In the span of a decade, Minnesota’s professional soccer team will go from playing matches in front of hundreds of fans on rented time at St. Paul Central High School to a $150 million, 20,000-seat home stadium in the Midway neighborhood.

While the two venues are mere blocks apart along Interstate 94, they are worlds away in scope. Few know this transformation better than Manny Lagos.

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Loons set new record low in 1-0 loss to Sporting Kansas City Lagos grew up in St. Paul and played for the lower-level Minnesota Thunder before they called James Griffin Stadium home from 2004 to 2008. Now sporting director of United FC, Minnesota’s current pro team, Lagos watched Wednesday as renderings of the club’s new home were unveiled.

If it survives political hurdles, United will move into the shiny, “elegant” and encased stadium as a Major League Soccer team in 2018.

“I’m in awe as a fan because I think it’s very forward-thinking,” Lagos told the Pioneer Press. “This has a lot of great things. It’s not just putting some stands somewhere, but really trying to integrate within a community.”

As a child, Lagos would switch buses on the corner of University and Snelling avenues, which is a free kick away from the proposed new venue. “It was certainly a great neighborhood, but there was always a sense of ‘I need to make sure I’m on my wits when I’ — especially a couple decades ago — ‘make that (bus) connection,’ ” Lagos said.

He said the area will be made better by the stadium and the planned parks surrounding it.

“I think the green space really lends itself to what I think Minnesotans are about in that we think bigger picture,” Lagos said. “We think about our usages of our land everywhere, and particularly in the urban core. How we can integrate it and make it a special environment.”

Inside the enclosed stadium made of translucent material, Lagos sees a home-field advantage with seats no further than 125 feet from the pitch and a free-standing fan area for the club’s Dark Clouds supporters group in the south end.

Lagos envisions the stadium being attractive for outside players to want to join the United squad as well as for top international clubs and the U.S. national teams to visit.

“A game-day, home-field advantage for the club to be competitive and getting players here and be a part of the club,” Lagos said. “It certainly lends itself to putting ourselves on the map on a global scale as a soccer venue.”

Allianz Arena, home of the Bayern Munich club in Germany, was an influence on United’s stadium design. Allianz Arena has translucent panels like United’s proposed stadium, but it seats about 75,000 fans. Lagos recalls that iconic stadium when he worked as a radio broadcaster during the 2006 World Cup.

“It’s obviously a different scope and size than this, but there is a little bit of a similar wrap-around theme to it,” Lagos said.

Lagos said city leaders deserve special recognition for bringing the Loons’ stadium closer to fruition. “The city of St. Paul has opened its arms and embraced the vision,” Lagos said. “They are working with our club to make this vision a reality. It’s pretty amazing.”