Soccer advocates make pitch for more fields in Santa Fe

Dec. 2—After serving as president of Santa Fe's adult soccer league for six years, Scott Hussion became executive director of the Northern Soccer Club youth league last year.

A Santa Fe native, Hussion said it was exciting to see how many more kids in the region are passionate about the beautiful game than when he was growing up. But it quickly became clear he had a problem.

"Immediately, I realized our field situation is not good," he said.

The city has only five soccer fields, none specifically dedicated to use by kids. Leagues are competing for space at existing facilities with other sports, including flag football and lacrosse, and Hussion said there's not enough room to go around.

The Northern Soccer Club used to practice at the Downs of Santa Fe, but three weeks into Hussion's first season as director this spring, issues with effluent from the city's wastewater treatment plant made the space unavailable.

"I had to figure out how to take 800 kids and relocate them somewhere else, and there was nowhere for them to go," he said.

Parks and Open Space Division Director Melissa McDonald and Jonathan Weiss, the city's golf course and Municipal Recreation Complex manager, helped him find space at city parks and "as much space" at the MRC's Soccer Valley as they could get.

It helped, but not enough. Hussion described the quality of some of the city parks where kids now practice as "dilapidated."

To address the problem, he recently kicked off a "Mucho Soccer" campaign to get more fields built in the city. An online petition has garnered 300 signatures in just a week, and Hussion said he plans to lobby state lawmakers and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to provide funding for a regional soccer complex in Northern New Mexico.

That's something the city intends to do as well. The Santa Fe City Council's priorities for the 2024 legislative session include $12 million in a capital outlay request for the expansion of the MRC Soccer Valley and other soccer venues throughout the city.

The city also intends to use $1.5 million in unanticipated gross receipts tax revenue from the past fiscal year for soccer upgrades, with $1 million going to improvements at the Salvador Perez soccer field and parking lot. About $500,000 will be used for the design of a Soccer Valley expansion.

Councilor Jamie Cassutt said the city asked for funding for the Soccer Valley expansion last year as well but didn't receive as much as it hoped. When councilors asked questions of legislators, she said, they were told lawmakers had concerns about how prioritization works for the MCR soccer fields, which currently gives top consideration to adult leagues.

"They weren't as keen to be funding this project because they really want to be creating opportunities for our youth," she said.

Toward that end, Cassutt introduced an ordinance to remove youth leagues' priority use of certain city sports fields and adult leagues' priority use of the MRC pitch. The measure was unanimously approved by the City Council last week.

Weiss said the legislation is largely a formalization of how things already operate at the MRC. Since the facility opened in 1998, youth and adult leagues have coexisted well — but in recent years, demand for youth soccer has ballooned in the community.

Some of that interest can be seen in the city's high schools, where St. Michael's, Santa Fe High, Santa Fe Prep and Capital have experienced success at the statewide level.

"This recent spike in youth field needs have kind of emphasized the need for a more flexible policy for permitting our fields at the MRC," Weiss said.

The new policy will give facility staff the latitude to better accommodate the increased demand for youth leagues, he said.

"And we in no way want to push away our youth when they do healthy, organized activity — we want to support them," Weiss said.

The MRC staff is excited by the proposed expansion, which Weiss said would be a benefit to the community.

Hussion's focus is on increasing access for young people, but he isn't lobbying for dedicated fields for youth leagues. More options available to everyone would be beneficial for the whole community, he said.

Hussion added his goal is an expansion that would create five new fields with lighting so they can be used during the day by younger players and in the evening by adults. Cassutt and Hussion said they hope one of the new fields will be a tournament field with seating so competitions can be held in Santa Fe, which would be a draw for the region and help bring revenue to the city.

Cassutt said an anonymous donor has promised to match the city if it can raise $3 million for the Soccer Valley expansion. The $500,000 from the GRT revenue will count toward that progress. She said she hopes the new ordinance will encourage more interest in capital funding from the Legislature for the project.

Cassutt also called for a broader analysis of sports facilities and their condition, acknowledging "a lot of the city fields around the parks are not very usable."

Soccer is just the most recent sport to push for more attention in Santa Fe. In recent years, proponents have sought more or improved venues for swimming, baseball and pickleball.

Cassutt, who represents District 4, said it's important kids on the city's south side have access to sports facilities and open space.

"Most of the families with children, this is where they can afford to live," she noted.

Hussion estimated about 2,000 children and teenagers play soccer throughout Santa Fe, either in the Northern Soccer Club or in another organization.

"I think it's important for the city to show the kids that we care, and that they deserve nice facilities as well," he said.

There are a lot of things in Santa Fe for older people to enjoy, he said, but not as many for young people.

"Everyone wants kids off their phones," Hussion said. "Here's a great way to do that."