National Sports Center
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| National Sports Center | |
| Blaine, Minnesota | |
| Facility statistics | |
|---|---|
| Location | Blaine, Minnesota |
| Broke ground | 1987 (money appropriated) |
| Opened | 1990 |
| Closed | Open |
| Demolished | Open |
| Owner | State of Minnesota |
| Operator | National Sports Center Foundation |
| Surface | Natural Grass |
| Construction cost | $20.3 million (facility) |
| Architect | -- |
| Tenants | |
| Seating capacity | |
| 10,000 (stadium) | |
The National Sports Center is a 600-acres multi-sport complex located in Blaine, Minnesota that includes a soccer stadium with a track, over 50 youth soccer fields, a golf course, a velodrome, a meeting and convention facility, and an eight-sheet ice rink, the Schwan Super Rink, which is the largest ice facility of its type in the world. The National Sports Center opened in 1990 after 1987 legislature created the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission and appropriated $14.7 million for the construction of the NSC. The facility welcomes over 3.3 million visitors annually, making it the most-visited sports facility in the State of Minnesota
The Herb Brooks Foundation, the foundation created by the legendary hockey coach's family, is partnering with the National Sports Center to develop the Herb Brooks Center, a state-of-the-art dryland and ice hockey training facility that is part of the Schwan Super Rink.
[edit] Stadium
The soccer stadium is surrounded by a track and has a large grandstand on one side of the field and a smaller grandstand on the opposite side. The United States women's national soccer team has played many home matches at the NSC, which has also hosted many United States youth national team games. The largest crowd in NSC history was for a 2001 women's soccer match between the United States and Canada, when 15,615 fans watched a 1-0 U.S. victory.
The NSC also played host to the Minnesota Thunder of the USL First Division until 2003.
