Salem’s Pioneer Sports Park Provides Reimagined Possibilities for Area Sports, Youth — Sport Oregon Voices

Sport Oregon Voices: Two-phased improvement to local sports complex to transform it into year-round, multi-sport facility with enhanced off-field programming opportunities for youth

Already an integral center for mostly outdoor soccer activity in Salem, Ore., Pioneer Sports Park is about to realize an exciting transformation that reimagines the complex as a year-round destination for many different sports, and one that will provide substantially enhanced facilities and programming opportunities to serve area youth.

The $5 million project, endeavored by local soccer club Capital Timbers FC, includes a two-phased plan to add additional turf fields and a two-story building that will serve as its hub of indoor activity. Work on Phase 1 – which includes the installation of three additional artificial turf fields, parking lot pavement and infrastructure work necessary to complete the overall project – is underway, following groundbreaking earlier this fall. With the additional FIFA Pro turf fields, the complex will now feature four artificial turf fields and six natural grass fields, allowing for substantially more events and flexibility in usage at the facility.

Collin Box, the executive director of Capital FC Timbers, says one big advantage of the project is that it addresses a need for more turf fields in the area, ultimately affording for greater year-round usage. With Oregon’s climate, natural grass fields typically take a beating during the winter months and are oftentimes rendered unplayable – or at the very lease unreliable – for several months each year.

Officials expect Phase 1 to be complete in early 2022, with work on the next stage of the project to come later once funding for the first phase is complete. Phase 2 calls for a 4,000 square-foot indoor facility that will house three locker rooms, meeting and common spaces, and potential retail and hospitality areas, in addition to field lighting and additional bleacher seating to comply with USL League Two requirements to allow the Portland Timbers U23 – operated by Capital Timbers FC – to play their home games at the complex.

Capital Timbers FC first began planning the expansive project in 2017, shortly after converting one of its existing grass fields to turf, and realizing its immediate usage benefits. Beyond the field, though, Box sees one of the greatest benefits of the project being the programming possibilities it affords. The club is excited about the opportunity to create after-school programming for area youth, creating a new venue, literally, for educational and mentor programs. Box says discussions are ongoing with potential partner organizations to create and implement these new programs in the new indoor facilities.

“There are some great partners that can come in and use sports as a way to really reach kids and support them in others ways, through tutoring and mentoring,” Box said.

Phase 1 work is being executed with flexibility in mind, as the new turf fields are being laid out in a fashion that will appeal to additional field sports, outside of soccer. Box says the adjoining fields essentially will be oriented as a flat, open space, with no permanent lines sewn in, creating a blank canvas for sports rentals that require a greater surface area in which to compete. Plans call for the complex to support additional sports like Aussie rules football, baseball, softball and lacrosse, among others. Additionally, Capital Timbers FC is partnering with its neighboring facility, Holland Sports Park, which has one baseball and two baseball/softball fields to offer.

“It’s an exciting piece to really create a multisport facility in Salem,” Box said. “We, as a community, didn’t really have anything like that, up until this point.”

The impact of the Pioneer Sports Park project is vast, not only for the club, but for sports tourism in the state. Once completed, the project’s economic impact is estimated at $12 million annually, serving some 14,000 kids per year and attracting 25,000 non-local visitors each year.

For Capital Timbers FC, the project allows it to better accommodate the needs of its existing teams while offering the ability to promote and utilize the complex as a year-round destination for all sorts of sports and events.

“Not only will we be able to take care of the teams that we have, in terms of providing space for programs especially in the winter time,” Box said, “but also the financial impact is big with the opportunities to do more programming and rent the space out to other groups.

Thanks in large part to the generous initial donation from the Ed Davison family, Capital Timbers FC is nearing the finish line in terms of funding for Phase 1 of the Pioneer Sports Park project. The organization is less than $100,000 away from meeting its first-phase funding goal. For information on how to get involved through donations or sponsorship opportunities, please visit the club’s official website.