IBJNews

Indiana Soccer Association moving to Westfield

Back to TopCommentsE-mailPrint

The Indiana Soccer Association is moving its headquarters from the east side of Indianapolis to Westfield in what the Hamilton County suburb is hailing as a major addition to its planned sports mega-complex.

Westfield Mayor Andy Cook announced Thursday morning that ISA intends to move to the Grand Park Sports Campus after it's completed in 2013. Some of the 32 soccer fields and 26 baseball diamonds planned for the complex will be ready next year, Cook said.

Groundbreaking on the $42 million, 350-acre park is set for Nov. 1.

“This announcement absolutely solidifies the entire project,” Cook said. “The uniqueness about this facility is that it locates all the fields in one location.”

Westfield’s agreement with ISA calls for the association to manage and maintain the soccer fields in exchange for any rent it would have paid. ISA, which will be responsible for game and tournament scheduling, also will receive a portion of the revenue generated from the fields.

The 32 soccer fields, eight of which will be artificial turf, are designed to also accommodate football, softball, lacrosse, rugby and field hockey games.

Cook said the city is in discussions with organizations representing those sports that could be interested in playing games at the park as well.

“We expect, with this kind of announcement today, that we’ll see a lot of interest from other sports,” he said.

ISA, located at 5440 Herbert Lord Road near East 56th Street, has about 85,000 members, including youth and adult players, coaches and referees. The group said the fields could host up to 1,800 teams annually, bringing 300,000 players and vistors to the park.

The decision follows a similar announcement in January by the Lids Indiana Bulls, a youth baseball organization for players ages 12 to 18. The Bulls now play tournaments at facilities throughout central Indiana.

Cook, a key architect behind the complex, said the deals help bolster his belief that the project will be an economic development boon for the growing suburb to Carmel’s north.

Once completed, Westfield expects the park to attract 500,000 visitors annually who will generate more than $10 million in spending.

The city also estimates that 2,300 jobs could be created from the hotels and restaurants it thinks will sprout up around the park.

The goal is to attract commercial development that would be used by those visiting for the sports tournaments. If that happens, it would strengthen Westfield’s tax base, which is now mostly residential.


ADVERTISEMENT
  • "green"
    How do you define green space? My vision is of a natural system that pomotes and enhances the quality of environment around us and our children, not a manufactured and devestated landscape saturated with chemicals, mowing and families in SUVs......but I guess all dreams are different.
  • Great news for Carmel!
    How does Westfield ever expect to recover the inital cost of their investment? Hotels are resturaunts are not going to build when Carmel is just a couple of miles down the road. What a waste for the Westfield taxpayer.
  • Gasp!
    You are so right! Just think of all the McMansions we're entitled to overfinance that will never be built. Damnable greenspace! And just think of how many strip malls could fit in that area. Since when does healthy fun take precedence over consumerism? The world is turning upside down!!!!!
  • Progressively worse....
    While a complex of this size may not exist, various componenets already exist in the Indy area. Now, all of these users will be funneled into a tax payer funded, redundant sports park on tax payer funded roads. You think traffic is bad now on US31 and I-69....wait until these things go up. And what will INDOT's esponse be...oh, we need wider roads.
    • TwoThumbsUp
      Soccer is becoming very popular.
    • Make it nice and usefull
      I think that this is truly something worthwhile. Not sure who is going to pay for it, tournament fees i guess.
      A suggestion or two. Plant some trees and have plenty of restroom facilities -not port a stinks.
      pervious concrete and no retention ponds that cause goose droppings.
    • Soccer Demand is High
      I know of no existing soccer complexes that are abandoned or crumbling. Youth soccer is on the rise in the Indy metro area. It has been for a long time. I don't think that demand is likely to fall below the supply of outdoor facilities in the foreseeable future. Westfield's new facility will just add to the opportunities for outdoor youth sports in the area.
    • Where does this already exist?
      Where is there a complex of this size and scale already in existence?
      • Wrong Direction
        Yet we again spend millions to recreate what already exists depleting the origional source and leaving a new entity to eventually crumble due to expenses.

        Post a comment to this story

        COMMENTS POLICY
        We reserve the right to remove any post that we feel is obscene, profane, vulgar, racist, sexually explicit, abusive, or hateful.
         
        You are legally responsible for what you post and your anonymity is not guaranteed.
         
        Posts that insult, defame, threaten, harass or abuse other readers or people mentioned in IBJ editorial content are also subject to removal. Please respect the privacy of individuals and refrain from posting personal information.
         
        No solicitations, spamming or advertisements are allowed. Readers may post links to other informational websites that are relevant to the topic at hand, but please do not link to objectionable material.
         
        We may remove messages that are unrelated to the topic, encourage illegal activity, use all capital letters or are unreadable.
         

        Messages that are flagged by readers as objectionable will be reviewed and may or may not be removed. Please do not flag a post simply because you disagree with it.

        Sponsored by
        ADVERTISEMENT

        facebook - twitter on Facebook & Twitter

        Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ on Facebook:
        Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ's Tweets on these topics:
         
        Subscribe to IBJ
        1. Well, we could blame ABC because they haven't advertised the INDY 500....not during the HUGE TV rating shows like Dancing with the Stars (of which IICS driver Helio Castroneves is a former champion). He never won a CART championship, did he?

          We could blame the new car...because it's ugly and has a V6 that has less horsepower than the pace car. CART (to my knowledge) never had that problem with cars they presented at the speedway years 1979 through 1995.

          We could blame the fencepost, but that would be crass. Or maybe Danica? Or maybe Jean Alesi....or boost increases from constant rules tampering. Maybe we could blame Penske who still is winning everything as usual.

          Maybe we can blame the world for not understanding the the great Indy gods who regularly twist things in such ways that we mere mortals must only accept, but never question.

          So, it does beg the question....who is responsible if the series and Indy continues to flounder? Are the responsibilities so diffuse and complicated that no one really is to blame for it's fall from grace?

          I urge the speedway to sign on for 7 more years of ABC coverage and 7 more years of NBC Sports Network coverage. It been win-win so far....*cough* *cough*

        2. "They're problem was thinking they were bigger than the institution that made their existence possible. That turned out to be a mistake."

          The above quote made by Disciple shows his continued inability to grasp a simple concept: CART is dead. Twice. It provided a brilliant stage for some of the best open wheel racing in all the past century of racing. It's gone DOOD, get over it.

          PLEASE explain, Mr. Disciple of INDYCAR, why you continually hammer home, even on the eve of the 2012 Indy 500, this same point...over and over? Seriously, why does the legacy of CART haunt you so much?

          The same problems that affected the sport for over a century of AOW racing STILL affect it now. Your answers (or lack thereof) belittle the very sport you claim to love. Indy rots in your hands yet you request status quo. You negate salient points with drivel...always.

          Indy is not going to die. But, it is dying...are you willing to accept that? "Indy is a hot mess"....it's true. Yet you want it that way? What is wrong with you?

        3. I just want to make sure I am reading this right - Wellpoint is eliminating 112 employees. Wellpoint is a customer of Repucare. Repucare is creating 82 jobs. I sure hope they are hiring Wellpoint employees. Does not make sense!

        4. Triscuts...love um!

        5. Of course the fair will go on. Don't you big city reporters understand county fairs? Get outside the beltway and see what life is really like!

        ADVERTISEMENT