ST. LOUIS – St. Louis CITY SC is just days away from kicking off its inaugural season!

The 2023 MLS season kicks off Saturday, Feb. 25 with CITY SC visiting Austin FC in Texas for the first regular-season match in franchise history. CITY SC returns to St. Louis next weekend for the home opener on Saturday, March 4.

Bringing the MLS to the Gateway City has been in the works for years. Among those really excited for the first season of CITY SC is Taylor Twellman, a former star player at SLU High School. Twellman also has the eighth-most goals (111) in MLS history and is a color commentator for MLS games on Apple TV.

“You’re going to have to pinch me on March 4,” said Twellman. “When they have their first game, you’lll have to tell me that it’s real and not a dream. I’ve spent about 30 years of my life in St. Louis. and learned the foundation of what soccer means to the city. But to have a billion dollar complex downtown and a training facility, the stadium over my right shoulder, it’s awesome.”

St. Louis did not originally submit a bid for an MLS team when the league first formed in the 1990s. As early as 2008, St. Louis began pushing for an MLS team, but fell short in initial bids for a team via expansion and relocation.

In late 2018, an investment group led by Carolyn Kindle-Betz submitted another bid for an MLS team. The MLS granted St. Louis an expansion team in August 2019.

“You can’t grow the sport in this country and not have St. Louis part of it,” said Twellman. “The history of St. Louis has convinced [the MLS] that they could grow something really, really special.”