Welcome to the new era of soccer—and it looks nothing like what you’d expect from a traditional match. Inside Miami’s Tropical Park, a sprawling 275-acre urban green space in South Miami, the Baller League has set up a custom-built, 3,500-seat arena that transforms six-a-side soccer into something that feels more like an underground computer game brought to life. Every Thursday since March, the venue has hosted six fast-paced games, and the atmosphere is electric: influencers roam the sidelines, talking to cameras; music thumps through the walls; smoke machines fire off after every goal; and tween and teen boys sit practically on the pitch, watching their favorite creators livestream courtside to millions of followers online.

“Welcome to a new era of soccer,” reads a banner stretched along the side of the pitch, greeting fans as they enter. And it’s hard to argue. The entire venue is engineered for modern attention spans—shorter games, constant action, zero dead air, and every angle optimized for YouTube, Twitch, and social feeds. It’s a spectacle built for a younger, heavily male audience, and it’s working.

But that demographic focus raises an obvious question: Where’s the women’s version?

“We need to,” Felix Starck, the co-founder and CEO of Baller League, told The Athletic. “We’re going to launch a women’s league within the next six to 12 months.” Starck, who co-founded the league alongside German soccer stars Mats Hummels and Lukas Podolski, is clear about his ambition: “We want to pay the female player the same as the male player. That’s our ambition. We’re not going to do a female league if we don’t achieve that. You can mark my words.”

The challenge, Starck explains, is on the business side. The Baller League doesn’t see itself as a media company disguised as a sports property—instead, the actual sport is the product, with creators, celebrities, and Twitch personalities serving as unique accelerants that help audiences discover it faster. Notable influencers like Druski (12 million Instagram followers and 5 million YouTube subscribers) are embedded in the league’s foundation, driving engagement and building a loyal fanbase.

For now, the league is proving that soccer can be reimagined for a digital-first world. And if Starck’s promise holds, that reimagining will soon include equal pay and a women’s league that matches the energy, excitement, and innovation of the men’s game.