National Sports Center
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| National Sports Center | |
| Blaine, Minnesota | |
| Facility statistics | |
|---|---|
| Location | Blaine, Minnesota |
| Broke ground | 1987 (money appropriated) |
| Opened | 1990 |
| Owner | State of Minnesota |
| Operator | National Sports Center Foundation |
| Surface | Natural Grass |
| Construction cost | $20.3 million (facility) |
| Architect | -- |
| Tenants | |
| NSC United (NPSL) | |
| Seating capacity | |
| 10,000 (stadium) | |
The National Sports Center is a 600 acres (2.4 km²) multi-sport complex located in Blaine, Minnesota that includes a soccer stadium with a track, over 50 youth soccer fields, a golf course, a velodrome, a meeting and convention facility, and an eight-sheet ice rink, the Schwan Super Rink, which is the largest ice facility of its type in the world. It hosted the USA Broomball National Championships in 2007. After efforts led by Blaine Mayor Elwyn Tinklenberg, the National Sports Center opened in 1990 after 1987 legislature created the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission and appropriated $14.7 million for the construction of the NSC. The facility welcomes over 3.3 million visitors annually, making it the most-visited sports facility in the State of Minnesota
The Herb Brooks Foundation, the foundation created by the legendary hockey coach's family, is partnering with the National Sports Center to develop the Herb Brooks Center, a state-of-the-art dryland and ice hockey training facility that is part of the Schwan Super Rink.
[edit] Stadium
The soccer stadium is surrounded by a track and has a large grandstand on one side of the field and a smaller grandstand on the opposite side. The United States women's national soccer team has played many home matches at the NSC, which has also hosted many United States youth national team games. The largest crowd in NSC history was for a 2001 women's soccer match between the United States and Canada, when 15,615 fans watched a 1-0 U.S. victory.
The NSC also played host to the Minnesota Thunder of the USL First Division until 2003. On May 12, 2008, the Thunder announced they would be returning to the National Sports Center for their home games. The track around the pitch is being removed, the playing surface is being extended closer to the stands, and additional seating will be added all around the field, increasing the capacity to 12,000, with a possibility of further expansion to 20,000. The move was made for multiple reasons, but most importantly because the United Soccer Leagues is stressing that teams play in soccer-specific stadiums.
