US Soccer Training Center Moving Along

A week ago, we got more information about the upcoming US Soccer national training center in Kansas City. At a Neighborhood and Community Development Standing Committee Meeting, more information about the project was presented to the committee (start at 1 hour 15 minutes into the video below). There was lots of information regarding not just the training center but also the long awaited tournament fields that were to be built in conjunction with the construction of Sporting Park in the first place, and the futsal courts that On Goal is building in Wyandotte County.

First let's get the futsal fields, On Goal has already built two fields currently and will be building eight more of those courts. On Goal will now built double courts on tennis courts and the two that they have already built can be expanded if the Unified Government first lays the surface for the expanded courts. Robb Heineman said that they want to be building on multiple sites at one time, starting as soon as possible. If things were finalized now they could start in April and have all eight additional courts finished by the end of 2015.

On one of the big points of the stadium that has yet to be fulfilled was the building of tournament fields at Wyandotte County Park. Originally as part of the plan to use parts of the STAR Bonds that were used to finance the Legends shopping area in the first place, On Goal and the then Wizards had to agree that they would build tournament quality soccer fields in the park. The new deal though will move the tournament fields from Wyandotte County park to a new site from a family (Speer) in Wyandotte County. The site is the far right purple area in the below screen shot.



The site, near the corner of State Ave. and 90th Street would see at least eight fields of the 12 fields built at the Speer Family site. The other four would be at the national training center, although in the presentation they showed that there is space at the site for another four fields to bring the total there up to 12. On Goal would have the rights to bring up projects in those areas, but would not stand in the way if other projects were brought up. Below is a closer picture of that portion of the project. The facility would be run by On Goal as part of their agreement with the county.

Now, for the big part of the project that the majority of people are probably interested in, the US Soccer national training center. According to the slides that were shown, it's a $64 million proposal for the project. The training center would be built on the northern end of the Schlitterbahn along Parallel Parkway, to the north and east of Sporting Park. The training center will have at least one build, but up to 100,000 square feet of space. During the discussion, Heineman also mentioned that US Soccer is looking for 100,000 of office space for 300 workers, and On Goal is wanting to go after that to try and get that deal here as well. You can see a closer break down of the facility below.

The facility would not have a set number of fields, as Heineman mentions, the topography of the area isn't the greatest and what they're going to do is look to maximize flat usage. The facility would be run by US Soccer, On Goal, or a combination of the two, that portion is still to be finalized.The hope according to the presentation is that the facility will be up and running by 2017.

The full presentation to the full board will take place on March 26th. You can watch the full meeting below.