Columbia’s college town atmosphere will turn into a temporary spot for some of the world’s best pro sports teams this year.

Former Gamecock great A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces will travel to the Soda City for a preseason contest against the Puerto Rico National Team in May. Then in August, a set of English Premier League rivals will leave their country and show the state of South Carolina a different type of football. 

Manchester United and Liverpool F.C. are set to play in the first-ever soccer game at Williams-Brice Stadium on Aug. 3 as part of the Rivals in Red Tour. 

The tour will be played in two other cities, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, and will include one other team not coming to Columbia, Arsenal F.C. While both these cities are each in the country’s 10 most populated, Columbia ranks 205, according to the 2020 U.S. Census. 

Event promoters weren’t overly concerned with Columbia’s population size. Instead, they chose the city to try and tap into the fiery southern college football fanbase.

“They also wanted to explore how southern college football fans, rabid fans, how that could equate to English Premier League soccer fans,” said Scott Powers, executive director at Experience Columbia SC Sports. “They started looking at stadiums around the south that could  host an event, and not only that, universities that were in larger towns.”

The tour’s contests will be Liverpool F.C.’s first games in the United States in five years. 

“We know millions of super-passionate American fans love this club and what we stand for,” said Ben Latty, the club’s commercial director. “The USA is an important market for the club and our partners.”

The Aces and Puerto Rico’s match will feature some of the world’s best women’s basketball players. The match is set to be held on May 11 at Colonial Life Arena. 

It is a homecoming game for former South Carolina star A’ja Wilson, who won the 2018 consensus NCAA Player of the Year and that 2017 national championship as a member of Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks.

“I’m excited and can’t wait to return to Columbia with my Aces team,” Wilson said. “It’s my dream to be able to go back to the place where it all started and showcase what my skills are now. This means the world to me, and I’m very much looking forward to it.”

Wilson is not the only big star that will showcase their skills. The Ace’s roster also features three-time WNBA champions Alysha Clark, Chelsea Gray and Candace Parker, and all-stars Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young.

The Aces are also coached by one of the best in Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and 2022 WNBA Coach of the Year Becky Hammon.

The Puerto Rican national team is also a talented squad and is one of 12 groups that will participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics.  

Wilson and the Aces will tip their season off three days after the game at home against Phoenix with their sights set on a three-peat. 

The plans to bring both of these events to the area developed rapidly and came about thanks to an evolved relationship between Columbia’s tourism bureau and the University of South Carolina. 

“In the past, it was Experience Columbia going after events and then bringing the university to the table, finding out if facilities were available. I think now it’s more of a partnership where we’re both together trying to recruit these events,” Powers said. “I think it’s put us in a whole new ballgame.”

Planning did not begin for either until a few months ago. It usually takes years of preparation.

“Many times, events that we bring down are something that we’re talking two, three, four years in advance,” Powers said. “These were an anomaly in how fast they came about.” 

For the EPL game, representatives of the teams and the Rivals in Red promoters sought a college atmosphere, which was also in a more urban environment. Columbia fits this blueprint perfectly and is near two U.S. Major League Soccer teams, Atlanta United and Charlotte F.C. 

The Ace’s game came about when the team was looking for a place to play its preseason contest against the Puerto Rican team. Returning to the hometown of their star player to play in an arena where her statue sits right outside jumped out as the obvious choice. 

“What a recognition of our city and our FAMS for the two-time WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces to create a special event here in Columbia,” Coach Staley said. “We’re excited to see A’ja play on her former home court at Colonial Life Arena again, but we also love to see this kind of creative decision-making that allows our sport to continue to grow on all levels.”

These two events are hopefully just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to bringing new sporting events to the region. Powers said his team is working closely with the university to bring more contests, but nothing is near ready to be announced. 

“I think a lot of people, especially with Williams-Brice, event owners, promoters, people that put on these events, [that] probably once August comes around, and they see it happen, I think that will form a map to be able to host these events,” Powers said.