But not just any soccer stadium, my friends–we’re talking about a bona fide, thousand-seat capacity soccer stadium, with lights and everything.  You know, the kind that most NCAA tournament teams get to play in.  As the economy tightens and facilities upgrades become more and more difficult, we’re going to need to prioritize, and right now, there isn’t a more talented group of athletes in Long Beach playing in a worse arena than the Long Beach State women’s soccer team, who last season won the Big West regular season title, hosted the conference championship, and made it into the NCAA bracket, all while playing at a field that simply can’t host night games, because there aren’t any lights.  Moore League football teams have lights they can practice under, but LBSU soccer has to schedule marquee games at 4pm–seating at George Allen consists of four large bleachers pushed against a fence.  That’s just silly.

This is perhaps the team with the brightest future at LBSU right now, and if we support them the way we should, we could be looking back on them in twenty years the way we look back on women’s volleyball over the last two decades.  Sweetening the deal is the fact that youth soccer in Long Beach is always booming, and the city has a ton of adult club leagues as well.  As one commenter pointed out, “Right now club soccer is willing to drive to San Bernardino and Lancaster for field space to play tournaments.”  Let’s give them, as well as our winning 49ers, a worthy space to play in within the city–inviting the community in to use the field, for a fee, should help with the costs, as well as further bridge the divide between LBSU and the surrounding community.  And if we can’t get a new stadium, let’s at least put some lights at George Allen, yeah?