For decades, the McKinney Soccer Complex at Craig Ranch welcomed families and athletes for decades and brought in teams from across the country, even as far away as Australia. But the complex will soon be even better than ever.
Construction for a $25 million project started at the McKinney Soccer Complex at Craig Ranch. The city of McKinney has started a multi-year renovation to fully modernize the McKinney Soccer Complex at Craig Ranch and attract sports tourism to the community. The city has begun the first phase of a complete renovation to the McKinney Soccer Complex at Craig Ranch.
A press release explained that the final project includes renovating the sports fields, improving the spectator areas, expanding hike and bike trails, and adding digital scoreboards, restroom buildings, pavilions and play equipment. But the facility will be closed throughout most of the multi-year construction process.
“This renovation will deliver to our community a fresh, modern experience on par with any public sports facility in the country,” Director of Parks and Recreation Michael Kowski said in an official statement. “While the focus will be on serving our home-grown teams and bringing more sports tourism to McKinney, we are also aiming to add new passive and active recreation features that will be accessible to the whole community all year long.”
The McKinney City Council previously approved the $25 million budget and the first phase of the construction contract with Hellas Construction. The project is funded through 2019 bond funds and cash contributions from residential developers acquired through the city’s parkland dedication requirements.
“A facility like this will allow us to have increased exposure as a cutting-edge sports tourism destination,” said Aaron Werner, Executive Director of Visit McKinney. “When people travel to our community for sports tourism, they spend money local, which provides a direct economic impact for McKinney residents.”
The vision of the project is to upgrade the facility to meet the growing demands of McKinney residents, local athletes, tournament participants and other park visitors.
