Downtown Spokane Partnership will unveil new downtown stadium proposal
Downtown leaders apparently haven’t abandoned their dream of bringing minor league soccer to Spokane.
The Downtown Spokane Partnership, along with a top minor league soccer official, plans to announce a proposal on Tuesday to build a new downtown stadium.
According to a Monday news release, the organization, “along with other community leaders and partners, will share details and renderings with local media.”
A news conference is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Wonder Building, 835 N. Post St. The event is closed to the public.
Mark Richard, president and CEO of the Downtown Spokane Partnership, will provide details and renderings of the proposed stadium.
He will be joined by other community leaders and partners involved in the proposal. Joining them via Zoom will be Justin Papadakis, chief operating officer of the United Soccer League.
The news release contained no other details.
The proposal isn’t the first of its kind. In 2018, Spokane Public Schools had earmarked a site for a new stadium just east of the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.
However, in an advisory vote, a majority of Spokane voters preferred that the new stadium be built in northwest Spokane at the current Albi Stadium site.
That project is scheduled for completion in fall 2022; it was unclear on Monday whether the DSP proposal would address the Albi issue.
Just more than a year ago, Spokane County Treasurer Michael Baumgartner, together with Papadakis, held a news conference pitching a stadium in the downtown area. However, that idea was quietly dropped with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The proposal by the Downtown Spokane Partnership “is not the same,” said Alex Evans, of DH, a marketing firm in Spokane hired by DSP to help with the project.
“It’s a new day and a new partnership,” she said.
The Downtown Spokane Partnership is a private, nonprofit membership organization that serves as Spokane’s central city advocate and service provider, according to its website.