You heard right – Shreveport is getting a semi-professional soccer team in the spring of 2016.

The Shreveport Rafters FC, a brand new futbol club, will be a part of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) in the Southern Central Division. The league is in what is known as the fourth tier of professional soccer, sanctioned by the USSF, and is one of the largest soccer leagues in the country, fielding teams from 29 states. Think of it as at the same level of play that the Shreveport Captains were when they won the Texas League Championship in 1995.

Comparisons to the the Captains, which changed names (and owners) several times before devolving into the Swamp Dragons during their final season in 2002, might not seem like the best way to introduce a sports team to Shreveport what with all the fits and starts of locally-based teams in the last 20 years, it might be hard to see the appeal. Last year, the city saw the departure of the championship-smashing Shreveport-Bossier Mavericks basketball team. Before that was the 11-time championship-winning Mudbugs hockey team, which folded in 2011. The Battle Wings arena football team, regulars at the conference semi-finals, shut its doors in 2009. For the most part, these were amazing teams suffering from low attendance and thus lower advertising dollars, sending these clubs into a death spiral from which there was no escape.

But the Shreveport Rafters Futbol Club co-founders and brothers Will and Jim Broyles – who created the acclaimed local history documentary series The Shape of Shreveport earlier this year – believe futbol is the right sport for Shreveport.

“People often say Shreveport will not support sports. But I think people won’t support sports that aren’t going anywhere. Soccer is the biggest and fastest growing sport in the world. It has an appeal to all corners of the city with ubiquitous multicultural appeal. Anyone can look at a game of soccer and see someone like them playing the game,” said Will Broyles.

Anyone who grew up here knows soccer isn’t new to Shreveport. We have numerous high school teams, and, of course, CABOSA (Caddo Bossier Soccer Association) alongside Shreveport United Soccer Club, which have been operating since 1984 and currently have 2,600 participants from age three to high school. Centenary College once boasted a Division I college team until a few years ago – a team that produced not only great players, but people who would go on to coach local teams. Shreveport even had a USL-2 team, the Shreveport Lions, which started in 1998.

With that tie to local roots comes an expectation that the team will feature area players. The Broyles’ aim to start by recruiting local talent, then filling the team in with regional players from East Texas, South Arkansas, and possibly even Mississippi. We spoke to Gary McCormick, CABOSA/SU’s Soccer Program Development Manager, about what recruiting locals for the new team means to up-and-coming players.

“It’s fantastic to have something on this level. It brings a new aspect to the sport [locally] beyond high school soccer,” McCormick remarked, “It gives the kids – the 17 to 18 year old boys – an opportunity to make it to the next level on their front doorstep in addition to the option of the college soccer. It’s a great way to allow them to step up into professional soccer – from the locker room to practice, and play on the field.”

We also spoke to Adam Hester of the Shreveport Chapter of The American Outlaws – the largest independent supporters group for U.S. Soccer, which organizes watch parties for national teams of all kinds.

“As a national league fan, and local American Outlaws chapter head, it excites me that we will have it here. When you think about the fact that it’s something local, you could potentially see a young player from here get on a team like [The Rafters], and that could give them a chance at the pros. I think it opens up a great opportunity for them, for northwest Louisiana,” says Hester.

The founders are focused on making the Rafters truly Shreveport’s futbol team not just from the composition of the players, but by making the team a fully-formed local identity as well. The team emblem is modeled after the City of Shreveport flag, featuring bright yellows and blues along with vertically-oriented stripes. The home games will be played at Lee Hedges Stadium, a staple of Shreveport sports history, located just off Youree Drive centered smack in the middle of the city. All of these are intentional moves to create a sense of ownership and pride among Shreveport’s citizens and the team itself.

“We hope Shreveport embraces it. This is something that, if Shreveport and Bossier are willing, the team will be here a while,” Will Broyles said. “There are opportunities to grow if the we work to make sure the team is talented and supported. The opportunity here is to open another club in bigger leagues in the future.”

All of this certainly makes us sit up in our chairs. Could the Rafters be the answer to Shreveport’s sports woes? With an existing fan base that’s large and growing, and a history of play going back over 30 years, the deck is certainly stacked for success. Local businesses have already signed on to support the team. And why not? Of all the sports played in Shreveport, soccer is the most prolific, matching worldwide sentiments about the game. It has a long, unbroken history of support all the way up the age scale, and across gender and cultural barriers. And while the Rafters is a men’s team, the Broyles are looking toward to being able to support a women’s team in the future.

As a part of the South Central Conference of the NPSL, which is the second largest conference in the league, the Rafters will play against at least eight other clubs: teams from Wichita, Kansas; The Colony, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Houston, Texas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Joplin, Missouri.

Looking at sustainability, the NPSL is considerably lower cost to operate than just about any other sport Shreveport has attempted to field, which makes it a prime candidate for success. Several local businesses, including Twisted Root Burger Company (if some of the Facebook posts floating out there are read into) and others are expected to be officially announced as sponsors of the team. To that end, Will and Jim Broyles will be holding a Rafters FC press conference on the 27th October and will announce their head coach, probably reveal the banner supporters, and expand on details about the team, including information on open tryouts which will occur on November 7th at Lee Hedges Stadium.

So, check your naysaying attitude at the door, Shreceport. Like all things that do well here, the first thing to do is to try it before you knock it.

The first game will be in April of 2016. A full play schedule will be released in December.

Follow the Rafters on Facebook.