In the wake of the Red Bulls moving into their new training ground, I thought it might be interesting to collect info on what all the teams in the league do for training grounds. Before today, I had no idea that the Red Bulls training facilities had been so substandard, and it made me wonder whether there were other teams in the league with similarly bad situations. Tell us all what YOUR team's training facility situation is. Portland Timbers: The Timbers have, by all accounts, a dedicated first class facility in the Portland suburb of Tualatin. Here's a video tour: http://www.portlandtimbers.com/video/2012/04/18/tour-adidas-timbers-training-center What does the rest of the league do? Share it here.
Seattle Sounders FC practice and play at Starfire Sports, a sporting facility in Tukwila, Washington (10 miles south from CLink stadium) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfire_Sports
The San Jose Earthquakes currently train on the field they built in 2010 right next to the site of their upcoming new stadium in San José, California. It was originally called the Nutralite Training Facility when the team had its jersey sponsorship deal with Amway, but has simply been known as the San Jose Earthquakes Training Facility for the past two seasons. It's also the field on which both the San Jose Earthquakes Reserves and the San Jose Earthquakes Academy teams currently play their home games. Very near the upcoming new stadium will also be a soccer complex consisting of four city-owned soccer fields (to be paid for with city bond measure money that was voted for and approved way back in 2000 but that the city had sat on until recently) that will be run by the San Jose Earthquakes, so those fields may be used for the above-mentioned purposes (as well as for public recreational use) as well. -G
TFC has a ridiculous set-up in Downsview Park that houses the first team and the academy teams. It is an amazing set-up that probably makes quite a few teams in the league jealous. The Union are practicing on the campus of the University of Penn as far as I can tell. They supposedly have plans to build a facility near the stadium, but you can never tell with this front office.
Montreal currently splits their time among 2 facilities. In the summer they train at "Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard" a High performance sports training centre built for the 1976 Olympics. It's old, but reasonably fully equipped. It's where lots of Olympians from every sport train at. I can't say what the quality of the facilities are. During the winter months they train at the very nice "centre sportif marie victorin" it's a new, high end facility with 2 star rated Turf. They also spend some time using the Montreal Canadiens training facility, a brand new "world class" facility with a decent soccer field in addition to the Ice rinks and athletic services. There is some talk of them building a dedicated facility with full amenities for players and the Academy like Toronto, but there are no concrete plans at of yet.
The Houston Dynamo train at the Houston Amateur Sports Park, a joint venture of the Dynamo and the City of Houston. It is on the southside of Houston in a fairly rural area but still very close to downtown Houston. http://www.houstonamateursportspark.com/ It currently has seven fields, one with Field Turf. Nearing completion are the Methodist Center for Sports Medicine and the Competitive Edge Sports training facility. There will eventually be 20 fields and other facilities there.
I went to Penn and I can't fathom where they would be practicing on campus. Do you know where? Cool that they have a presence in the city, but Penn can hardly be ideal.
The Colorado Rapids, of course, train at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. The grey block on the North end of the stadium are the internal facilities (locker room, boot room, weight room, physiotherapy, etc.) The Rapids usually train on field 20, but fields 8 & 10 are artificial turf for them to train on when they're playing on that surface and in early preseason before the grass fields are ready.
Sporting KC actually trains in a different state at Swope Park in KCMO. http://www.sportingkc.com/swope-park-training-center
I played there many, many years ago, when it was called "Fort Dent". The main field, (with the covered stand on one side) was cintrex at the time. I see they ripped out the softball fields that were there on the far left and it is now all soccer.
Honduran MNT trained there last week in preparation for last night's World Cup qualifier in Sandy, UT.
RSL trains at America First Field (owned by a credit union which is also a team sponsor) about a mile south of Rio Tinto stadium. Besides being a laser-leveled surface with the same grass mix at Rio Tinto, there's not much to say about it. Some (?) of the reserve league games are played here. The view is nice, I guess.
Here's a link to Toronto FC's new academy and training facility: http://www.torontofc.ca/trainingground
RSL also uses Spencer Eccles Field on the campus of University of Utah for indoor training during inclement weather.
Toronto fc tour video part 1 http://www.torontofc.ca/video/2012/10/01/tour-kia-training-ground-part-1 Part 2 http://www.torontofc.ca/video/2012/10/01/tour-kia-training-ground-part-2 I guess after it was built they decided to keep it a secret. 2:10 for the review room + Rachel B.
Some picks of the Red Bulls new digs: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151453773870264.1073741846.47526370263&type=3 Seems pretty professional, not too far way from the Jets facility, thought not as architecturally appealing as that one. Being in jersey theres not much of a view, but hey Jacuzzis!
Really cool thread. I'm impressed with a lot of these facilities, they really do seem "major league".
For those who don't know, DCU normally uses the RFK auxiliary fields. The primary field that was also used for reserve matches is natural grass and the other is artificial turf. Both ave small stands. Occasionally, the team also uses Long Bridge Park in Arlington, Virginia.