'Significant milestone': New $28-million indoor soccer dome officially opens
Calgary's soccer community is celebrating the opening of a much-needed indoor facility, which officials hope will alleviate a growing field deficit during the winter months.
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With both youth and adult teams practicing in the background, officials from the city and local soccer organizations scored their first goals Friday at the Calgary Soccer Centre's new air-supported dome. Rather than cut a ceremonial ribbon, dignitaries kicked soccer balls into an empty net to officially mark the facility's opening.
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The $28-million dome in Foothills Industrial Park, which includes a full-size artificial turf soccer pitch, will be open for public bookings starting Saturday.
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The project also included parking lot upgrades in the northwest corner of the property, which the city said will reduce water pooling. Additional parking lot renovations will be completed this summer, adding more than 100 parking spaces.
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The new soccer 'bubble' is the sixth field house in Calgary, according to Heather Johnson, the city's director of recreation and social programs. She said the venue represents 'much-needed' growth in the city's inventory of indoor sport facilities.
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'We know (soccer) is one of the largest sports in the city and is rapidly growing. We also know Calgary is a winter city and we need indoor places to practise and play in the winter season.'
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Johnson noted the bubble replaces what was previously an underutilized grass pitch, and said the new field is expected to generate three times as many bookable hours.
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It's the first field house to open since city council's approval in February of GamePLAN, a 25-year, $250-million-a-year strategy to more adequately fund recreational services and sport facilities until 2050.
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The long-term plan sets a service standard of having 13 indoor field houses by 2050. That would satisfy GamePLAN's target of increasing bookable hours at indoor fields by 2.5 times and meeting a standard of having one indoor field house for every 150,000 residents.
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