Ozark United FC investor Ross Cully shares vision for stadium project

A planned soccer stadium for Ozark United FC in Rogers has grown to include a $250 million to $350 million sports-anchored entertainment district on 36 acres in the Pinnacle Hills area. The shift in site location has pushed the targeted start date to 2027.

It is still a 5,000-seat stadium with room for growth. The expanded site will allow for the addition of restaurants, breweries, and other amenities that developers say will enhance the game day atmosphere and position the district as a vibrant destination beyond the match.

Ross Cully, founder and CEO of The Harvest Group and one of the investors in this transformative project, sat down with Northwest Arkansas Business Journal Editor-in-Chief Roby Brock to explain his vision for the stadium and district, why he’s bullish on prospects for soccer and how the timing is right for this concept.

Roby Brock: For people who are not familiar, Ozark United FC started as this investment in a soccer stadium and a soccer team in Northwest Arkansas, but it has expanded greatly to a full-blown real estate and retail development. Give everybody a little background on what is going on with this project.

Ross Cully: The project has expanded. Originally, the idea was we had an opportunity as a community in Northwest Arkansas to expand into one of the professional tiers of U.S. soccer. We were pursuing that project and got a ton of initial interest from our community, from season ticket holder interest to corporate sponsorships. But when you’re looking at a development of this size, the location matters, and the land that you’re looking at matters a ton.

So we went through a couple of iterations of finding the right spot, and we are looking at a piece of land now that enables us to really diversify the investment and make, I think, the fan experience even better. Now, it’s planned to not just be a soccer stadium, but to be a multi-use real estate investment as well. As an investor, I think that’s a great move. As a community member, I think it’s a great move because as you look at professional stadiums, that’s really the wave that they’re going. You want the ability to not just go see a game, but also grab a bite to eat, grab a drink. People want to live near a stadium and this project now enables that.

Brock: And it will also add another professional sports franchise in the area, and it’s got some potential other uses for that stadium as well. Can you speak a little bit to that?

Cully: I think what you’re looking at from a venue standpoint is the ability to host a variety of events – be that concerts, be that corporate events – and so we’re really wanting to really develop the stadium to be a multi-use facility that hopefully the community can use in a variety of ways.

Brock: You are making a big investment in this as are many other people in the region. Tell me why you’re bullish on this project and why you think this particular concept’s time has come. Maybe five or 10 years ago, this might not have been the right kind of development for Northwest Arkansas, and 15 or 20 years from now, we might’ve missed the train on this.

Cully: I think your question, your setup there, and the question is right, is there is some timing to this? I think a lot of us would’ve loved to have been investors in NBA franchises and NFL franchises, and that ship has sailed. But I think when you look at the sport of soccer in the United States, I do think that we’re at a unique time. There’s really a shift going on when you study youth sports. Soccer has climbed to the number two most participated youth sport in most surveys right behind basketball. And you’re seeing demographic shifts along with youth. As our country becomes more diverse, the global sport of soccer is very popular to be played and to be cheered upon. So when you look at the U.S. and the top couple of tiers, there’s about 80 teams. You look at Europe, and there are 700 teams in the top two tiers. So there’s massive headroom for the sport of soccer here in the U.S., and I think you’re seeing a groundswell that comes up with the younger generation that is going to see the sport continue to get more popular.

You also have the World Cup that’s coming here in 2026. You see a lot of U.S. players blossoming on the global stage. With all of those changes as an investor and as a community member, I’m really excited about our opportunity to have a professional soccer franchise here in Northwest Arkansas. I do think the time is ripe. When you look at the population growth here looking to be a million people in a number of years, the ability to have more diverse housing options that include the excitement of being near a stadium, I think it’s going to be a great project.

Brock: What are we talking about timeframe wise? To put a little context, there will be the initial stadium and the soccer franchise and some of the things around it, but this is a multi-year, maybe even a multi-decade development because things are just going to keep layering and adding to it. Speak about the initial expectations and then what you kind of hope happens in terms of your vision.

Cully: Right now, obviously we’ve announced a name and a logo. We have the ability to sign up for those that are interested in tickets and sponsorships as we benchmark where we are and the interest we have in those areas versus other clubs that have started. We’re well ahead of pace. And so it’s very exciting to see the initial momentum we have right now. We’re in the fundraising and development stage, so really going through the land that we’ve secured to make sure that all of the development boxes are checked and continuing to have investor conversations.

Once we get to a place where that financing is secured and the development is ready to go, then obviously we will break ground. I don’t think there’s a determined timeline on that, but we are going to build the stadium in a way that it can expand as we have more and more interest.

So the fan experience of a soccer match is unique. That’s something that’s been great here in the U.S. is even the top tier of soccer of MLS [Major League Soccer] started playing in NFL stadiums. That’s just not the great fan experience you want when there’s five, 10,000 people in a 70,000-seat stadium. But if you’ve ever attended a soccer match in a city like Portland or Seattle or Kansas City, it has a specific soccer stadium. It’s a fun experience. We’re going to build a stadium that can expand as we have more ticket interest so that we have just hopefully a loud and fun atmosphere.

So we’re looking forward to continuing to progress and, as you said, it can take some time for these things to develop. But we are bullish on Northwest Arkansas as we talk to investors on a national scale and host investors from around the country. They’re excited about this project, they’re excited about our area, and I’m looking forward to hopefully building something that’s an asset to our community. It was neat to see the Oklahoma City Thunder win the NBA championship just a couple of hours down the road, and I’m excited to showcase the soccer talent of Northwest Arkansas hopefully for years to come with this club.