Construction of the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center remains on time to open in spring of next year ahead of the World Cup and on its $200 million budget.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was given an exclusive tour Tuesday of the under-construction complex. Blank’s donation of $50 million enabled the construction. It is the first training center built for USSF and will house its staff and 27 teams. More than 60 employees have moved to Atlanta, with 100 more scheduled.
What was a gentle sloping hill at last April’s groundbreaking has been cleared of rocks and trees, erosion has been controlled and the acreage has been graded with three distinct tiers of land, covering most of 200 acres.
Credit: U.S. Soccer
Credit: U.S. Soccer
The clearing, irrigating, and grading started in June 2024 and was finished November. It took 50 large pieces of construction equipment to handle the work, which was made easier by there being good weather, according to project director Brian Strack, who works for Brasfield & Gorrie.
“I grew up playing soccer, so it means something to me,” he said.
All of the field placements could be seen clearly when standing on the northernmost point of land and looking south.
Credit: U.S. Soccer
Credit: U.S. Soccer
The southernmost tier will contain eight full-size soccer pitches, two artificial-turf fields, and a beach soccer pitch. These fields will be the first to receive grass, scheduled to be planted in the summer, after they have been fine-graded, with stone and irrigation put in.
The middle tier will contain three pitches on the southside of the 200,000-square-feet main building, and a full-size indoor pitch. There also will be a small warm-up pitch on the building’s west side and a smaller pitch on the north side for futsal and power teams.
The northernmost tier will contain two more full-size pitches on the eastern side, and a large maintenance warehouse on the western side. Most of the USSF’s equipment currently is stored in Carson, California.
In total, there will be 16 regulation fields, 13 with bermuda grass grown in South Carolina, the two turf fields, and an indoor field. All the fields will have lighting — some poles have already been put into the ground — and the technology the coaches need for videos. All of the outdoor fields are all set on a north-south axis. The indoor field will run east to west.
The west side of the two-story building, which will house the 15,000-square foot performance center, which will have gym and cardio equipment, is the first part of the facility to be under construction. The shell of the structure is scheduled to be completed in May.
Players can walk from the performance center to the small warm-up turf field on the west side to one of the three pitches on the south side of the building.
Credit: U.S. Soccer
Credit: U.S. Soccer
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