PLATTE COUNTY, Mo. — A multi-million dollar soccer complex could be coming to Platte County to address needs for the sport and bring extra economic activity to the area.
While the plan remains in its early stages with an exact location and funding still to be determined, the project would help bring better soccer fields to the county.
According to the plans, a dozen tournament-quality turf soccer fields with lights could be built, along with three concession stands, a 12,000-15,000 square foot field house, and a championship field with seating.
The project could cost anywhere between $20-41 million, and sites like Platte Purchase Park are possibly being considered for the complex.
On Friday, a local soccer coach said the project is greatly needed.
“We've got teams practicing with no lights on little mini fields,” explained Todd Logan, who has coached soccer in the northland for the last 27 years and now oversees the Alliance Futbol Club. “They're grass fields. We're kind of under facilitated."
With a growing demand for soccer in the northland, Logan said the area has fallen behind other parts of the metro with soccer facilities.
Logan pointed to Swope Soccer Village as one example of what the northland could become.
However, due to a lack of tournament-quality fields in the northland, Logan said coaches, players, and families often have to travel long distances for soccer games.
“It's a frustration to always be traveling south,” he explained. “That means every weekend we pack up and travel an hour south and literally spend our weekend at Scheels Overland Park or Wyandotte."
Aside from the obvious benefit to soccer, Platte County Economic Development Council Executive Director Alicia Stephens said hosting soccer tournaments at the complex could bring added business to the county.
“A weekend tournament means filling those hotel rooms over the weekend. People have to eat and they have to shop,” she explained. “We've got the hotel infrastructure. We have retail. We have restaurants. We really want a kind of destination."
Despite the possible big price tag for the project, Stephens said it could help bring some much-needed improvements to the sport locally.
“We have some soccer fields but not tournament fields. This project is really talking about tournament fields,” she explained. “In the study, it was very plain that the northland is not well represented with regards to soccer fields."
By offering a complex in Platte County, Stephens said local families would see added benefits.
“It certainly raises the visibility for the northland. But more than that, I think it meets the need of our soccer parents,” she said. “We've got a lot of northland parents that are already driving over everywhere. Are they eager to have something close to home? I think a lot of those parents would say, ‘Yes.’”
While the county still needs to determine a specific location for the project, Stephens said county leaders chose Platte Purchase Park for an analysis study due to its location.
“It lies right in the middle of Kansas City's northland, so that's the location we chose for the study,” she explained. “There's been no commitment from any of the players with that."
With funding and a location still to be determined, much lies ahead for the project before it becomes a possible reality.
However, discussion of it continues to bring hope for coaches like Todd Logan.
“I think it furthers the Kansas City soccer market and our desire for people to travel here,” he said.
