Some concrete details have finally emerged about the planned Crew SC training facility.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Columbus Crew SC announced that they’d be teaming up with OhioHealth to create the Club’s future training facility.
The OhioHealth Performance Center is set to open in 2021 and will be located at the existing MAPFRE Stadium site. In addition to player training grounds, the facility will be the home to Crew headquarters as well as a community sports park.
“We are proud to announce the continued partnership and now the historic naming rights to the OhioHealth Performance Center as both the Club and OhioHealth look to take Columbus Crew SC to new heights,” said Crew SC Executive Vice President & Chief Business Officer Steve Lyons. “On behalf of the Haslam and Edwards Families, Crew SC President/GM Tim Bezbatchenko and the entire Crew SC organization, we are thrilled to partner with a leader in the community like OhioHealth, as our official healthcare provider. We are aligned in our goals of unifying and giving back to our community while representing Columbus with great pride in all that we do. We look forward to many more years together as partners and eagerly await the opening of our new performance center.”
The OhioHealth Performance Center will feature a 42,000 square foot, first-in-class progressive MLS training facility for all Crew soccer operations, including First Team and Academy. A First Team locker room and film room will be built as well as additional player and performance areas player lounge, sleep/recovery room, weight room, training room, and hydrotherapy area.
A full-service kitchen and dining area will be built for use by Crew soccer operations staff and dedicated locker rooms, lounges, training areas, and equipment rooms will be onsite for the Crew SC Academy.
A media room and in-house production room are also set to be built as part of this construction. Design of the construction is being led by local firm Columbus Architectural Studio and supported by local firms Moody Nolan and MKSK, with construction led by local firm Corna-Kokosing.
“What a time to be a Columbus Crew SC fan, and OhioHealth is one of the biggest,” Steve Markovich, MD, President and CEO, OhioHealth said. “We are proud to continue our partnership with this wonderful sports organization through a multi-year agreement, elevating our longstanding partnership with great excitement about the future. Beyond that partnership, that now spans nearly 25 years, the new OhioHealth Performance Center will highlight what OhioHealth does best; health, wellness, connecting businesses and neighborhoods through medical expertise and accessibility. To do all of this side-by-side with a team that’s so important to central Ohio and beyond, gives us great pride, and we couldn’t be more excited.”
The OhioHealth Performance Center will also feature two First Team natural grass fields, supported by hydronic heating and SubAir systems; one natural grass field and artificial turf for Academy use; and one seasonal bubble over the stadium field.
Want to get a closer look? Columbus Crew SC released some beautiful renderings of the upcoming project, showing off the expansive training fields and interior spaces. Just keep scrolling.