Thunder Bay’s Mayor is taking a wait and see approach to a possible new soccer dome.
Bill Mauro says he’s been informed that a private group is planning to build a dome, but can’t say more than that.
“Beyond that, I don’t know anything about it. I don’t know what the timelines are, I know there was an expected timeline that I was advised [of] in that phone call. I don’t know when it will be ready, if it’ll be ready. I don’t know if it will accommodate the users,”
The Mayor says a new soccer dome could affect the city’s proposed turf facility, but isn’t certain of the exact impact.
Mauro adds the committee in charge of the turf facility hasn’t yet discussed the proposed soccer dome.
“We’ll continue to meet, we’ll continue to move our project forward. I think there is some time for us to learn a little bit more about exactly what it is that may or may not be built here, and determine how that might impact [the indoor turf facility].”
The search for an indoor turf facility was spurred on following the collapse of the Sports Dome on the CLE Grounds in a November 2016 snowstorm.
It threw the soccer community into chaos since both men’s and women’s clubs were forced to cancel their seasons because there was no place to play.
In 2017, local soccer clubs were given a glimmer of hope with news Soccer Northwest was trying to get a temporary facility set up at a vacant sawmill on Maureen Street but that fell through because of a legal roadblock.
Fast forward to early 2018, when city council started the process by voting to build such a complex, which was kicked into high gear after city administration began working behind the scenes to make a reality at Chapples Park.
Mayor Mauro has made building the turf facility a top priority throwing his full support behind it.
