WATCH ABOVE: As Carolyn Kury de Castillo reports, now the hunt is on to find an operator for the upgraded soccer city facility.
CALGARY- Seven new soccer fields at the Calgary Soccer Centre are now open and will help address pent up demand for playing space.
Playing on artificial turf is a brand new experience for these girls… and their mom couldn’t be happier.
Dayna Tyson, a soccer mom said playing on artificial turf is a brand new experience for her girls.
“I think it’s fantastic. It’s been a long time coming and it’s really exciting to see the growth in the sport,” Tyson said.
Three new artificial turf fields are now open at the facility. That means a longer playing season with more revenue, which will bring bigger tournaments to Calgary.
“We can now play nationals and host nationals in Calgary. In the past we haven’t been able to because the quality of the facilities just weren’t there,” Daryl Leinweber from the Calgary Minor Soccer Association said.
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“This facility is going to be world-class. Nowhere do you find eight indoor fields, three artificial turfs, one natural grass turf. It’s all lit amazing,” Leinweber said.
Right next door is a new “permanent” structure with four indoor turf fields called the “the annex”. It replaces the bubble which collapsed in 2010 and hadn’t been replaced.
The new fields will accommodate players of every age and skill level as well as a wide variety of sports.
But now there’s the question of who will run the facility. The city took over the soccer centre nearly two years ago and it will continue to until the end of next year.
“The city would be prepared to be the provider if necessary but we need to look at what the options are and that’s the way we try to be transparent and looking at these opportunities and bring those recommendations to council,” Kurt Hanson from the City of Calgary said.
Calgary city councillor Diane Colley-Urquart wants to see what groups come forward with plans but she’s not opposed to the city staying involved.
“We inherited quite a mess here a couple of years ago.” Councillor Colley-Urquhart said.
“At the end of the day, operating places like this is a business that we do pretty well and our city staff probably do the best of anyone whether it’s golf courses or hockey arenas or turf fields like this. I’m really proud of the work city staff does,” Councillor Urquhart said.
There are over 1.3 million visitors to the Calgary Soccer Centre every year.
The new fields cost $22 million dollars, with funding coming from all three levels of government.
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