from “le détroit” · the strait
Detroit City FC pushed AlumniFi Field's opening to spring 2028, a year later than planned. The club spends another season at Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck.
Detroit City FC's new 15,000-seat home in Southwest Detroit was supposed to open in spring 2027. It won't. The club said on June 16 that AlumniFi Field will now open in spring 2028, ahead of that year's USL Championship season. Co-founder and CEO Sean Mann put it plainly, calling it "just running into the reality of a large construction project and being realistic about when we can deliver the venue at a time and place that can meet our fans expectations." Another year of buildup, then. And another year at Keyworth.
The stadium anchors a roughly $198 million development that also includes 76 apartments reserved as affordable housing, commercial space, and a 421-space parking deck. The site sits at Michigan Avenue and 20th Street, on the footprint of the former Southwest Detroit Hospital, a Black-owned institution that opened in 1973 and sat vacant for years. In 2025, crews pumped more than 1.9 million gallons of water containing PFAS out of the abandoned basement before structural work could begin. Demolition followed that December, with then Mayor Mike Duggan on hand for the ceremony on December 19.
The club selected Barton Malow as its construction manager on April 24, filling a critical role on the project. A ceremonial groundbreaking is planned for July. The project is privately funded, with a brownfield tax capture estimated at $74.2 million over 30 years covering site cleanup, the parking deck, and the affordable housing. More than 6,000 season ticket deposits have been placed, and the club has opened a preview center at the Mercado in Mexicantown so deposit holders can see what the seating bowl will look like.
Meanwhile, back in Hamtramck, Keyworth Stadium just keeps showing out.
Keyworth opened on October 15, 1936, dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt during his reelection campaign. It was the first Works Progress Administration project in Michigan. Senator John F. Kennedy spoke there during his 1960 presidential run. Owned by Hamtramck Public Schools, the 7,933-seat ground has been Detroit City FC's home since 2016, when the club raised more than $740,000 from supporters to renovate it. The Northern Guard marches through Hamtramck before every home game, and inside, the stands fill with coney dogs, tamales, and chants in several languages.
Some of what makes Keyworth exceptional traces back to a decision fans made during the pandemic. In 2020, with matches shut down, Detroit City FC sold 10 percent of the club to its supporters. Within days, more than 2,000 investors had put in over $1 million, with Detroit native Iggy Pop as the lead investor. That kind of community ownership is rare in American soccer, and it is part of why the bond between this team and this city feels different. The extra year at Keyworth is time that relationship gets to keep deepening.
Until then, there are still goals to score in a 90-year-old stadium that has seen FDR, JFK, and Le Rouge all find something worth celebrating.
One dispatch a week. No tracking, no filler. Free, always.