Toca Football Inc. will kick off next summer with the opening of its first Toca Social location in the United States, setting the stage for its national expansion.
Toca on July 18 announced that it’s partnering with Major League Soccer to bring the immersive soccer and dining concept to the U.S., starting with Dallas, ahead of when the city hosts the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“We thought this was an opportune time to take this extremely successful business model and bring it here to the States,” Chief Executive Yoshi Maruyama told the Business Journal.
The 27,000-square-foot venue is set to open at The Colony’s Grandscape in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on the heels of the success of its two existing locations in England.
The World Cup for the first time will be hosted by three countries: U.S., Canada and Mexico. Matches will be held in 11 cities, including Dallas, for the U.S. portion of the tournament.
Toca, the largest indoor soccer center operator in North America, was founded by former professional soccer player Eddie Lewis who played in the U.S. and England during his 15-year career.
Its next Toca Social location hasn’t been chosen yet; the company said it’s eyeing other major cities where the World Cup will be hosted, as well as cities with MLS franchises.
Entertainment Magnet
Toca Social is the company’s Topgolf-inspired concept that makes soccer into an interactive game for fans of the sport. Besides private player boxes, venues feature a restaurant, bar and other entertainment experiences such as photobooths and arcade games.
Dallas is the first stop in Toca’s domestic expansion, building off Toca’s established presence in the city.
Toca already has five soccer training centers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and a multi-year partnership with MLS club FC Dallas that was announced last October. Toca said it’s supplying its training technology to the team’s youth soccer club to help with professional player development.
“Toca is very much invested and committed to the Dallas market,” Maruyama said.
He described The Colony as an “incredible magnet” for entertainment and leisure activities, making it an attractive location for the first U.S. Toca Social.
Toca originally intended to renovate a 36,000-square-foot building in the Design District of Dallas into a three-story, 56,000-square-foot Toca Social, according to Dallas television station WFAA. The project was slated to open in 2023 until it was scrapped due to it being more complex than originally planned.
Maruyama has 15 years of experience in the entertainment industry at Universal Parks & Resorts, where he worked on intellectual properties like Harry Potter and Jurassic Park. He also served as executive vice president of Universal Studios Japan and was a part of the original team that opened the theme park in Osaka.
He believes the immersive sports industry is only going to continue to grow.
“There is a huge intersection now between sports entertainment and technology that’s beginning to converge,” Maruyama said.
While Dallas will be the first Toca Social location to open in the U.S., Toca already has 39 training centers in the region that range in size from 10,000 to over 90,000 square feet.
Each center is equipped with its automated technology called the Toca Touch Trainer, which aims to improve a player’s response time and overall handling of the ball using “smart targets.” The targets record 25 different data points such as accuracy of a pass and speed of play.
Officials in 2022 previously told the Business Journal that it’s aiming to double its location count every year until the company totals around 200 to 300 facilities in North America.
MLS first became a shareholder in Toca in 2022 when the two companies announced a 10-year partnership, establishing Toca as an official training and facility partner of MLS.
Under the agreement, MLS content is being integrated throughout Toca’s training centers. Both companies are also collaborating on training programs using Toca’s technology, including its data-capture and analytics software.
Toca and MLS additionally agreed to develop branded games for Toca Social as part of the partnership.
“Major League Soccer is a key league helping to build the sport of soccer here in North America,” Maruyama said. “They’re a critical part of bringing the World Cup to the U.S., and it’s their vision to bring innovative soccer experiences to enlarge or to grow the sport, both from a participation and fandom perspective.”
Joint Ventures
Toca Social opened its first location in London in 2021 and a second in Birmingham in June.
The London location opened to “huge success,” attracting over 300,000 guests in its first year of operation, according to officials.
It marks just the beginning of Toca Social’s European expansion, which recently gained traction after the company announced a joint venture with French commercial real estate company Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield to open “multiple” venues in Europe. The exact number of venues was not disclosed.
The first two locations under the partnership are scheduled to open in 2025 at shopping malls Westfield London and Westfield CNIT in La Défense, Paris.
Toca last year also announced its first-ever franchising deal with Ventura Entertainment, an amusement park operator based and exclusive franchisor for Topgolf in Mexico.
Ventura plans to open a minimum of 20 Toca Social venues in Mexico over the next 10 years with a total investment of over $100 million. Maruyama said they will soon break ground in Monterrey, Mexico.
Star Investors Seek Toca Goal
Toca Football Inc. is attracting the attention of well-known investors.
Toca started the beginning of this year with a multiyear partnership with U.S. National and Angel City FC players Alyssa and Gisele Thompson, becoming stakeholders in the company.
“Having experienced the training and development at Toca Costa Mesa ourselves, we are delighted that young players can have the same opportunities to learn and improve their skills,” said a statement by Alyssa, who was the first high school player to be selected as top pick in the National Women’s Soccer League draft.
Another big name adding to Toca’s growing list of investors, which includes England national team striker and captain Harry Kane, is U.S. National midfielder and 2022 World Cup veteran Kellyn Acosta.
Outside of professional soccer athletes, Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen has also invested in Toca.
“It’s not just soccer players who are passionate about the sport,” Chief Executive Yoshi Maruyama said. “There are fans across all industries and in other sports that really love the game.”
The company’s last fundraising round in June 2021 brought its total funding to over $105 million, according to a release.
It raised a $40 million Series E round that was led by WestRiver Group, RNS Toca Partners LLC, D2 Futbol Investors LLC and Jared Smith, co-founder and president of Utah-based software company Qualtrics.
—Yuika Yoshida
