A national education and training center "received its final approval Thursday for construction in Kansas City, Kan., with plans for the facilities to serve as the home base for U.S. Soccer and its national teams," according to Sam McDowell of the K.C. STAR. The $62M project "will occupy 174 acres across two patches of land ... less than a 10-minute drive from Sporting Park." Sporting KC CEO Robb Heineman said that U.S. Soccer "has agreed to a 20-year lease to be the primary tenant of the training center." McDowell notes the project "will be completed sometime" in '17. Minimal construction "has already started on the site in anticipation of the project’s approval, most notably the clearing of trees in the area." The training center -- a 100,000-square-foot indoor pavilion set to be designed by K.C.-based Populous -- "will encompass 44 acres." The center "will include the equivalent of 4 to 6 professional outdoor soccer fields, along with an indoor complex that will feature sports medicine and nutrition labs, training facilities and education spaces for coaches." There will also be "at least one climate-controlled indoor field." Heineman said that K.C.-based OnGoal, which owns Sporting KC and has served as the developer of the training facility, and of which he is a member, has met with U.S. men’s national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann and U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati "to seek input into the dynamics of the facilities" (K.C. STAR, 4/10).
