DOWNTOWN WEST, Mo. – The first professional soccer match in St. Louis will be played downtown at CITYPARK on Wednesday night.

CITYPARK seats 22,500 people and cost around $458 million to build. There are 28 suites and 32 pitch boxes. Wednesday night’s game will feature the City2 team taking on one of the elite teams in Germany, Bayer Leverkusen. City2 is the reserve or the minor league team for the main City SC team.

The players aren’t the only ones excited about the big debut Wednesday night. Downtown businesses near the stadium also can’t wait. Several restaurants and bars very close to the stadium like Maggie O’Briens, Syberg’s, and The Schlafly Tap Room are all expecting some big business from soccer fans flocking to the new stadium.

Some businesses have done renovations to get ready for the new potential customers.

FOX 2 spoke with the manager of Maggie O’Brien’s and the general manager of Schafly’s Tap Room about what they are expecting.

“The amount of people that have been coming to pick their seats, and then just buy merchandise to come here afterwards – and that’s with no games whatsoever, but game days, yeah it’s going to be a big deal for St. Louis and for Schlafly as well,” Jeff Ward shared.

“Excited is an understatement,” Hunter Ricks expressed. “I think it’s going to be really beneficial to Maggie O’Briens, and just St. Louis City as a whole.”

The real MLS games start here next February. Kickoff for the first-ever match there Wednesday night is set for just after 7:00 p.m.

FOX 2 will preview the unveiling of the jersey for the new St. Louis city SC team later Wednesday morning.