Schenectady, N.Y. — The Schenectady County Legislature passed Local Law G of 2020 tonight, which authorizes the lease of 12 acres of unused property held in trust for SUNY Schenectady to Black Watch Soccer Club, Inc., a not-for-profit youth and young adult soccer development club.
Black Watch Soccer Club would develop an indoor and outdoor facility on the grounds of Schenectady Community College’s abandoned baseball/softball/track field areas. Black Watch Soccer Inc. is the Capital Region’s sole Major League Soccer (MLS) development partner.
“The County continually looks for ways to create value and revenue from unutilized or underutilized areas,” said Schenectady County Legislator Gary Hughes. “This project will create a new revenue stream for our community college, while also giving them access to the facility, at no cost.”
“We are excited to explore this partnership with Black Watch Soccer,” said Dr. Steady Moono, President of SUNY Schenectady. “The high caliber of their coaching, youth development programs, training camps, and other programs will be a significant asset not only to the SUNY Schenectady campus, but to Schenectady as a whole. Black Watch Soccer fosters the development of student athletes and will further add to our education pipeline as students pursue their college degrees. The addition of Black Watch Soccer will also serve as a real boost to our local economy as student athletes, adults, parents, and visitors participate in programs and tournaments on our campus.”
Steve Freeman, CEO and President of Black Watch Premier said, “This project will inform everyone in the community about our vision, mission, and how much we care about our kid’s dreams. No shortcuts. This project is to support our players and our technical staff’s personal growth. Our players and technical staff are deserving of a workspace that allows them to reach for the stars. Our new facility will increase opportunities and create programming to develop a greater density of high performing athletes as we try to push our goals even higher towards personal and collective excellence. The new facility will be a home to train, to learn, to fail, to grow, to collaborate, to lead, and to fall in love with sport—our players and technical staff are deserving of a workspace that allows them to achieve their goals. Making SUNY Schenectady Community College, our new home for the BWP High-Performance Center will also bring outside ideas, practices, people, and cultures into our marketplace. In full, our players and technical staff are deserving of an environment that allows them to reach for the stars.”
“A new facility like this can create lasting economic benefits for our community,” said President of Discover Schenectady and Schenectady County Legislator Jeff McDonald. “Hosting tournaments at SUNY Schenectady will not only help local restaurants and hotels, it will also create sales tax and bed tax revenue.”
Under the negotiated lease agreement, Black Watch Soccer will construct an indoor/outdoor recreational facility which can be utilized for soccer, basketball and volleyball. There will be a dome with one indoor soccer field, and four basketball courts, as well as several outdoor soccer fields, when the project is complete. SUNY Schenectady will also receive a yearly cash rent of $27,782 and $27, 781 in monetary credit for the College and community’s field use time under the agreement.