NORMAL – Almost three years ago, in the summer of 2015, when an increase in the amount of Home Rule Tax dollars coming to Normal the next year was brought up, Normal Town Council members sought suggestions for how the cash ought to be spent. With soccer being the latest sports rage in the community, there was a push for a multi-field facility to be constructed with a share of those dollars. Doing that, soccer proponents said, would be a draw into the community.

Kicking around the notion of such a facility turned into Normal Town Council, Bloomington City Council, and the Bloomington Area Convention and Visitors Bureau pooling resources to spend $47,000 on a three-month study conducted by Sports Facilities Advisory (SFA), to see what the company which acts as a research group, recommended for this community.

A Clearwater, Fla.-based company, SFA researches and manages similar projects, and whose presentation was given to the group by Evan Eleff, that company’s chief operating officer. SFA had representatives visiting the Twin Cities in April. “In the end, we want to answer the question of why – why a facility in this community,” Eleff told the gathering, which took place prior to the scheduled Normal Town Council session.

SFA, during the presentation which was unveiled at the Astroth Community Education Center on Heartland Community College ’s campus in northwest Normal , indicated a facility which would need to be multifaceted catering to more than one sport, and would come with a total price tag of just over $43.5 million. The bulk of that amount, he said, would be for the fields and sports equipment, carrying a price tag of an estimated $14.4 million. He added the county, too, would see some benefit from such a facility.

Such a facility, if being considered, Eleff said, “must have an economic impact. It must become a regional destination, and must add to an area’s quality of life.”

SFA looked at all sites for all different sports, Eleff said. He stressed if a facility is to be built, “It must not support a single sport.” To that end, he explained, SFA looked at 675 regional events of varying sports at what he called 250 “tourney capable” facilities which would compete with the Twin Cities to hold events. He said a number of those facilities could be within anywhere between an hour to four hours from where those who want to participate live.

He said to create a facility that has a dome is something to consider because, as he explained, a dome “is flexible and costs less operationally.” He said if a dome is not preferred, an outdoor structure which incorporates synthetic turf would be preferred. But he said, if the facility were to have 16 fields, a mix of synthetic and natural grass ought to be considered. The property sought for such as facility, he added, should be 130,000 sq. ft.

An additional benefit Eleff threw in was that even after the kids who use this potential facility grow older, they would be healthier and years later would have the potential for earning more at a future job.

No site for this proposed facility has been mentioned. And just after the 75-minute meeting started, public comment by resident Karl Sila led off the session. He said he would like to see officials concentrate on other matters other than this. He cited any facility could wind up being another one which gets taxpayer funding – something he said he doesn’t want to see – and referenced Downtown Bloomington’s Grossinger Arena as an example of such a location getting such funding.

But according to a local radio report, there is talk that a second unnamed developer has interest in financing such a facility as was discussed at the meeting. Up until that point, developer Katie Kim and landowner Dave Stark had been talking to stakeholders for more than a year concerning such a project.

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