“It’s been waiting for years” Tens of thousands of fans gather downtown for the Battlehawks, CITY SC

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) – About 60,000 sports fans came downtown Saturday night to see both of the city’s new professional sports teams, the Battlehawks and Saint Louis CITY SC.

Down in the dome, a group of tailgaters are hard to miss a few hours before the Battlehawks take the field.

“We are the Hawaiians flying 147,” said Michael Gage.

Gage said the Flying Hawaiians are “great athletic guys,” and you could see that clearly as they established NCAA Tournament basketball on the outside.

No one was surprised to see people filling both the Dome and CITYPARK on Sunday. Something that has never happened before.

“It doesn’t surprise me, I’m never surprised by this city, we will show. I mean, it’s 20 degrees when we have football outside,” Gage said.

Gage also wore a CITY SC helmet. He said he sold his tickets for the football game and chose soccer instead.

But there were too many takers in the Midwest.

It was Mitchell Bales’ first game. He came in for football and concessions based in St. Louis.

“I don’t need $20 chicken strips. I want to eat Steve’s hot dogs,” Bales said.

Season ticket holder Mark Montgomery was on a high. He doesn’t want to miss any of these long awaited games.

“I’ve been waiting for this for years, I grew up with Steamboats and Hurricanes and Ambush and everybody else, so this is one step closer to where we want to be,” Montgomery said.

It was cold on Saturday. Fans had mixed reactions and feelings about the cold weather.

“I’m not worried about it,” said young CITY SC fan Ethan Biggs.

“C’mon, cheer, run, scream, you know the food and the drinks,” Montgomery said.

And there is always this tactic.

“It’s cold, but we don’t worry about it, get a few Battle beers in us and we’ll be lubed up and it’s warm,” Gage said.

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