On February 23, 2024, Gamecock Athletics announced it was taking part in the Rivals in Red Tour by hosting a match featuring two English Premier League soccer teams – Liverpool F.C. and Manchester United – in Williams-Brice Stadium.
Since then, USC's athletic department and different sectors of the Columbia community have each had a hand in ensuring the city is prepared to host a game of this caliber.
Gamecock Athletics' Associate Athletics Director for Event Operations Megan Kennington said she and her staff have been preparing since December when TEG Sport, the promotor of the Rivals in Red Tour, started taking site visits in Columbia.
Kennington said the athletic department, in addition to visits, has had weekly calls with TEG’s sport management group to help coordinate the game.
With football season fast approaching, Kennington said USC's grounds crew had to make some changes to ensure the field at Williams-Brice Stadium was up to par for both teams and could be turned into a soccer pitch.
“Fitting a soccer pitch on the footprint of a football field just is different,” Kennington said. “So for football – for us, anyway – our sidelines are pretty tight, which made fitting a soccer pitch interesting. And while we have the ability to do it, there were some areas that for football is concrete or kind of sloped off that had to be rectified.”
She added that sod has been put down and the grade, the slope of the field's landscape, was raised to level the length of the field to fit soccer’s parameters.
Aside from getting the field ready, Kennington said Gamecock Athletics is working to meet the needs of each team when it comes to the locker room, training equipment and catered meals.
“We got this grid that had, basically, the standards for both locker rooms, including things like ice baths and towels and some interesting things that were not on our radar,” Kennington said. “It was a coffee, tea and milk station in both locker rooms. I had to say to the person, ‘Well, you can't just put, like, Lipton tea, right?’ Like, these are people who probably drink tea all the time.”
While the athletic department is dealing with facilities management, they are also working with the USC Police Department for safety purposes.
USC PD has a unit that handles security for special events, and Kennington worked with them to develop a security plan. She said the county police departments from Kershaw, Newberry, Columbia, Richland and Lexington are all helping with safety.
South Carolina Highway Patrol Master Trooper William Bennett said he and his team are managing traffic patterns the same way they would for a football game, but with an expected increase in travelers. He said attendees need to make sure to “pack your patience.”
“I would expect, probably, the traffic to be a little bit heavier than for the home games, just because of the fact we got a lot of people coming to Williams-Brice that don't usually come here like they do for the college football games," Bennett said. “People from all over the world are coming to this game, so they may not know exactly where to go and how to get to where they need to go.”
Hotel Trundle, a boutique hotel located on Taylor Street, sold out its rooms quickly after the announcement, marketing manager Raven Yonemura said.
Rita Patel, the owner of the hotel, said she plans to give guests complementary charcuterie boxes as a part of the business's "signature southern hospitality."
“It's wonderful because for us, and I probably can speak for the other hoteliers in the area, the last two weeks of July and the first two weeks of August are probably some of the slowest of the summertime," Patel said. "Having this game, right at the beginning of August makes the beginning of August, obviously a very great weekend to start with."
The Rivals in Red Tour is hosting three games in the U.S. The tour starts on July 27 in Los Angeles, California, and the second game will take place on July 31 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The match in Columbia on Aug. 3 will be the final stop on the tour.
“That Columbia is one of the three cities that this game is traveling to – it's just remarkable for me,” Patel said. “When I heard that, I was like, ‘Wow, little Columbia, you know, small but mighty.’ And I'm so proud of us, and I'm excited.”
With the next-closest game being in Pennsylvania, Scott Powers, the executive director of Experience Columbia SC Sports, said the city is anticipating a high volume of people traveling from out of the state to attend the game.
Kim Crafton, the Columbia Metropolitan Airport's Vice President of Marketing & Air Service Development, said the airport worked with Experience Columbia SC to hang signage and messaging in terminals for visiting fans.
Powers said his team put together a “microsite” for the event that has all the information needed for attendees. A QR code link to the site is being put on coasters and door hangers for restaurants and hotels.
Kennington said her staff is also incorporating signage in Williams-Brice Stadium to accommodate those who have never visited the venue.
“I think our stadium struggles a little bit with signage anyway, so we have done some specific walkthroughs just looking through the lens of like, ‘I have no idea where I was going, is there signage that's appropriate to get me there, or is there staff that's kind of sprinkled along the way to help get me there?’” Kennington said.
As for getting fans to the stadium, Kennington said the university is working on shuttles that will bring attendees to Williams-Brice Stadium from locations downtown.
“The intention, it really isn't the park and ride aspect, it's more just the ride,” Kennington said. “It's people who would naturally hop on Uber to try to get down to the stadium – they're really going to struggle just because of the traffic flow. And it's better for Uber if you can drop them off a little bit further out from downtown, drop them, and then they can keep shuttling people to the CLA (Colonial Life Arena) while we shuttle people from the CLA to Williams-Brice.”
Bennett said he recommends people research parking beforehand so those coming from out of town know where to go.
“We're going to reverse the lanes to try to flush that traffic away as quickly as possible from the stadium,” Bennett said. “Like I said, it’s kind of gonna look pretty much like a home football game, other than I would expect maybe a little more delay just because of people coming from out of town that's not familiar with the area.”
Organizations within and around Columbia had to work together for the city to be able to host the game and those attending, Powers said.
“For any substantial event, it takes partnerships, especially in Columbia,” Powers said. “Columbia works with Cayce and West Columbia and Richland County. And the fire department is involved, from the fire marshals and the police and state troopers and university, the mayor’s office, the Colonial Life Arena, the COMET bus system.”
From the 120 street pole banners, and planned soccer-themed games at the Soda City Market, to the Five Points fountain being dyed red, Powers said he’s working to make the match a community-oriented event.
“To be able to host Manchester United and Liverpool is, number one – it's a dream come true,” Powers said. “It's rare to have an event inside Williams Brice stadium other than Gamecock football… So the opportunity to show off to a national and an international audience, Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia, the surrounding areas, those people that are coming for the game that may never have been before – those are the people we're always trying to reach and tell our story to.”