8:04

AM EDT April 21, 2017 Jordan Ferrell

50,000 sq. foot indoor soccer complex

could be coming to Jacksonville
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Soccer fanatics and footballers of all ages may
soon have a new place to play if the proposed plan for an indoor soccer
facility on the city’s Southside is approved by council members next
week.

The project deemed XL Sports Complex is requesting a rezoning of an

approximately 8-acre parcel of land on Baymeadows Way West to
permit for an indoor and outdoor sports complex.

XL Sports World or XL Soccer, as it was introduced in Raleigh, N.C.

nearly a decade ago, is a soccer-centered sports facility that o ers both
indoor and outdoor elds for competitive and recreational 6-on-6
play. XL Sports World has since expanded to o er a total of seven
locations along the East Coast. The closest one in proximity to
Jacksonville being the facility in Orlando.

“They’ve become pillars, structural pillars in the soccer community

and in the communities, themselves,” XL Sports World CEO, Ciaran
McArdle, said. “They are not the type of places that someone would
come just one time and then once again in 12-months time. We get a
weekly return rate of customers that come and play their soccer games
here every week.”

McArdle said the construction on the currently undeveloped land

should cost around $5 million. Pending a favorable ruling by the
Jacksonville City Council on the rezoning, the building could break
ground within three months.

Parking has been the biggest concern, according to Jacksonville City

Councilman Danny Becton, whose district the facility would be built in.
Becton, who also is chairman of the Land Use & Zoning Committee,
said he personally reached out to entities inside the nearby industrial
park to inform them of the public hearing earlier this week.

Despite initial concerns, Becton said nobody in the community voiced

any negative comments or disputes with the proposed development.

“I don’t think there is any reason for the full council to not pass it,”
Becton said, when asked about the upcoming city council meeting. “I
think the L-U-Z recommendation certainly carries a lot of weight to
the rest of the council and I don’t think there was any reason for
anyone to have any reservations about this facility.”

Becton further acknowledged the project by referencing several other

sports facilities around Jacksonville that have found similar favoritism
amongst local municipalities. One of those facilities he mentioned was
Project Family, the massive indoor sports facility that was just recently
approved by St. Johns County commissioners.

“I just don’t think it’s necessarily district-oriented,” Becton said.

“Jacksonville, with the Armada has had a very big following, with USA
soccer coming to Jacksonville and playing games, it certainly has been
noted that we have a big soccer community out there.”

The unanimous decision by the Land Use & Zoning Committee to

approve the rezoning request earlier this week is perhaps a good omen
for McArdle and the future of XL Sports World. If all goes well at the city
council meeting next Tuesday, XL Sports Jacksonville could be open for
business by summer 2018, according to McArdle.
A rendering of what the XL Sports World planned for Jacksonville could
look like from the inside

The Beginning of XL Sports World

McArdle, himself, is no stranger to association football. After spending

most of his early life around the sport, McArdle made the move from
Northern England to the U.S. nearly 20 years ago to pursue his passion.

“It’s really been my whole professional career, even though my degree

was in electronic engineering and my masters was in avionics, I became
a soccer o cial," McArdle said. "It really has been a passion of mine.”

His rst job in the U.S. was a coach for the Harvard University Soccer
Camp. Based out of Boston, Ma., McArdle spent his time traveling
around the six-state region of New England coaching a sport he still to
this day makes time every week to play.

Admittedly biased about his sport, McArdle shows no regrets about his
decisions to pursue what some might think of as just a hobby or
seasonal source of entertainment.

“It’s the greatest game in the world,” McArdle said when asked about
soccer and what it was that led him down this road.

Long before venturing into the world of operating large-scale sports

facilities, McArdle and fellow soccer coach Kris Lamb co-founded a
travel company that would help them show fans the “birthplace of
soccer” and connect them to to the professional clubs and games they
follow here in the U.S.

XL Sports Tours started in Boston over 16 years ago by taking teams

over to England on 10-day trips. Headquartered now in Orlando, Fla.,
the business has customers around the world and has organized trips to
29 di erent countries.

It’s not all about touring and sightseeing though. XL Sports Tours gives
local players an opportunity to play internationally by organizing
matches and tournaments in di erent countries. This is something,
McArdle said would be available to select teams and players in
Jacksonville.

Even though it's never been done, McArdle said he would eventually
like to organize a trip that would allow fans and players a chance to
attend a professional soccer match in London and a Jacksonville
Jaguars game at Wembley Stadium the following day.

McArdle said he hasn’t had any discussion with the Jaguars

organization, but does have a working relationship with a distant
cousin to the team, Fullham F.C., which is also owned by Shahid Khan.

“We take teams there and we train there and play against their youth
academy clubs,” McArdle said of Fullam F.C. “They are always really
receptive to us.”
<p>The XL Sports World planned for Jacksonville would include a pub-
style eatery where patrons could purchase beer, wine and food. </p>

XL Sports Jacksonville

The turnout to soccer events held in Jacksonville over the past few
years is what got McArdle interested in opening a facility here. The
growing young adult soccer population in this area is what he hopes to
attract.

“One of the reasons we were successful in Orlando is nobody had built a

very nice place to play soccer, rather just a warehouse where you throw
some turf down and roll the doors open,” McArdle said. “Nobody had
built some place to hang out and play.”

The building will be roughly 50,000 square-feet. The inside will house
two separate boarded turf elds that are 135 feet-by-80 feet each. In
addition to the side-by-side turf elds, there will be a hard-surface
multi-purpose futsal soccer court at the back of the building that will
be available for volleyball, lacrosse and eld hockey.

As is tradition with most XL Sports facilities, a pub-style eatery will be

located on the premises and o er patrons beer, wine and food for
purchase.

“Typically, our adult teams come, they play, they have a beer and a bite
to eat and they go home,” McArdle said. “So, it becomes almost like a
community center.”

A community center that McArdle said isn’t solely targeted at those

who are of legal drinking age. XL Sports o ers a variety of youth
programs that range from competitive play to developmental classes.
The youngest current participant is an 18-month-old, with the average
age group being 4-12 years old. In terms of the adult programs,
McArdle said they are most popular among those in their 20s and older.
A typical soccer season at XL Sports lasts for eight weeks and costs
around $75. The fee breaks down to about $10 per visit, which includes
a schedule for the entire season, regulation balls and referees.

“All you have to do is rock up at your game time and then we take care
of everything else,” said McArdle.

An open house hiring event is slated to be held when the facility gets
closer to opening. A total of 15 to 30 positions, not including referees
and coaches, will need to be lled within the rst 24 months. McArdle
said XL Sports will be looking to hire local sports enthusiasts and those
who are interested in future sports careers.

“Jacksonville is very much like Orlando; very much like Atlanta, in that
you don’t know it’s a soccer town unless you live there,” McArdle said.
“And Jacksonville is a really, really strong soccer town.”

XL Sports World Jax

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