For the last decade, San Francisco’s only stadium built for soccer has sat mostly idle and silent. But next month, you might hear the cheers and jeers of San Francisco’s youth from Balboa Park’s Boxer Stadium.
The stadium was rented out just 21 times in 2025, according to data obtained from the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department. That’s half as much as the stadium was used in 2019 despite the city needing more space for soccer matches.
“My kids play soccer, so I’m always interested in why we have to drive all the way over across the other side of the city for fields,” said Paul Hagen, a leader of the Friends of Balboa Park SF. “You've got a perfectly great field here that just never gets used.”
Starting on Sept. 12, that’s set to change. Rec and Park and San Francisco Youth Soccer are bringing soccer to Balboa Park in the form of nine-versus-nine junior football games.
“This fall, we're introducing several new programs, including practices for San Francisco youth soccer teams on Tuesdays, free youth soccer clinics with Volo Kids on Wednesdays for ages 5–8 and 9–13, high school flag football games on Thursdays, and youth soccer league games hosted by SF Youth Soccer on Saturdays,” a Rec and Park spokesperson said.
On top of soccer, the stadium will see high school flag football games on Thursdays. District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen’s office said that during all of that programming, the field will be open to the public, a move that Hagen’s neighborhood group had been pushing for.
Chen celebrated the move to revitalize the historic ground, but added that there is still work to do within the park.
“Our local communities are our experts — they are the everyday users of our open spaces and recreation areas,” Chen said in a statement. “We know there are additional capital projects that can benefit Balboa Park.”
Seamus Geoghegan
While youth soccer is coming to the venue, professional play is yet to follow. San Francisco City Football Club brought semi-professional soccer to Boxer Stadium in the past. The team isn’t interested in returning.
“Our league has standards for home venues, and there's only a couple different venues in San Francisco that meet these standards. None of them are perfect,” said Brendan Browne, the club’s membership board chair. “Boxer Stadium, where we've played in the past, in my opinion has this amazing potential, this amazing history. It has run into complete disrepair. [Rec and] Parks has ignored it.”
The stadium’s wooden stands are in need of replacement, and the lack of a proper locker room or a permanent scoreboard keeps teams like SFCFC at venues like San Francisco State University’s Cox Stadium — or, for the Glens, a pitch on Treasure Island.
While there are improvements yet to be made to the park, parents like Hagen are glad the venue will be put to better use.
“One hundred percent someone should be using [Boxer]. If it’s open on weekends, that’s a great start,” Hagen said. “There’s such a desperate need for field space and field space for kids, so I'm 100% excited about that.”
