Los Angeles FC took its first team tour of the club’s newly completed $30 million training facility Wednesday on the campus of Cal State Los Angeles. Players and coaches alike were ecstatic over their new home.
“It’s incredible,” goalkeeper Tyler Miller said. “It’s definitely one of the nicest professional environments that I’ve been able to train in. It’s modern, state of the art, and it just meets all of our needs as a professional soccer player.”
The players toured the facility first, learning about the indoor office space before taking to the field for their first practice in their new digs. The 95,500 square foot pitch is specially tailored to prepare LAFC for games at home, outfitted with the same Bermuda hybrid grass installed in Banc of California stadium.
“I think it’s really modern,” forward Carlos Vela said. “We have everything. Now we have no excuse to not play good.”
The 30,000 square foot facility includes a combined weight room and recovery center that flows together in an open layout so that athletes using these spaces can remain within eyesight of the rest of the team on the field. The goal is to allow the club to be able to train together as one unit, providing communication and integration not only between players and coaches, but also members of the front office.
“I can’t say enough… in terms of our organization setting the bar so high,” head coach Bob Bradley said. “To have a professional place where we come every day, where the field is perfect, where inside the building players can interact… we are so fortunate to be able now to come here every day.”
Bradley believes the club’s commitment to excellence in off-the-field areas, such as stadium and facility construction, is one of the main ways LAFC will find success down the line. When looking to attract big-ticket athletes, Bradley said the environment available for players to live, work and train in can be the difference in a team’s ability to secure the best players in the game.
“Whenever an organization does things the right way from the top, the facilities, the stadium, the kind of surface that you play on every day… All of those things are important,” Bradley said. “When you are looking around the world to attract players, they want to go into a situation where they can improve, where they can be a part of something that is special. We’re in the early moments here, but I think the starting points are fantastic.”
Beside serving as the center of training for the team, the Performance Center will house all front office operations, along with coaches’ offices and film rooms. The LAFC Youth Academy will also begin training in the new facility, which is the result of a partnership with Cal State Los Angeles. In exchange for hosting the Performance Center, the club pledged $1.6 million to the university, primarily to help fund the renovation of the Jesse Owens Track, develop of the athletic department and support new degree programs in athlete representation and sports operations.