As the state, city and a soccer club analyze the potential future home of a soccer stadium in Baltimore City, they have swapped out a city-owned park in South Baltimore in favor of a nearby Baltimore Peninsula locale.

Baltimore is one of the largest American cities without a men’s or women’s outdoor soccer club, and Major League Soccer team D.C. United has collaborated with the Maryland Stadium Authority and the City of Baltimore to identify a potential spot for a stadium — although it is unknown who would pay for such a venue. The stadium, billed as being multi-use and with a capacity of between 7,500 and 10,000, would host a D.C. United minor league team competing in the MLS Next Pro league.

Carroll Park, a city-owned 9-hole golf course near Pigtown, was one of two finalists identified earlier this year, as was Swann Park in South Baltimore.

But after learning of interest from Baltimore Peninsula developers MAG Partners, as well as challenges with the Swann Park site, the stadium authority will now study a Baltimore Peninsula site located northwest of Mission Boulevard in addition to Carroll Park.

The study — which would precede any effort to build a stadium — is expected to be finished early next year. It initially cost $450,000 with D.C. United paying half, the state’s Department of Commerce paying $100,000, the City of Baltimore paying $100,000, and the stadium authority paying $25,000. The switch in site will add up to $40,000 to the bill, which D.C. United will cover.

The Maryland Stadium Authority analyzed several sites in a preliminary study last year, but it wasn’t until a visit two weeks ago to Swann Park that it learned of an easement between Baltimore Gas and Electric and the City of Baltimore, which cut into an already small plot of land.

“It was a small site. A stadium could fit on it, but you get something like this, it makes it almost impossible,” stadium authority executive vice president for capital projects Gary McGuigan said Monday.

Just before learning of that easement, McGuigan said, the stadium authority and Moody Nolan — a design firm approved by the stadium authority board in June to analyze these sites — met with MAG Partners, a New York-based firm working to develop the Baltimore Peninsula.

“They seemed pretty excited about the venue itself and the potential partnership down the road with D.C. United,” McGuigan said of MAG Partners.

Of swapping out Swann Park for Baltimore Peninsula over the past month, McGuigan said, “It seems like the stars kind of aligned.”

MAG Partners said Baltimore Peninsula is situated on a “prime waterfront location” near I-95 and “has immense potential to be the next sports and entertainment hotspot in our city.”

“We’ve always viewed Baltimore Peninsula as part of a flourishing sports district — stretching from Oriole Park at Camden Yards to the athletic facility at Under Armour’s global HQ,” MAG Partners spokesperson Eve Jalinoos said in a statement. “With U.S. soccer truly having its moment, we’re excited by the prospect of Baltimore Peninsula becoming home to a locally-loved minor league team — not to mention the vast entertainment and employment opportunities that the stadium would bring to our neighborhood and the city as a whole.”

The Baltimore Peninsula area was previously considered for a soccer stadium when Right to Dream, a soccer academy, had expressed interest in tenanting a venue with a USL Championship team. The academy backed out of a feasibility study in 2022, though, as it wanted to field a team in 2025, which was too accelerated of a timeline to make Baltimore a possibility.

One essential question remains: who would pay for a stadium?

Because a site has not yet been identified and a cost analysis has not been completed, it’s unknown how much a venue would cost. A look to other soccer venues built in recent years suggests that a similar stadium would cost tens of millions of dollars.

A 7,000-person stadium soon to be built in Omaha is expected to cost $60 million. A venue with a capacity of 10,000 in Memphis — that has yet to come to fruition — was initially anticipated to cost $80 million.

A D.C. United spokesperson did not reply when asked if the team would potentially fund some or all of a potential stadium, nor did MAG Partners reply when asked about funding. The state of Maryland has previously financed stadiums in Baltimore City, like M&T Bank Stadium and Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and, more recently, spent roughly $70 million for a ballpark in Hagerstown and $200 million on other minor league baseball stadium improvements, but there has not been any indication that the state would foot the bill for a potential soccer stadium.

The city, though, has sought to rule itself out as a funding source. In a Board of Estimates agenda this past week, the city noted that “it is not in a position to fund the construction of the stadium itself.”

“However, we recognize the potential benefits this project could bring,” the city agenda said, “including ground leasing of property from which we derive no revenue and/or property taxes, as well as employment, parking, and hotel taxes.”

It is common for stadiums in the U.S. to be publicly funded, but many economists have long warned that using public money for stadiums tenanted by privately owned teams is a bad investment.