(Photo above: (L-R) Ryan Shore, former Timbers FC President & Rodney Buzzas MD, current Bend FC President | by Krystal Marie Collins)
The Build it Forward Capital Campaign (BIFCC) is a fundraiser aiming to transform 8 acres of the Pine Nursery Park in east Bend, into a world class all season athletic facility. The 10 year initiative is a public and private venture between Bend Park and Recreation (BPR) and Bend FC Timbers (Timbers), a non-profit youth soccer organization.
The BIFCC kicked off in August and completion is scheduled for 2025. The first phase (2015-20) includes completing two fields and the associated costs to support the project by June of 2020 for $1.7 million. At completion the site will retain its current amenities and feature 4 lit outdoor fields with all season turf, a field house and the park.
According to Rodney Buzzas MD, MS, FACS, current chair of the BIFCC, the project manifested from, “Years of need. If you talk to any of the team sport leagues or fields, you will hear the same story, there is always a shortage of field space.”Previous BIFCC chair and active Timbers volunteer, Ryan Shore, concurs. “Bendites have been addressing this challenge over field space for seven to eight years now. The Timbers have been searching for a solution to a lack of field space and the BIFCC is that solution.”
The total cost for this project is estimated at $6.1 million, $1.2 million of which has already been procured through a 2013 bond with BPR. The BIFCC will secure the remaining $4.7 million through private sponsors. Community support has been forth coming as $464,000 towards the first phase has already been raised.
Ultimately BPR will continue to own the land and provide infrastructure: parking lots, roads, electrical access, and lavatories. The Timbers will manage the fields and hold a 30 year lease for the complex.
Some might argue that this is too much for the city to spend. Dr. Buzzas and Shore disagree. They say not only is the facility being built in a fiscally conservative way (in phases), but the project will provide the community with three main deliverables: revenue for the city, health/athletic benefits, and ongoing opportunities for all ages in team sports.
To explain how the project will generate city wide revenue, Shore points to the annual Premier Cup Tournament. As the largest city youth soccer event in the state, it attracts families to Bend from all over the West Coast. According to Visit Bend’s calculations, this year, the three-day event resulted in revenue just under $2.9 million. Shore says more fields “will afford us to have more of these events here, which brings people and economic dollars.” He’s hopeful the community will be able to rely on the complex to draw revenue during shoulder seasons.
In terms of families, the complex will serve adult and youth leagues for ultimate frisbee, rugby, lacrosse, field hockey, soccer and more. And beyond the obvious access to participation the complex will facilitate, Shore fervently explains, “sports provide children opportunities to build character, health, and success. This success leads to success later on in life, as well as passion, love, and joy for the game, and it draws them back into the sports world to participate as an adult on many levels including coaching and mentoring.”
Both Dr. Buzzas and Shore have been involved in soccer in numerous capacities. Dr. Buzzas is a father of four life-time soccer players, one currently playing on the Portland Timbers Academy Major League Soccer Team. Shore played for Whittier College, as a center mid-fielder for Clive Charles and his children currently play.
Shores says when appealing to donors he equates building an athletic complex of this nature to Bill Healy’s vision of what Mt. Bachelor could be, in the early 1950’s, what a ski resort could bring to Central Oregon.
Supporters can also look forward to the annual Food Fun and Fermentation event hosted by the Timbers this February, the only blind beer tasting contest in Bend. Look for more details on the website as the date gets closer.
Bend FC Timbers serve over 2,600 soccer players of all ages and levels in Central Oregon. They are the largest youth sports organization in Oregon and one of seven teams that are part of the Timbers Alliance.
To hear more about the BIFCC visit www.bendfctimbers.com/BuildItForward, call 541-460-3863 or stop by the Timbers office on 145 NE Revere Ave., Ste. 6.
