L.A. Gets 2nd Plan for Valley Soccer Stadium
A second proposal to build a soccer stadium in the San Fernando Valley with no public subsidy was unveiled Wednesday, creating competition between professional and amateur groups for the site in the newly renovated Hansen Dam Recreation Area.
Steve Sampson, the former coach of the U.S. national soccer team now representing Pueblo Corp., a financial services firm, Wednesday laid out a tentative proposal before the Los Angeles Parks Commission for a $10-million training center and 10,000-seat stadium.
Sampson’s presentation came one month after the Galaxy professional soccer team told the commission it was considering the site for a $60-million development that would include a stadium as well as a training center for the national men’s and women’s teams.
Parks officials are now in an uncommon, and enviable, position, according to commission President Steven Soboroff: multiple suitors jockeying to build a first-class facility in a city lacking enough soccer fields.
More important, Soboroff said, the Galaxy and Pueblo say they are willing to develop the site without using public money.
“This is a chance for the private sector to go to work on something that will end up benefiting the public sector,” said Soboroff. “It’s a win-win situation if we can make this work.”
Sampson told the commission that Pueblo Corp., a Century City-based financial firm that caters to Latinos, hopes to create a training facility called El Pueblo del Futbol. He said Pueblo considers the development a public relations venture that would recoup its costs in public trust and name recognition.
The center would include the stadium and six to 12 soccer fields surrounding it. The dam grounds cover 1,463 acres.
“At no cost to the city, we will provide a center with open access to the public,” Sampson said. The stadium would not host Galaxy games. Instead, semiprofessional, college, high school and adult and youth games would be played there. Revenue from such matches would help offset costs, said Sampson.
The former coach projected that the facility could have 4,000 to 5,000 regular players. About one-third of them would be in a youth training academy that would include an afternoon academic program.
Soccer fan Mike Evans, coach of the Chaminade High School girls’ soccer team in the Valley, said the proposals had his juices flowing.
“We really need something like this. There’s so much love for soccer now, especially for the kids after the women’s World Cup, but we don’t have nearly enough fields.”
Sampson spoke during a period of public comment and did not offer an official bid. The commission decided to hold a series of public discussions with residents of the Lake View Terrace area over the next month, according to parks Commissioner LeRoy Chase.
The parks commission will decide at next month’s meeting whether to open the bidding for a soccer facility to additional developers.
The Galaxy is considering several sites within Los Angeles County for an intimate, soccer-only stadium for professional play and an adjoining series of fields for the national teams and recreational use, according to Sergio Del Prado, the team’s general manager.
Major league soccer considers the creation of such stadiums to be highly desirable as the league struggles to gain a foothold with the American public. The league’s team in Columbus, Ohio, recently built the first professional soccer-only stadium in the United States, a stadium that is considered the prototype for drawing new fans.
Del Prado said the team is still considering the Hansen Dam site and that the Galaxy would not be averse to working with Pueblo on the site’s development.
