TUPPS Brewery, Chupacabras FC break ground on McKinney soccer pitch

A Memorial Day gathering at TUPPS Brewery became something bigger for McKinney Chupacabras FC: a groundbreaking for a new small-sided soccer pitch behind the brewery in McKinney’s Mill District. The project was announced Monday, May 25, as the pre-professional club pushed to turn a brewery partnership into a public-facing recreation space with uses that extend well beyond match day.

Club leaders described the mini pitch as a place for pickup games, watch parties, family outings and youth programming, along with lower-intensity adult play. That includes the over-50 walking-match concept referenced by officials, a sign that the field is being pitched not just for competitive soccer but for a wider slice of the community. The practical question for families in Collin County is whether the space will meaningfully add access to affordable places for kids to play, or whether it will function mainly as a branded gathering spot attached to an already popular local business.

McKinney Chupacabras FC launched in 2024 and is playing its second season in 2026 after joining USL League Two in the Mid-South Division. The club’s home matches are at Ron Poe Stadium in McKinney, and its first season drew more than 20,000 fans across inaugural home games, a turnout that helped show there is a local appetite for soccer beyond the traditional North Texas power centers. The team also entered the year with a new head coach, Frank Yallop, who was announced in spring 2026 after serving as sporting director and head coach of Monterey Bay FC from 2021 to 2024.

The TUPPS partnership has already been part of the club’s identity. Fans chose the brewery collaboration beer, Fangtastic Lager, which was unveiled at a TUPPS event. The new pitch deepens that relationship and ties the club more closely to a business that has long positioned itself as a community hub on its 4-acre property for events, food, tours and gatherings.

That local role matters because the project lands as soccer’s national profile keeps rising ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. In McKinney, the brewery’s grounds could become a year-round soccer destination rather than a one-time ceremonial backdrop. TUPPS was open for Memorial Day, and its events calendar already points to a June 6 Summer of Soccer Launch Party, suggesting the pitch is only the start of a broader run of soccer programming at the site.

For McKinney, the bigger issue is not whether the ribbon-cutting looked good in photos. It is whether the brewery and club can turn a promotional partnership into a real neighborhood amenity, one that gives kids, parents and casual players another place to gather around the game.