 | This article contains promotional content. (April 2020) |
Sportsplex Stadium | |
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 Stone entrance to the stadium | |
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| Address | 2044 Landstown Centre Way Virginia Beach United States |
|---|---|
| Owner | City of Virginia Beach |
| Operator | Hometown Sports Management |
| Type | Soccer-specific stadium |
| Capacity | 6,000 (expandable to 17,000) |
| Field size | 110 x 68 m |
| Surface | PowerBlade[1] |
| Current use | Soccer Football Field hockey Rugby union |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1996 |
| Opened | 1999 |
| Construction cost | $6.8 million US$ |
| Tenants | |
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| Website | |
| beachsportsplex.com | |
The Virginia Beach Sportsplex is a sports complex in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The name is most commonly attached to the main soccer-specific stadium within the complex, which opened in 1999. It has a permanent seating capacity of 6,000 on two decks of seating, though it can be expanded upwards to 17,000 for American football games.[2] It was the first soccer-specific venue built from the ground up in the United States. The Sportsplex is located across the street from the Princess Anne Athletic Complex and near the Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater.
The main stadium was the home field of the Hampton Roads Piranhas, a women's team in the W-League, which became the de facto top women's league in the country after the demise of the Women's United Soccer Association. It was originally their home from 1999 to 2002. In 2003 the Piranhas moved their home games to a smaller stadium on the campus of Virginia Wesleyan College near the city's border with Norfolk. It was also the home field for the Virginia Beach Mariners (USL-I) and the Virginia Beach Submariners (PDL).
In 2007, the franchise was terminated, and as a result the Piranhas acquired the Submariners and renamed them as the Piranhas, a reflection of their women's team. Both teams played at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex for the 2010 season of the W-League and the Premier Development League. The stadium is now the home office for the Virginia Rush Organization as well as the home venue for its U16 and U18 U.S. Soccer Development Academy teams. It is also home to the Norfolk Blues rugby team and Southern Virginian Trojans semi-pro football team.[3] The stadium also hosted the Virginia Destroyers of the United Football League, which played two abbreviated seasons at the Sportsplex and for whom the stadium's capacity was doubled.
In 2009 the city of Virginia Beach turned over the Sportsplex to a private firm, Hometown Sports Management, who changed the soccer-only Bermuda grass field over to a more durable multi-sport friendly turf and paved the parking lot.[3]
- ^ PowerBlade on shawsportsturf.com
- ^ Sportsplex Stadium info
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
hometownmgmtwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).