By Heart of Illinois ABC
BLOOMINGTON – The Bloomington-Normal multi-million dollar sports complex, has been discussed since 2018, but those talks are becoming a reality as leaders of the Illinois Fire Juniors Soccer Club (IFJ) said they have a plan, and the money to start construction.
$3.5 million dollars later and land for the new sports complex is secured.
Illinois Fire Juniors Soccer Club said once completed, the entire complex will hold 10 full sized, 400 by 300 foot fields, 7 youth sized 7 v 7 fields, a championship field, and room for a 280 foot by 560 foot indoor training facility.
They said it will accommodate other sports too like lacrosse, cricket, and football.
Secretary and co-chair Jeremy Kelly said they’re excited about the much larger impact they’ll be able to have on the community.
“COVID has kind of helped re-frame everything and say this is important, kids out playing, doing, soccer, being healthy, having recreation, that’s important. So we’ve had some people step up and are ready to go. As I said to some others the other day, this is kind of a signal that normal is coming back. This is the chance to come back, and this is the return normal, getting new fields, getting a better complex, getting back to soccer.”
IFJ members said they’re still deciding some things like whether to use turf or natural grass, but the plan is for the complex to be finished in about a year and a half.
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