Another Unique Venue Awaits Hounds Visit
USL Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

Another Unique Venue Awaits Hounds Visit

Published on September 4, 2025 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC News Release


The Hounds are set to face Oakland Roots SC at 4 p.m. this Sunday, and while it will be a big match in terms of what it means for the Hounds' playoff positioning, the venue adds a little extra juice to the contest by being the Hounds' first-ever visit to the Roots' new home, the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

The Oakland Coliseum is a history laden venue that opened nearly 60 years ago when the American Football League's Oakland Raiders made it their new home starting in the 1966 season. Two years later, MLB's Athletics moved from Kansas City to Oakland, and over the next 50 years, the venue would host World Series games, NFL playoff games and CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer matches, while also dabbling in USFL football and being the temporary home of MLS' San Jose Earthquakes.

The venue was famed for "The Black Hole," the supporters section loaded with face-painted and costumed Raiders fans that made most others seem tame by comparison. And while the Coliseum's original tenant has since relocated, the Roots (and the Oakland Soul women's team) are keeping fans coming to the historic venue.

The Hounds are no stranger to stepping into an NFL stadium, something they last did in the 2023 U.S. Open Cup when they went to Gillette Stadium to claim a 1-0 win over the New England Revolution, the team that shares Gillette as its home with the NFL's Patriots. And while the Hounds' long history has taken them to a whopping 14 venues originally constructed to host baseball, the Coliseum will be the first current or former MLB park to host the Hounds.

With the Coliseum looming this weekend, we take a look back at some of the major venues built for other sports that have hosted the Hounds through the years.

Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City, Utah

The Hounds' first major football venue wasn't an NFL stadium but a college football stadium, the home of the Utah Utes and site of the 2002 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony only two years prior.

It also happened that it was the site of what would be the biggest match in Hounds' history for many years, the 2004 USL Pro Soccer League semifinal against the Utah Blitzz. The match on Aug. 28, 2004, remains the closest the club has come to a league title, but an early second-half goal by Byron Carmichael was the difference as the Hounds fell one step short of the USL PSL Final.

Bermuda National Stadium, Hamilton, Bermuda

The Hounds made their first road trips outside of the U.S. or Canada in the 2008 and 2009 USL Second Division seasons when they traveled to face the Bermuda Hogges at their centerpiece stadium of the country's National Sports Centre. In three trips, the Hounds posted a 1-2-0 record there before the Hogges left the league.

The venue's most famous moment to that point involved another visiting athlete, a young Jamaican sprinter named Usain Bolt. Bolt, who would go on to win eight Olympic gold medals and become the fastest runner in history, put everyone on notice as a 17-year-old in 2004, when he became the first junior athlete in history to break 20 seconds in the 200-meter sprint by finishing in 19.93 seconds at the Bermuda National Stadium.

The stadium since has been renamed the Flora Duffy South Field Stadium & Track in honor of Flora Duffy, the champion triathlete who was Bermuda's first Olympic gold medal winner.

Florida Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Fla.

Prior to Orlando City SC getting its own stadium as part of its move from USL to MLS, the Florida club made its residence in the Citrus Bowl - now known as Camping World Stadium - from 2011 to 2013 when they hosted the Hounds.

The stadium is also one of the oldest the Hounds have played in, having first opened in 1936 as Orlando Stadium but since undergoing a pair of major renovations, and it wasn't the friendliest of places to play, with the Hounds going just 1-3-0 there, including a playoff loss in their final trip in 2013.

With a revolving door of tenants that includes the University of Central Florida football team, multiple attempts at professional football in various leagues and the NWSL's Orlando Pride, college football bowl season is still the venue's peak time as it now hosts both the Cure Bowl and the meme-generating Pop-Tarts Bowl. Of note, three colleges from the region have won Division I bowl games in the stadium: Penn State (2010 Capital One Bowl & 1994 Citrus Bowl), Pitt (2001 Tangerine Bowl) and St. Vincent (1950 Tangerine Bowl).

Nippert Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio

The original home of FC Cincinnati was the home of the University of Cincinnati football team, and the venerable 1915-built bowl in a valley on the UC campus is likely -though not confirmed - the oldest venue to host the Hounds when they visited from 2016 to 2018.

Notably, the Hounds and Cincinnati's first meeting at the stadium set a then-USL record for attendance at a regular season match with a crowd of 23,375, as the Ohioans leaned into their rivalry with the Steel City by having Bengals players (and noted villains to Steelers fans) Vontaze Burfict, Adam "Pac-Man" Jones and Domata Peko among a group of seven honorary captains total from the NFL team.

Nissan Stadium, Nashville, Tenn.

The Hounds' lone visit to the regular home of the NFL's Tennessee Titans was a day full of firsts, as the March 24, 2018 match was the first in the history of their hosts on the day, Nashville SC.

Probably lost to much of the rain-soaked crowd of 18,922 were the firsts happening on the Hounds sideline. The match was the Hounds' first with head coach Bob Lilley at the helm, as well as the first appearance with the club for Kenardo Forbes, who would go on to log the most assists and appearances in club history over the next seven years.

The newest of the venues on the list, its history includes notoriously being the site of Titans' kicker Joe Nedney's flop that drew a roughing the kicker penalty, eventually leading to the Titans defeating the Steelers in the 2002 NFL Playoffs. While hardly solace for Pittsburgh fans, the Hounds did their part to put a damper on Nashville's grand debut by holding the new club to a 0-0 draw.

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United Soccer League Championship Stories from September 4, 2025


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