Editorial: More soccer fields needed in the valley

Wednesday, Dec. 15, 1999 | 9:25 a.m.

Despite soccer's growing popularity in Las Vegas, the fact remains that there aren't enough fields. Right now there are just 30 soccer fields in the Las Vegas Valley for an estimated 20,000 children who play soccer, but the number of those already strapped fields actually is even expected to decrease soon. For instance, as the Sun's Erin Neff noted in a Tuesday story, state plans to widen U.S. 95 eventually will result in two soccer fields making way for more roads.

So it is encouraging, then, that a nonprofit group is seeking to enter into a lease agreement with the city of Las Vegas that would allow the building of a 20-field, $12.9 million soccer complex on about 100 acres of what is currently Bureau of Land Management land in northwest Las Vegas. The group, Premier Soccer, wants to lease the land from the city for 50 years. At the conclusion of this period, the city would assume ownership. Premier Soccer also wants the city to spend $1.9 million in off-site improvements to help the nonprofit group jump-start the project.

The proposal is headed to the City Council for its blessing. If the answer is yes, the city will then negotiate with the BLM, which will decide whether the complex meets its qualifications for an appropriate recreational use. Before the city goes forward, though, it should receive assurances from the nonprofit group that the costs of playing soccer there will be affordable for all children.

What the city doesn't need is another Angel Park golf complex. While Angel Park is a municipal golf complex, the city contracts with a private company to operate the facility. Unfortunately the greens fees charged by the private operator are so expensive that the courses are out of reach for most residents, making them municipal courses in name only. So while more soccer fields are needed, there should be guarantees that this doesn't become a facility only for the children of parents who are well-off.