Multi-use turf sports facility still needed in Thunder Bay, says Soccer Northwest president

The president of Soccer Northwest says he believes the City of Thunder Bay should move forward with its proposed indoor turf sports facility, despite the ongoing uncertainty about the COVID-19 pandemic.

City council in the northwestern Ontario community will receive a report on the project at Monday's night's regular meeting.

The facility, if it goes ahead, would cost about $33 million, and be built at Chapples Park.  The latest report includes a recommendation the project be put out for a tender on construction, but council won't vote on that recommendation until August.

"It is what we need," said Michael Veneziale, president of Soccer Northwest. "I have a hard time downplaying the pandemic, because it is affecting so many people in so many different ways."

"But … this project is a 50-year project," he said. "The long-term goals can't be put aside, because it's just going to end up costing our city more money in the long run."

"For example, if we would have done this project a few years back, when we first brought it forward, this project would have been $5 million cheaper."

Veneziale said interest in soccer continues to be very strong in Thunder Bay.  However, space remains very, very limited, for both the indoor and outdoor versions of the sport. 

"What I'm starting to see is parents sending their kids away, or families actually leaving the city, so their children have opportunities," he said. "We have a ton of young individuals looking to get scholarships, or go away to have other opportunities, and they're just not having that opportunity in Thunder Bay."

"They're having to go elsewhere to find it."

If council approves the project, the city hopes to have the facility open by winter 2021.

However, the council report warns that completion could be delayed by the pandemic.