More fields is always a good thing. However for 40 mil I was hoping for something closer to Grand Park and not just adding 6 turf fields. Will be great for Crew Youth to have a spot to train but I doubt it's going to hold Regional Tournaments that they are hoping for. You still have 1 entrance/exit so that's going to be a nightmare getting in and out as well.
To be fair, isn't it an apples to oranges comparison? Grand Park serves the Indianapolis Colts and Indy 11. It sounds more like a combo of both the new Kilbourne Run and the OhioHealth facilities. That said, you may well be right that Kilbourne won't be competitive for regional tournaments. I know nothing about that world. But a $40M upgrade to a local soccer facility is nothing to sneeze at. I'm glad the Crew kicked in $10M toward that total.
They are working on that entrance situation. We get updates at the Northland Community Council (I represent Forest Park).
Agreed that 40 mil is a hefty investment...I just thought it would go further than a few turf fields. I am not in the business of building turf fields so who knows the cost. Hilliard just put in a few by their rec center, Dublin is building multiple turf fields at every high school, Jennings keeps putting more in so this isn't quite revolutionary. Don't get me wrong...I'm glad it's happening but I wouldn't sell anyone that this is going to be some soccer mecca now. Look at Spindler or Darree Fields at the amount of tournaments held there every weekend and those aren't even Tier 1 tournaments. RE: Grand Park...it's the gold standard and serves way more than soccer. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone say they are building the next "Grand Park of Ohio" (even heard Costa (who is quoted in the article) say it a few times) but nothing here is even remotely close. Maybe what Dublin is going to build by Sports Ohio will be close. One can dream...
They are putting in a roundabout which helps but the bigger problem is one way in and out. Anyone who's tried to leave The Fortress down at Obetz knows what I mean.
I love turf but the bigger news is Haslam ownership of a women’s soccer team. NWSL? Or something else? Play at Scott’s? Or HCS? Exciting.
If the womens team needs space for say a training facility, now is a good time to play the city leaders against each other. Hardin and Klein are trying to usurp Mayor Ginther (Aka Mayor Suburbs). All of them should be very supportive unless someone takes a hardline on no $ for sports teams.
Well, I don’t know the state of the facility beforehand, but the $40M wasn’t just for “a few turf fields.” https://dlz.com/projects/kilbourne-run-sports-park/ One of the fields comprises the new Championship Stadium & Field with a 6,700 sq ft structure that includes team changing rooms, concessions, media space, etc. Then there are five new turf fields with a new lighting system. Then there are four new grass fields with irrigation. And a new pedestrian plaza that can be used as a food truck vendor space. Plus new east and west playgrounds, shelters and restroom areas. And the new roundabout entrance and increased parking (for more than 1000 vehicles). Not saying it’s world class. But it’s certainly a major upgrade.
It's wild to see the place I grew up playing soccer and baseball (NCAA) completely redeveloped. I probably spent more time there than any other place of my entire childhood, possibly including school. At one point my parents were the commissioners of the entire rec program and all three of us boys were playing. Many nights were spent wading through the cigarette smoke at Stan's after a night of sports.
Also, let’s remind ourselves that the Kilbourne facility emerged from the failure to get more acreage at the HCS site. Recall that concerns over Ohio Expo Center parking capped the amount of space available to build out the OhioHealth facility. In the end, Kilbourne is much larger than anything that was being envisioned on Silver Dr. Though, admittedly, it lacks the indoor facility (w/bb courts) that were initially part of that plan.
Not sure where you think I am downplaying this as a bad thing...I said a few times that new fields/investment is a good thing. My point continues to be folks are touting this as some crown jewel of Central Ohio soccer going forward. This place isn't going to all of sudden host the Nike Cup or bring in some new Tier 1 regional tournament. Simply does not have the infrastructure or enough fields. It's less than what many other locations in Columbus are building. When I have some time later I can see how much Hilliard or Jennings cost which at eye level are more impressive then Kilbourne. My kids played at these fields a few times and my memory is the location was on par with Spindler or Darree (but smaller). Adequate but upgrades are welcome. If Columbus were to ever redevelop Spindler...or if Dublin gets serious about the future of Sports Ohio and all the land they purchased West of Darree...then I'd like to see what 40 mil gets you out there.
This was the original tip off (beside the haslam cash injection into the league). But now, I have a waitress dropping hints too. Half tempted to send a PRR to the mayor and city council's office for emails and calendar invites containing NWSL.
Will be a year or so before anything is announced and big details are still being worked out. Ownership did a complete 180 on this about 5 - 6 months ago, but you didn’t hear it from me ; ) .
The ownership would have been well.advised to do a complete 180 a couple of years earlier. In 2022 Bay FC paid around $53 million to join. Just last month Arthur Blank paid $163 million. At anything like that trajectory theyll be looking at $200 million in 12 months. For the record, thats an insane amount for an NWSL side. Theres just so much money sloshing around out there that all those guys are basically doing Scrooge McDuck diving and the numbers dont have to make sense.
Sponsors are very into NWSL and having a women’s team greatly increases the value of the men’s team. You didn’t think that the Haslam’s would do this out of the goodness of their hearts, did you? Agree, they should’ve done this earlier though when they were first approached.
There's a few posts on this. My understanding is that there is no actual new field space. It's all upgrades to the complex and addition of turf fields and lighting, which does make them much more usable year round. It won't host tournaments by itself, but will be an optional site for tournaments to use. I don't know if the Dublin development will be on par with Grand Park as it doesn't have multiple professional teams involved, but it will be much closer to Grand Park than anything else in the area. Dublin purchased Sports Ohio and will incorporate it into Spindler and some of that surrounding land that was purchased. It's very long term though before it's supposed to be completed.