Santa Monica SURF " The bigger picture"

R

RuffRef

BRONZE
Prime... Santa Monica surf which will absorb Santa Monica United looks primed to be in a good space for fields in years to come. I can see the vision of having some of the Nations TOP Soccer tournaments and events. The NEW Park plans going in the santa monica area clearly will give the field space for some BIG tournaments in the future. With all the draw of the surrounding area to entertain distant teams and gobble up dollars when the games over. (Beaches, malls, universal studios, six flags etc.)
Al$o the attraction of a very solid income base in the area. Lets no get into the weather.... They can keep norco... take me to the beach,,,,, i wanna go L.A. SURF tournament...by the beach..ha ha ha... couple that up with copa cobana sand soccer tourney and Bingo!! a city full of players and parents to $pend $20 bucks on popcorn or parking..
They are re- furbishing the turf field at Santa monica high,,and puting in a NEW soccer field across the street in downtown Santa monica. (2 blocks from the mall and the Beach....) New turf alllllllll over except clover park and marine,,,,so Rain or shine.. cha-ching!!
 

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ALL new fields will be turf , The high schools,, the junior high schools are already turf. ...less maintenance. besides its not about what the players want,, its about getting teams and families into the city to spend money. BIG BUSINESS.. look at the map with the green arrows. why else would they have all theese soccer fields in a small place with 2 soccer clubs. To bring in tournaments. (stay n play) = (pay n play) = (pay 4 play) = (go broke to play)
More fields, more players, more people,, more money,,,, it all mathematics.
 
Always good to be optimistic but the amount of field space & parking to run a big tournament is well beyond what SM can provide now or in the near future.

A single field at some school or park can only have what 6 games or so maxed per day. Soccer complexes with multiple fields are needed once the tournament reaches anything considerd big or even medium by today's standards.
 
jpeter said:
Always good to be optimistic but the amount of field space & parking to run a big tournament is well beyond what SM can provide now or in the near future.

A single field at some school or park can only have what 6 games or so maxed per day. Soccer complexes with multiple fields are needed once the tournament reaches anything considerd big or even medium by today's standards.
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Agree. This is not going to allow SM to host large tournaments with hundreds of teams.
 
The airport park expansion project is interesting if they come up with the $40 million to fund it but adding a couple of fields without additional parking is not going to make this a good option for a tournament site nor does the planes noise help. This is site would be good for club that has a couple teams playing their league games or something like that without a lot of traffic like gets generated by tournaments.

Not too many people want to run around to 12 different small individual fields, schools, or whatever to play in a tournament that can't house that many teams in the first place. Can't ever recall any tournaments in Santa Monica besides the regular beach sand ones that pass through every year.

The traffic & parking is bad enough on the west side/SM in the first place so can't see how adding a couple fields is going to make this place any more attractive for any tournament but at least SM is adding more green space.
 
Having to play a regular season game there was bad enough (traffic wise). Parking was not a major issue but it was a late Sunday game so I can see how it could be a problem at other busier times of the weekend.
 
younothat said:
The airport park expansion project is interesting if they come up with the $40 million to fund it but adding a couple of fields without additional parking is not going to make this a good option for a tournament site nor does the planes noise help. This is site would be good for club that has a couple teams playing their league games or something like that without a lot of traffic like gets generated by tournaments.

Not too many people want to run around to 12 different small individual fields, schools, or whatever to play in a tournament that can't house that many teams in the first place. Can't ever recall any tournaments in Santa Monica besides the regular beach sand ones that pass through every year.

The traffic & parking is bad enough on the west side/SM in the first place so can't see how adding a couple fields is going to make this place any more attractive for any tournament but at least SM is adding more green space.
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No one from the OC likes to drive past the 605. Going past LAX for anything is a nightmare. However, OC to Del Mar is worse and has a huge potential to take 5 hours round trip. Great Park in Irvine is central for all SoCal and all the games should be played there. Stadium for the finals too
 
RuffRef said:
Prime... Santa Monica surf which will absorb Santa Monica United looks primed to be in a good space for fields in years to come. I can see the vision of having some of the Nations TOP Soccer tournaments and events. The NEW Park plans going in the santa monica area clearly will give the field space for some BIG tournaments in the future. With all the draw of the surrounding area to entertain distant teams and gobble up dollars when the games over. (Beaches, malls, universal studios, six flags etc.)
Al$o the attraction of a very solid income base in the area. Lets no get into the weather.... They can keep norco... take me to the beach,,,,, i wanna go L.A. SURF tournament...by the beach..ha ha ha... couple that up with copa cobana sand soccer tourney and Bingo!! a city full of players and parents to $pend $20 bucks on popcorn or parking..
They are re- furbishing the turf field at Santa monica high,,and puting in a NEW soccer field across the street in downtown Santa monica. (2 blocks from the mall and the Beach....) New turf alllllllll over except clover park and marine,,,,so Rain or shine.. cha-ching!!
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The field's listed are only a few of the "turf" fields used over the years at SMU, they also have numerous "grass" fields that the club has used for years. While I can't speak of the tournament planning going forward, SMU has hosted a tournament prior, it was a massive undertaking, with some success however, not enough to do it again since at least 10 years ago ;)
 
newwavedave said:
No one from the OC likes to drive past the 605. Going past LAX for anything is a nightmare. However, OC to Del Mar is worse and has a huge potential to take 5 hours round trip. Great Park in Irvine is central for all SoCal and all the games should be played there. Stadium for the finals too
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Nailed it. We live at the LA/OC border and it's an easier drive to Great Park. Santa Monica/Westside traffic suck a$$. I am no expert but work on the Westside and lived there in a past life
 
Overlap said:
The field's listed are only a few of the "turf" fields used over the years at SMU, they also have numerous "grass" fields that the club has used for years. While I can't speak of the tournament planning going forward, SMU has hosted a tournament prior, it was a massive undertaking, with some success however, not enough to do it again since at least 10 years ago ;)
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I don't know the current state of municipal attitude and ordinances, and political willingness could certainly change after all of those new field projects are done (especially since the Samohi and adjacent fields are next to the Civic Center parking garage), but my understanding is that the reason SMU never hosted another tournament after the one they did about 10 years ago and the reason PCSC/Autobahn's one tournament was hosted at UCLA is that the City of Santa Monica decided to prohibit hosting tournaments on city fields because they didn't want to attract additional traffic to the community. Of course, hosting club games all day at these fields attracts out-of-area traffic too most of the time, but the theory was that at least half the attendees in every regular game/scrimmage are SMU families who already live in the area.
 
Dargle said:
I don't know the current state of municipal attitude and ordinances, and political willingness could certainly change after all of those new field projects are done (especially since the Samohi and adjacent fields are next to the Civic Center parking garage), but my understanding is that the reason SMU never hosted another tournament after the one they did about 10 years ago and the reason PCSC/Autobahn's one tournament was hosted at UCLA is that the City of Santa Monica decided to prohibit hosting tournaments on city fields because they didn't want to attract additional traffic to the community. Of course, hosting club games all day at these fields attracts out-of-area traffic too most of the time, but the theory was that at least half the attendees in every regular game/scrimmage are SMU families who already live in the area.
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Not sure where you heard that although, the municipal attitude is not always easy to work with or around. In the 10 years I was at the club, none of those things mentioned were the issue, it only came up once or twice about hosting another tournament after the one tournament (it was my oldest DD's first year there and I served on the BOD until our youngest DD's last year) and I can guarantee, that wasn't the reason why we never did it again. It only came up once or twice after and no one wanted to coordinate and organize it. The club was growing very fast at the time and we had way too many other things going on which meant the then DOC would have to have done it themselves (again) ...
 
Currently theres PLENTY of parking at the AIRPORT <-- its an airport for multiple fields, some free Shuttle service to the nearby park, elementary, and junior high, high, and santa monica college schools if needed. Im sure AYSO will definitly take on some tournaments. some older age group smaller tournaments. but nothing like league/state cup type tourneys. werent there tournaments before soccer complexes???
But i can clearly see some olders invitational type tournaments covering several sites, with semi finals and championship games being held near downtown SM.. (The Beach has plenty parking) Althou traffic is an issue, that hasnt stopped millions of people visiting the Santa monica beach/ mall/pier areas on summer weekends.
Big tournament .. to mean big in stature, prominence. Not meaning a large number of teams with large formats and age groups. The only thing i can see a problem with is the price of it all...

someone once said,,,,,you build it,,,they will come.!!
 
Overlap said:
Not sure where you heard that although, the municipal attitude is not always easy to work with or around. In the 10 years I was at the club, none of those things mentioned were the issue, it only came up once or twice about hosting another tournament after the one tournament (it was my oldest DD's first year there and I served on the BOD until our youngest DD's last year) and I can guarantee, that wasn't the reason why we never did it again. It only came up once or twice after and no one wanted to coordinate and organize it. The club was growing very fast at the time and we had way too many other things going on which meant the then DOC would have to have done it themselves (again) ...
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That's what the then-current Director of Coaching (MA) told me the year after the club first hosted the tournament when I asked about whether the club was doing it again. It's certainly possible he was just saying that because HE didn't want to do it again or I misunderstood and he was just referring to the run-around the rec dept had given them about getting field permits at the time. It never really made a lot of sense to me at the time because half the tournament was at Webster MS anyway, although I know Santa Monica is not the easiest to work with on field permits. In any event, when all the new fields come online, which could be after anyone on this board is done with youth soccer, especially for the Airport expansion, there definitely will be capacity.
 
OC Great Park is the best place for tournaments, period..... years to build it, and still has more phase's to come. Ruff Ref, Beach and parking never mix well either like you said. Driving to the Westside is a nightmare. I hope it happens for you because you sound excited .
 
ChrisD said:
OC Great Park is the best place for tournaments, period..... years to build it, and still has more phase's to come. Ruff Ref, Beach and parking never mix well either like you said. Driving to the Westside is a nightmare. I hope it happens for you because you sound excited .
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I have a suggestion for everyone. All those who live West of the 605 can have all those fields during the season and stay over there and we can call it "Los Angeles (LA) Soccer League" Everyone south of San Clemente can have Oceanside and Del Mar fields and call it "San Diego (SD) Soccer League" Those East of Corona can have Silver Lakes and be called, "Inland Empire (IE) Soccer League" And those who live in the greatest soccer county in the country can have the Greatest Park in Irvine with a stadium and we can call it, "Orange County (OC) Soccer League." Four leagues in Socal and no driving into other counties to play league soccer games as a state law. We can have one summer tournament at the Great Park to see which county is developing the best talent at each age group. This will only be for kids under 14. DA can start after 8th grade for those who think Sally or Jimmy will make the National Team. Fly all you want around the country to find better competition. ECNL can start as well in 8th grade.

This would help stop all the red we see on the weekends. It's parents driving their kids to soccer games all over socal and it needs to stop!!!
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newwavedave said:
I have a suggestion for everyone. All those who live West of the 605 can have all those fields during the season and stay over there and we can call it "Los Angeles (LA) Soccer League" Everyone south of San Clemente can have Oceanside and Del Mar fields and call it "San Diego (SD) Soccer League" Those East of Corona can have Silver Lakes and be called, "Inland Empire (IE) Soccer League" And those who live in the greatest soccer county in the country can have the Greatest Park in Irvine with a stadium and we can call it, "Orange County (OC) Soccer League." Four leagues in Socal and no driving into other counties to play league soccer games as a state law. We can have one summer tournament at the Great Park to see which county is developing the best talent at each age group. This will only be for kids under 14. DA can start after 8th grade for those who think Sally or Jimmy will make the National Team. Fly all you want around the country to find better competition. ECNL can start as well in 8th grade.

This would help stop all the read we see on the weekends. It's parents driving their kids to soccer games all over socal and it needs to stop!!!
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25 years or so ago before CSL conquered the whole territory that is basically what the situation was. Presidio operated in San Diego County, CSL in Orange County, and there were other leagues whose names I forget in the LA central area, Ventura County out to Santa Barbara, north coast out to SLO, Bakersfield, and Inland Empire (San Bernardino and Riverside area). CSL offered a professionally-run operation that absorbed the better teams from the surrounding leagues until they just dissolved into it. Then Surf and a couple of other clubs chafed under CSL's restrictions and founded their own league -SCDSL. Presidio stayed independent (even after a leadership disaster in 2004-2005 when the website operator ran off with the website and scheduling software, claiming it was all his personal property) but eventually adjusted in imitation of the SCDSL example by dropping the rigid Presidio Premier promotion rules and substituted self-nomination into the top-level SDDA.
 
espola said:
25 years or so ago before CSL conquered the whole territory that is basically what the situation was. Presidio operated in San Diego County, CSL in Orange County, and there were other leagues whose names I forget in the LA central area, Ventura County out to Santa Barbara, north coast out to SLO, Bakersfield, and Inland Empire (San Bernardino and Riverside area). CSL offered a professionally-run operation that absorbed the better teams from the surrounding leagues until they just dissolved into it. Then Surf and a couple of other clubs chafed under CSL's restrictions and founded their own league -SCDSL. Presidio stayed independent (even after a leadership disaster in 2004-2005 when the website operator ran off with the website and scheduling software, claiming it was all his personal property) but eventually adjusted in imitation of the SCDSL example by dropping the rigid Presidio Premier promotion rules and substituted self-nomination into the top-level SDDA.
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seems like Surf is out to do a hostile take over and control the whole LA soccer scene. Surf’s popping kernels and showing up everywhere now. And the rest of us here are eating their popcorn.
 
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