The culture of Riverside is engraved into the sports of the city. There's old rivalries still going strong, there are athletes who have come up through the ranks of the city and into the big leagues, there's tradition, according to Pep Fernandez, host of Riverside TV's "Riverside Sports Update."
"It's easy covering Riverside because they love sports and the city does such a great job helping the high schools develop these great athletes," he said.
High school sports have a tradition that has developed fandom with history. There are rivalries with Riverside Poly High School and Norte Vista High School. There's bad blood between Martin Luther King High School and Ramona High. The competition isn't just in the confines of the gridiron; the friction goes into other sports, said Fernandez.
"There's some schools in Riverside that have a long tradition with a lot of huge names in the sporting world," Fernandez said. "To see a city who not only remembers their history and their tradition, they're continuing to build upon that."
For now, the city of arts and innovation will have to keep packing the stadium under the lights of Friday night high school football. It needs to continue supporting the teams for the universities within the city limits.
Whether it's UCR, Cal Baptist or Riverside Community College, the sports fans of the city need to pick a team, support it and show the playmakers the sports tradition of the city can be enough to ignite a pro team.
So why has it taken such a long time for it to get its own professional team?
"I'm kind of surprised Riverside does not have one at this point," Fernandez said. "There's enough people here, and not just people, but sports fans to support these teams."
With the USL coming, the doors are open for other teams to join the party. Will it be baseball? Basketball? It doesn't matter what sport comes next if the city doesn't have the infrastructure.
It needs to have a stadium for the team to play in. It needs to build the economy to maintain a professional team. Riverside needs to put the "innovation" part of their motto into gear to figure out where it can host a professional team.
"We got tons of sports fans. We just need a place for them to play," Fernandez said.
The proposed stadium for the USL team will be a 5,000-seat stadium that will expand to 15,000 seats, designed for multiple sports and concerts. Imagine a minor-league team playing its home games there? Or a football stadium built within the vicinity?
That kind of commitment can help entice an established team to make Riverside its home, but keep the big city name.
"Look at the Chicago Bears. They're leaving Illinois. They're going to a completely different state. They'll still be called the Chicago Bears. They're going to play in Indiana. Why couldn't the LA Chargers have a stadium in Riverside and still be called LA?"
Riverside doesn't need to convince itself that it loves sports. It needs to convince professional sports that Riverside loves sports enough to support them.
Riverside pro soccer will be the ultimate test. The support that it brings will help dictate the future of sports in the city of trees, it will set up the future of what pro sports can look like.
For now, Fernandez will continue highlighting the bright athletes putting the city on the map.
It's never been about talent.
There are athletic ballers in the city, like Brayden Burries, who played for Poly. Or, Javier Hernandez, who won the Gatorade Boys Soccer Player of the Year in 2024. Or, Emily Ausmus, who recently helped Team USA win the Water Polo World Cup.
Riverside fans just need to show up for another pro team to make it its home.
