Sporting Kansas City owners Sporting Club announced on Wednesday the development plan of a US Soccer national training center complex in Kansas City, Kan.
The announcement was made along with Kansas Governor Sam Brownback and local government and business authorities. The complex is projected to house the National Training and Coaching Development Center, an elite athlete training and performance analytics campus and national youth soccer development programs.
“Player and coaching development is a main focus for US Soccer, and we are pleased that Sporting Club is pursuing a world-class training facility to help the sport continue to grow and advance,” United States Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said in a statement.
“We are looking forward to working with Sporting Club on the next steps towards the creation of the National Training and Coaching Development Center and anticipate it hosting our national teams and coaching education programming in the future.”
The $75 million-plus soccer village will provide a world-class environment to develop players, coaches and referees of all ages. The state-of-the-art facility will include approximately 100,000 square feet for an indoor facility with a practice field, eight lighted professional smart fields and eight youth fields.
Additional amenities will include a climate-controlled indoor pavilion and specialized facilities tailored toward strength and nutrition, hydration, sports science, health and wellness, video and analytics. The complex will also feature a 125-room full-service hotel.
“This is a great opportunity for us to continue to grow soccer in Kansas City and further establish being the soccer capital of America,” Sporting Club CEO Robb Heineman said in a statement.
“To us, this is equivalent to bringing another sports franchise here, with the ultimate goal of helping the United States win the World Cup through youth soccer development, coaching training, advanced sports science and world-class facilities. We would like to thank Governor Brownback, Secretary of Commerce George, Mayor Holland and the rest of the Unified Government. This has been a long and complex process thus far, but we’re excited for the vision of the project and to help bring substantial economic development to the area."
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The development is expected to have an economic impact exceeding $1 billion on the state of Kansas. The facility will house a variety of US national team training camps and bring opportunities for Sporting Park to host matches for the men’s and women’s national teams at the youth and senior levels. The complex will also feature referee and coach education sessions, and many additional US Soccer events.
US Soccer's current National Training Center is located in Carson, Calif., in the StubHub Center complex.
