“(The dome) will be available for any sort of sport that uses a field,” said NSC Chief Communications Officer Barclay Kruse. “Obviously, soccer, lacrosse, ultimate Frisbee, baseball, softball. Even golf can use this field.”
The dome will cover the majority of the mutli-use artificial turf field on the stadium where there are already four light poles that are taller than the height of the dome. It will go up for the winter months of November through April.
“You talk to any soccer coach or anybody involved with any sort of field sport…and they’re really, really crying for field space in the winter, under cover,” said Kruse.
Kruse said the NSC hopes to host local associations for tournaments in the winter time.
“We’re not going to be running big soccer tournaments that attract teams from all over the world,” when it’s cold outside, he said.
The construction for the permanent sections that help anchor the structure will begin soon, and the dome should go up by November 1st, Kruse said. The dome will measure 110 feet tall by 260 feet wide by 450 long and cover 117,000 square feet. It will also incorporate part of the Welcome Center structure as its entry way.
“It’ll actually save us a little bit of money,” said Kruse. “It’s the kind of facility that a lot of cities are building and funding all on their own, and local taxpayers should know they’re not on the hook for this. This is the National Sports Center paying for this, but it’s still going to be a tremendous community asset.”
Kruse said he expects naming rights for the dome to go to the NSC’s main healthcare partner, Fairview Health, among other companies or sponsors.
