The Sarasota Paradise will call Lakewood Ranch home

Marcus Walfridson had a dream to bring a professional soccer team to Sarasota.

Later this year, he will be one step closer to his goal. 

Walfridson is the owner and team founder of the Sarasota Paradise, a team that plays in the United Soccer League 2 (USL2), the most competitive division in amateur soccer. The club, which was founded in 2023 by the Swedish soccer entrepreneur, has played its home games at Sarasota High since its inception, averaging over 500 fans per game. 

This December, the club reached an agreement with Manatee County, which runs Lakewood Ranch’s Premier Sports Campus, to call the facility home for the next five years. 

“The challenge in Sarasota has been trying to find a place to play that adheres to the standards of a professional league,” Walfridson said. “There are so many different parts of a facility and stadium that have to be taken into consideration from the size of the field, to the lighting, to the capacity, and the amenities offered. For us, finding a place where we could one day make that leap into becoming a professional team was crucial.”

Walfridson hopes the Paradise can make that leap in the next few years. It would be from USL2 — a league consisting of 128 teams spread across 18 divisions in four conferences — to USL1, a fully professional league of just 14 teams. 

The move to Premier Sports Campus, Walfridson said, changes everything for the team. For the players — mainly Division 1 soccer players mixed with local talent — they’ll have the chance to train and play on the 23 FIFA regulation fields on the Premier Sports Campus, all featuring Bermuda grass. That's a preferred playing surface over astroturf. Players will also have their own locker rooms, which Walfridson said is a massive turning point for the team. 

Courtesy image

As for Walfridson and the Paradise’s front office staff — which has grown from essentially just Walfridson to a handful of full-time employees including a marketing coordinator, a director of operations and a managing director to preside over revenue — the move to Premier Sports Campus allows them to create a far improved game day experience for fans, he said. 

To start, the grandstands at Premier’s stadium field seat over 3,000 fans and are far closer to the field than those at Sarasota High, which are separated from the field by a track. By not being on school property, the Paradise will also be able to sell alcohol. 

Walfridson said that the team plans to include not only concessions and food trucks, but a beer garden outside of the stadium’s entrance and a “party zone” just outside of the field, replete with a DJ and live music. 

Walfridson hopes that the Paradise’s new home can become a haven for those throughout the area to gather for a rocking good time, one that is reflective of its community. 

“We want to find a way to merge what our city and our community is all about with the experience of attending a soccer game,” said Walfridson. “Can we take something from Sarasota’s circus background and incorporate that into the game-day experience? Can we take something from the rich artistic community in Sarasota and fold that in? If there are talented musicians in the area, we want them to have the opportunity to come out at halftime and play in front of a crowd of 3,000 fans.”

The location also allows the Paradise to cater more directly to its fanbase. While the team has its roots in Sarasota-proper, Walfridson said much of the team's target audience lives along the I-75 corridor and not in downtown Sarasota. In areas like Lakewood Ranch that are exploding in growth, younger families will now have the convenience of rooting on a local sports team in their backyard. 

Additionally, “soccer families,” as Walfridson puts it, have been coming to Premier since its opening in 2011. 

“Everyone from this area who’s ever had anybody in their immediate vicinity kick a ball knows where this facility is,” said Walfridson. “For most people, this is the logical place to be if you’re going to watch a soccer team.”

None of this — the move to Premier, the professional aspirations — would be possible, however, if the Paradise players weren’t good. Last season, the Paradise went 8-1-3 en route to winning the USL2’s South Florida division title and securing the team’s first playoff berth. 

The team’s success has not only allowed it to retain some of its top players like forward Seth Mahlmeister of Purdue Fort-Wayne, who led the team with 10 goals and eight assists in 2024, but actively recruit some of the top NCAA Division 1 soccer players in the country, said Walfridson. 

USL2 is a window for scouts from Major League Soccer and other professional leagues both in the states and abroad. The Paradise’s success means more exposure for its players. The more games that they play against top competition ensures a better chance of getting a professional contract in the future. 

After the 2023 season, standout defender Hosei Kojima was selected 17th overall in the 2024 MLS Superdraft by St. Louis SC. Walfridson is confident that both the team’s success and new home at Premier will continue to lure some of the top amateur talent in the country. 

The Paradise's move to Premier illustrates the possibility that a grassroots movement like that of an amateur soccer team, can blossom into a team embraced by its community.