Lockhart Stadium

Lockhart Stadium is a stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States. It is currently home of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of North American Soccer League. It has seen use in a variety of sports, particularly soccer and American football.

Originally designed in 1959 for high school sports, the stadium's long-standing soccer connection began in 1977 when it became the home venue for the original Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the original NASL. In 1998 it was refitted specifically for soccer as the home of the Miami Fusion in Major League Soccer; the team folded in 2002. It was also the home stadium of the Florida Atlantic Owls football team from 2002 to 2010.

History
The Broward County government built the stadium in 1959 as part of a new sports complex that also included the Fort Lauderdale Stadium baseball park. It was originally designed to host American football and track and field competitions for four local high schools: Fort Lauderdale High School, Stranahan High School, Northeast High School, and Dillard High School. The stadium was named for former city commissioner H. Y. "Doug" Lockhart and was dedicated at a football game on September 18, 1959.

For nearly twenty years, Lockhart Stadium was primarily used for high school football and track, but occasionally saw use for state football as well as soccer. A more substantial role as a soccer venue came in 1977, when the Miami Toros of the original North American Soccer League relocated to the stadium, renaming themselves the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. The Strikers played at Lockhart until 1983, when they moved to Minnesota. Other soccer events during this period included a World Cup qualifier on November 23, 1980 between the United States and Mexico; the United States won 2-1 in its first defeat of Mexico in over 46 years.

After the departure of the Strikers, the stadium largely returned to its original use for high school sports for several years. A new Strikers team that played from 1988 to 1994 in the American Soccer League and the APSL used the stadium during its existence, though in 1990 the Broward County School Board denied access for the season. Those Strikers spent the year at Pompano Beach Municipal Stadium but returned to Lockhart the following season. In 1998, the stadium was renovated for use by the Miami Fusion F.C. of Major League Soccer (MLS). The renovation increased capacity to 20,000 and redesigned the field expressly for soccer. This was an unusual move at the time, as all other MLS teams played in football stadiums, and started the league's eventual trend toward soccer-specific stadiums.

The stadium continued to host high-profile soccer games through this period, including D.C. United's 1998 victory over Vasco da Gama in the Interamerican Cup. However, the Fusion were contracted by the league in 2002. In 2003 Lockhart was refitted once again for use by the Florida Atlantic University Owls college football team. In 2011, the Owls began playing at the on-campus FAU Stadium in Boca Raton.

Lockhart Stadium was host to the 2007 Caribbean Carnival for Broward County, after Miramar turned their request down. Lockhart Stadium also hosted the 2008 and 2009 MLS Combines. Billy Graham's final South Florida crusade took place at the Stadium in 1985. In 2009, Miami FC moved to Lockhart Stadium from Miami. They changed their name to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in 2011.