BLAINE, Minn. (FOX 9) - The Blaine City Council has approved a project that will turn the National Sports Center stadium into a seasonal dome.
According to a release from the National Sports Center, the dome works as a response to the “increasing demand for winter indoor sports field space for soccer, lacrosse, ultimate, baseball, softball and golf.”
The 110-foot tall dome will be 450 long and cover 117,260 square feet of field. The covered field will be 130 percent the size of a soccer field. The stadium’s Welcome Center will serve as the dome’s entry way.
The structure will go up Nov. 1 through April 30 each year.
Inhabiting the dome will be National Sports Center leagues and tournaments, as well as local sports associations.
The most high-profile tenant will be Minnesota United FC, which uses the National Sports Center as its training ground currently. Earlier this year, the club announced a potential 15-year agreement to continue practicing in Blaine.
To construct the building, the National Sports Center will spend $4.8 million. Construction is set to begin in late August or early September and is expected to be done by November 2019.
“You talk to any soccer coach or anybody involved with any sort of field sport, and they will tell you there is a significant need for more indoor field space in the winter,” said the NSC’s Chief Communications Officer Barclay Kruse.
“This facility will be a tremendous resource for local sports associations,” said the NSC’s Executive Director Todd Johnson. “Domed fields like this are being built at taxpayer expense in many locations. The NSC is providing this at no cost to taxpayers. This will be a tremendous community asset.”