The new Downtown Stadium -- providing opportunity to expand and solidify Colorado Springs as a center for professional and developmental sports competition, camps, training, demonstration and education; thereby greatly enhancing our brand of Olympic City USA.
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COMMUNITY CELEBRATES PROGRESS OF DOWNTOWN STADIUM
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Colorado Springs recently took a step closer to
opening day of a multi-use
stadium, a City for Champions project, that will serve as the home of the Switchbacks soccer team. A ceremony took place December 17, 2019 when Switchbacks staff and city officials broke ground on the 8,000-seat outdoor venue, expected to open in March 2021 at Cimarron and Sahwatch streets. In addition, the Switchbacks unveiled its new logo and opened up reservations to secure seats for the 2021 soccer season.
Mayor John Suthers, one of several speakers at the ceremony, called the groundbreaking a “momentous” occasion. “Colorado Springs has an incredible amount of momentum,” he said. “This stadium, beginning in 2021, will be a big part of it.”
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Nick Ragain, president of the Colorado Springs Switchbacks Football Club — a professional soccer team based in the Springs since 2014 — was among those who ceremonially stuck shovels in the dirt, signaling the beginning of construction. “This day is a culmination of a lot of hard work and effort,” Ragain said. “It’s a big win. In the sports business, we’re all about winning. Tonight with those shovels in the ground, that is a win.”
The 8,000 seat facilit
y will host a variety of sporting and entertainment events. The Switchbacks and Weidner Apartment Homes of suburban Seattle are partnering on the stadium. The official stadium name will formally be announced later this year.
It’s one part of a downtown sports and event center project; the other is an indoor arena on the Colorado College campus expected to break ground in 2020.
Thank you to the local community and organizations for their involvement and support to bring this project to construction.
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DOWNTOWN STADIUM RECEIVES UNANIMOUS VOTE OF APPROVAL FROM COLORADO SPRINGS CITY COUNCIL
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In November 2019, City of Colorado Springs City Council members gave the Downtown Stadium project application the thumbs up with an unanimous vote of approval. The second application for vacating one block of Moreno Ave. between what will be the stadium and the Weidner Apartment Homes was also approved.
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This location for the downtown outdoor stadium is perfect. It will be a great entrance to City.”
– City Councilmember Wayne Williams
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I see our city at a crossroads. Either we will be stuck in the past, or we will move forward. This project represents our moving forward
.” – City Councilmember David Geislinger
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This initiative will attract additional investment into the community. It’s important because of our focus on the sports economy. The project embodies the principles of the new City Comprehensive Plan (PlanCOS), of the Downtown Plan, it aligns with the Olympic Training Center, and it will bring new vitality to the southeast part of the city. Already we are hearing a buzz about Colorado Springs and the City for Champions initiative has contributed greatly to that.”
– Tammy Fields, Colorado Springs Chamber and EDC
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Outdoor Stadium and Indoor Arena part of Colorado Sports and Events Center, City for Champions Initiative
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As part of the City for Champions (C4C) Initiative, two downtown multi-purpose sports venues (together named the Colorado Sports and Events Center) are now both under construction and making plans to host professional, Olympic and amateur sporting events as well as entertainment and cultural events.
The two venues are in close proximity to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum.
- The Downtown Stadium is the outdoor venue. It officially broke ground December 7, 2019 and will be the home of the Switchbacks Football Club (FC).
- The Edward J. Robson Arena at Colorado College is the indoor venue. It will officially break ground February 15, 2020 and will be the home of CC Tiger hockey.
Both venues will include technological features coveted by competitive athletes, further solidifying the City’s brand of Olympic City USA and providing unique venues to host the growing momentum of a strong and vibrant tourism industry.
Once completed, the Downtown Stadium will be a multi-use facility that can accommodate a variety of sporting and entertainment events. Located at the CityGate property, the Downtown Stadium site is bordered by Cimarron St. to the north, Moreno Ave. to the south, Sierra Madre St. to the west and Sahwatch St. to the east.
The stadium will be the new home of the major league Switchbacks Football Club. The Switchbacks is part of the United Soccer League (USL), a professional soccer championship league and the largest Tier 2 professional soccer league in the world with 85 million viewers and social media followers and a national broadcast platform with ESPN. Switchbacks soccer is the first professional sport with national broadcast to come to Southern Colorado.
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Scheduled Opening of the Downtown Outdoor Stadium: Spring 2021
Venue Details:
- 8,000 permanent seats
- Expandable seating to 15,000 for concerts and special events
- Home of the Colorado Springs Switchbacks Football Club
- 85,000 square-foot playing field
- 3-story multi-function West Building Complex
- Elevated concourse surrounding the playing field
- 240-seat, multi-use meeting/banquet room
- 4,000 square-foot restaurant concept
- Sports performance and training facilities
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Iconic Stadium Entrance Makes a Statement
By Greg Cerbana, Weidner Apartment Homes
Building design at its visionary best engages, exhilarates, and inspires. It possesses a quality—almost indescribable—that embodies design ingenuity, connection to place, and, above all, imagination.
Architecture+Design, March 2018
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Dean Weidner and the Ragain family’s vision for the main entrance to the new downtown stadium is a statement piece that captures the attention of not only fans and visitors but that also draws in the entire community with its artful representation of “all that is possible” in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Olympic City, USA.
The rings of this unique and compelling main entrance were specifically designed as a subtle nod to the pride of Colorado Springs, the numerous US Olympic National Governing Bodies located here, while also affirming our community as Olympic City, USA.
The sphere represents the universal pursuit of human endeavor, and emphasizes Colorado Springs’ enduring role in the global world of sport.
The materials, once formally selected, will be modern and reflective. Modern, to represent soccer as the largest and fastest growing sport in the world. Reflective, to honor Colorado Springs’ rich heritage, and the site’s history as a foundry.
Once finalized, we believe the Downtown Stadium’s entrance will be on par with other prominent placemaking works of art found in major cities.
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Downtown Stadium – Frequently Asked Questions
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What are the goals for the Colorado Springs New South End of Downtown?
In the near and long-term, the Ragain and Weidner Partnership (Stadium Partnership) goals are focused on developing a stadium that is an economic generator while inspiring our local community. The stadium will be an experienced-based destination regularly programmed to stimulate sports tourism and represent a gateway to our city. The stadium is expected to continue inspiring development investment, property values, and cultural growth in the New South End of downtown Colorado Springs as a key entrance and cultural hub for well into the future.
CLICK HERE
to view Downtown Stadium Fact Sheet and Frequently Asked Questions.
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COLORADO SPRINGS – A CITY FOR CHAMPIONS
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