The Union want their new multisport facility to be for the Chester community as much as the team

In the seven years since Union president Tim McDermott first pitched the idea of building a multisport facility in the team’s training complex in Chester, there’s been plenty of skepticism about whether that was the right idea for the land.

After all, the initial plans when the Union launched included a lot of commercial development — restaurants, shops, perhaps a supermarket — that never came to fruition. Along the way, it wasn’t fully clear if a sports facility was what Chester residents really wanted to see.

At this point, we might never know what could have been. But one thing was clear at Thursday’s ribbon-cutting for the completion of the WSFS Sportsplex: For as much as the facilities are meant for the Union’s reserve and academy teams, they’re also very much meant for the Chester community.

On that count, the building that now stands can definitely do some good.

“This space doesn’t just sit in Chester, it belongs to Chester,” McDermott said at a ceremony that attracted Union players and staff, team ownership, Chester officials, and MLS commissioner Don Garber.

“What makes this space truly special is that it doesn’t separate professional excellence from community access, it brings them together,” McDermott said. “The same fields where Union II will compete and where future stars will be shaped through the Union academy, those same fields will be open to our local youth. That message is powerful: You belong here, your dreams matter.”

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The complex’s indoor and outdoor turf fields, two basketball courts, and other facilities will host Chester High School’s soccer program, and sometimes its basketball and football teams. It will also be the new home of the Chester Biddy Basketball League, as deeply rooted a sports institution as there is in the city, now in its 70th year.

“This is what the future of sports infrastructure should look like: inclusive, innovative, and intentionally rooted in the communities they serve,” McDermott said.

Chester Mayor Stefan Roots called the facility “a landmark project that represents not only the growth of our city, but also the future of our youth and community.”

The city and team haven’t always gotten along perfectly, but Roots’ praise for the Union signaled things are going well these days.

“It’s a reflection of what we as a community can achieve when we come together with a shared vision and determination,” he said. “Local youth league, schools, and adult recreation programs will now have access to world-class amenities right here in Chester.”

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When Union principal owner Jay Sugarman spoke, he showed off two poster-sized photos that flanked him: a black-and-white aerial shot of what the Chester waterfront looked like 25 years ago and a color one of what it looks like now.

The money that changed the scene wasn’t all his, in particular the nearly $87 million in state funding that came between the 2008 announcement of the expansion team and the 2010 kickoff. But the legwork that it took to acquire all the land from the stadium past the former Delaware County power plant — much of which was spread across small parcels — was serious.

“I think we have one of the most unique sport campuses in the entire country,” Sugarman said. “I think this is something that’s not only unique in Major League Soccer, but it’s something that makes Chester unique as well. So we’re really looking forward to showing what the Union can do, and what this community can do with the Sportsplex.”

He also reflected on a conversation he had with sporting director Ernst Tanner seven years ago, when Tanner came over from Austria to take the job. Sugarman asked Tanner what it would take to make the Union one of the league’s top teams, and got a specific answer.

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“He said it’s critical that your first team, your second team, and your academy all be in one place, all be on one campus, so that you can build a winning culture from top to bottom every day,” Sugarman said. “Well, we’ve made a lot of progress since we had that conversation, with the first team, with the second team, and we built an academy — one of the top academies in the country, that’s developing talent for us and for our national team.”

He then added: “As we look at what we can do with this amazing new sports complex, this amazing campus, this amazing community, with all these pieces working together, with everything in one place, I can’t wait to see what we can achieve together.”

That track record of success is part of what brought Garber to town. His longtime friendship with Sugarman is no doubt another part, as is his perennial willingness to show up when any MLS team opens a building. It’s part of any commissioner’s job, but Garber genuinely enjoys it.

“When we thought about bringing Major League Soccer to Philadelphia so many years ago, we never dreamed that we would have what we have here today,” he said. “This ribbon cutting is more than just the opening of a facility, it’s a celebration of ownership’s vision, of the collective vision of this community, in the belief in the power of sport to drive innovation. … You here have something that’s never been done before in Major League Soccer: one campus that connects all of the dots of building the foundation of the sport and this community, brick by brick.”

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It is also intended to be the incubator for many years of future Union talents, not just the current phenom in Cavan Sullivan but those that come after him. There’s already another big name in the pipeline in 15-year-old striker Malik Jakupovic.

“[The Union] has one of the top academies not just in our league, but it really is the envy of a lot of academies around the world,” Garber said, a point proven by the multimillion-dollar transfer fees that Union players command from European clubs. “Pennsylvania, this community, it’s a real hotbed for youth soccer and player development. You should be proud that you have one of the best facilities in North America.”