Whispers about FC Cincinnati's groundbreaking for its new stadium started more than a month ago, and now the formal ceremony to break ground on the West End site the club will call home has been formalized.

FC Cincinnati will officially break ground in the city's West End neighborhood with a Dec. 18 ceremony scheduled for 4 p.m., according to a Friday morning release.

The event will occur at marked entrances near the rear of Taft High School and West 15th Street.

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber will be in attendance, along with FC Cincinnati managing owner Carl Lindner III, team President and General Manager Jeff Berding and City of Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley, among other community and municipal leaders.

According to the club, the first 2,000 attendees will be given a commemorative shovel upon entering the site. After a short speaking program including Garber, Lindner, Berding, and Cranley, among many others – everyone in attendance will be signaled to conduct the ceremonial groundbreaking together as a community, the team said in its news release.

The ceremony signifies the start of formal construction at the club’s future MLS stadium location, which is expected to be completed by March 2021 and open with the start of the season.

The whispers grew in City Hall and in the local soccer community started months ago. A local adult soccer league was displaced so the tear-down could begin at the Stargel Stadium site.

In recent weeks, that tear down has started in full public view.