January 21, 2026
The USFHL Board is pleased to announce that the 2026 USFHL National Club Championship (NCC) will be held in St. Louis, MO on the Water-Based AstroTurf fields at Saint Louis University & SportPort International from July 10–12, 2026.
We recognize that this plan represents a change from the location and weekend of previous NCCs, and we wanted to share with you the process & reasons behind this decision.
First, the University of Delaware (host to the past four NCCs) will be replacing its turf, which means the facility will be unavailable throughout the summer. We would like to publicly thank the University of Delaware for their continued support and partnership, and we know we speak for the entire community when we say how much we have enjoyed calling their facility home and that we look forward to returning in the near future.
Second, the 2026 Masters Hockey World Cup is scheduled to start on July 22, 2026, which is in close proximity to NCC’s previously held weekend, which would have ended on July 19th and would have had a significant impact on player availability. As a result, the decision was made to move the tournament forward by one weekend to July 10-12, 2026.
Lastly, when selecting a new host location, several factors influenced — and, candidly, limited — the available options. The goal was to find two available fields in close proximity to each other with the same astroturf playing surface in an accessible location.
The key considerations included, in no particular order:
- Drive 30-min or less between fields
- Have the same astroturf playing surface to avoid switching between wet & dry turf
- Avoid FIFA World Cup 2026 host cities, which rendered areas cost-prohibitive due to flight and hotel pricing or unavailable due to universities hosting World Cup teams
- Be in an accessible location, having a major international airport for reasonable flight options from around the United States and average hotel rates in the area
- Have comparable field rental costs to previous NCCs
- Consider opportunities for growth of the game
After connecting with facility administrators from the few suitable options around the country, it was determined that St. Louis, MO provided the best overall setup to deliver another successful and enjoyable USFHL National Club Championship. We look forward to welcoming the top club teams in the United States back to crown another champion!
Thank you for being a valued part of the USFHL community and for your continued support.
Kind regards,
Lance Wood
President, USFHL Board of Directors
Lance, hello, my name is Mike Jerlecki I’m the president of Hollywood Hotel and Casino, which is located three minutes from sport port. I’m very big in a field Hockey as my daughter is a Max player, Boston College commit. We have a 500 room hotel, and accommodate many sports teams, etc. If you’d like, please reach out, and we can discuss great hotel room rates, etc. Would love to try to make something happen.