Placer Valley Soccer Complex opens

If you or your kids play soccer, then you were probably at last Friday's grand opening of the Placer Valley Soccer Complex. Located at 2600 Westbrook Blvd. in Roseville, the complex features 10 full-sized lighted synthetic turf soccer fields which were built for competition, recreation and sports tourism. The complex was built by Bothman Construction at a cost of $48 million. "We feel super privileged to be involved with the project; it's an amazing facility," said Simon Murphy, senior project manager with Bothman Construction. "It's been a real pleasure working with the city. The project was finished right on schedule in just over two years." The idea to build a soccer complex first was thought about in 2004. "This is certainly a game-changer for us in the realm of youth and adult sports in Roseville," said Tara Gee, park planning & develop manager. "This is a significant accomplishment for the city to make this happen. I always said that 'Yeah, we can build a soccer complex, but we can do better than that. We're going to build a soccer experience,' and that's what we did. To see the efforts from the last five years, this is just the culmination of all that work. It's super-exciting to build this facility for the people of Roseville." The grand-opening celebration featured youth soccer clinics and kids zone soccer activities led by Sacramento Republic FC and Iron Rose FC, field hockey demos and drop-in activities by the Roseville Field Hockey Club, lacrosse demos and drop-in activities by Roseville Lacrosse, soccer demos by Placer United Soccer Club, Roseville Soccer Club and Rocklin FC, flag football demos by the Roseville Parks, Recreation and Libraries, as well as adult drop-in soccer, foam blaster drop-in games and tiny tot and kids sports activities. A great time was had by all who attended. The complex is much-needed in Roseville. "Right now, every piece of turf/grass we have in Roseville is used by soccer," Gee said. "Soccer is great to have in our neighborhood parks, but it also presents a challenge when it comes to traffic and parking and use. We will be able to move a lot of the soccer to this complex and that will allow the parks to be used by the neighborhoods. We are very excited to have soccer in one place." The economic impact of this soccer complex could be as much as $15 million a year to the city of Roseville, which includes not just revenue generated from the complex but also retail, entertainment, hotel stays, etc. "If that estimate comes to fruition, this complex will be paid off in four years," Gee said. "And after that, that $15 million will benefit everyone in Roseville. We based that on hosting 12 tournaments per year and we've already got 15 tournaments booked and more inquiries happening now on top of those 15. That's amazing. That's the kind of excitement that's buzzing right now in this community." One local group that's certainly excited about the soccer complex is the Placer United Soccer Club based in Rocklin. The youth development soccer club features 1,000 members playing on 67 teams from U8 to U19. The club is also a part of US Club Soccer and the Elite Club National League (ECNL). "We are ecstatic and so happy to be a part of this new facility," said Jeanne Mabry, Placer United, marketing and special events. "We train on fields throughout South Placer County. This is an opportunity to bring our teams together in one place. It gives us a technical and tactically advantage to train and have everyone here together. Being all weather fields, we will train here all year long along with our indoor facility in Rocklin." Anyone interested in using the soccer complex should contact the city of Roseville.