...
per year.
On July 30, 2015, the Battery sold naming rights for the stadium to the
Medical University of South Carolina
The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) is a public medical school in Charleston, South Carolina. It opened in 1824 as a small private college aimed at training physicians and has since established hospitals and medical facilities acros ...
through 2019, in an expansion of a partnership between the university's hospital system and the team.
In August 2018, the stadium hosted the
Major League Lacrosse
Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001 Major League Lacrosse season, 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This w ...
league championship game. It was the first MLL game held in South Carolina.
The Southern Ground Music and Food Festival was hosted in 2011:
Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band is an American country music band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy De Martini (fiddle, vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass guitar, guitar, baritone guitar, banjo, ukulele, ...
,
Clay Cook
Douglas "Clay" Cook (born April 20, 1978) is an American songwriter, producer, and musician who is best known as a member of the Zac Brown Band. After dropping out of college, he and classmate John Mayer formed the band Lo-Fi Masters. Cook co-w ...
,
Eric Church
Kenneth Eric Church (born May 3, 1977) is an American country music singer-songwriter. He has released seven studio albums through Capitol Nashville since 2005. His debut album, 2006's '' Sinners Like Me'', produced three singles on the ''Billb ...
,
Warren Haynes
Warren Haynes (born April 6, 1960) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his work as longtime guitarist with the Allman Brothers Band and as founding member of the jam band Gov't Mule. Early in his career he was ...
, Blue Dogs (from Charleston),
Moon Taxi
Moon Taxi is an American alternative rock band based in Nashville, Tennessee. The band was founded in 2006 by Trevor Terndrup (vocals, guitar), Tommy Putnam (bass), Spencer Thomson (guitar, programming), Tyler Ritter (drums), and Wes Bailey (key ...
,
My Morning Jacket
My Morning Jacket is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1998. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Jim James, bassist Tom Blankenship, drummer Patrick Hallahan, guitarist Carl Broemel, and keyboardist Bo Kos ...
,
Train
A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...
, and
Fitz and the Tantrums. In 2012, the festival had:
Gregg Allman Band
The Gregg Allman Band, also known as Gregg Allman & Friends, was a Southern rock/blues rock group that Gregg Allman established and had led since the 1970s, during periods when Allman has been recording and performing separate from the Allman B ...
,
The Avett Brothers
The Avett Brothers are an American folk rock band from Concord, North Carolina. The band is made up of two brothers, Scott Avett (banjo, lead vocals, guitar, piano, kick-drum) and Seth Avett (guitar, lead vocals, piano, hi-hat) along with Bob Cr ...
,
Charlie Daniels Band
Charles Edward Daniels (October 28, 1936 – July 6, 2020) was an American singer, musician, and songwriter. His music fused rock music, rock, country music, country, blues and jazz, and was a pioneering contribution to Southern rock and p ...
,
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals were an American rock band from Vermont, formed in 2002 in Waitsfield by drummer Matt Burr, guitarist Scott Tournet, and singer Grace Potter. They began their career as an indie band, self-producing their album ...
, and
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Michael Franti (born April 21, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, poet, activist, documentarian, and rapper. Known for his participation in many musical projects, most with a political and social emphasis, including the Beatnigs ...
. In 2013, the festival had
Band of Horses
Band of Horses is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 2004 in Seattle, Seattle, Washington. Led by singer-songwriter Ben Bridwell, who has been the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes, the band's current line ...
,
Jason Mraz
Jason Thomas Mraz ( ; born June 23, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He rose to prominence with the release of his debut studio album, ''Waiting for My Rocket to Come'' (2002), which spawned the single "The Remedy (I Won't Wo ...
,
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...
, and
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Ray Rogers (born Kenneth Donald Rogers) (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particul ...
. In 2016, it had
Thomas Rhett
Thomas Rhett Akins Jr. (born March 30, 1990) is an American country music, country singer-songwriter. He is the oldest son of singer Rhett Akins.
Rhett has released seven studio albums for Big Machine Records' Valory Music imprint: ''It Goes ...
,
A Thousand Horses
A Thousand Horses is an American country music band formed in 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. The band is composed of Michael Hobby (lead vocals), Bill Satcher (lead guitar), and Graham Deloach (bass and vocals); Zach Brown (guitar, vocals) was als ...
,
Kacey Musgraves
Kacey Lee Musgraves (born August 21, 1988) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She began her career in the early 2000s, when she self-released three solo albums and recorded another album as a member of the duo Texas Two Bits. In 20 ...
,
The Marshall Tucker Band
The Marshall Tucker Band is an American rock band from Spartanburg, South Carolina. Noted for incorporating blues, country and jazz into an eclectic sound, the Marshall Tucker Band helped establish the Southern rock genre in the early 1970s. Wh ...
(from Spartanburg), and
Bruce Hornsby
Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, folk music, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock music, rock, heartland r ...
.
Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band is an American country music band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy De Martini (fiddle, vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass guitar, guitar, baritone guitar, banjo, ukulele, ...
played at the festival every year from 2011–2016.
On May 29, 2019, MUSC Health Stadium was sold to an affiliate of Atlanta-based Holder Properties Inc for $6.475 million. After the 2019
USL Championship
The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...
season, the stadium was demolished to make way for commercial redevelopment. The final Battery game at the stadium took place on October 19, 2019 against
Bethlehem Steel FC
Philadelphia Union II is an American professional soccer team based in Chester, Pennsylvania competing in MLS Next Pro. Founded in 2015 as Bethlehem Steel FC, the team is the official affiliate of the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer. ...
.
USA Eagles Internationals
''USA scores displayed first.''
References
External links
MUSC Health Stadiumat Charleston Battery (archived)
{{USL Venues
Charleston Battery
Defunct college soccer venues in the United States
Soccer venues in South Carolina
Rugby union stadiums in the United States
Buildings and structures in Berkeley County, South Carolina
Sports venues in Charleston, South Carolina
USL Championship stadiums
Sports venues completed in 1999
1999 establishments in South Carolina
2021 disestablishments in South Carolina
Sports venues demolished in 2021
Lacrosse venues in the United States