Overland Park is hosting twin 2021 soccer championships. Here’s why that’s a big deal
A lot of youth soccer players will be venturing to Overland Park next summer. And when we say a lot, we mean a lot.
The Scheels Overland Park Soccer Complex will be playing host to the first Elite One Cup National Championship, with more than 220 teams from across the country competing.
The giant U13-U19 tournament will take place July 13-18, 2021 (Division I) and July 21-26, 2021 (Division II).
The OP complex was chosen after an extensive review process of over 30 facilities across the U.S. Dana Markel, president and CEO of Visit Overland Park, said that the vetting process was an exciting opportunity to introduce people to the city.
“There’s a lot of pride that comes in being selected as a host city, especially when you’re competing with other cities across the country,” Markel said. “It’s the result of a vision that our city leaders had years ago when we developed the championship soccer fields.”
Markel said the tournament will have a notable economic impact on the community. With the tourney taking place over two separate weekends, Markel has calculated that the sum event could bring in around $8 million.
Visit Overland Park is working with The Elite One Cup to make the event a city-wide collaboration. Markel said the city is preparing to have ample hotel rooms ready in order to eliminate long drives for participants and their families, as well as restaurant specials in the area and enhanced entertainment opportunities.
Teams that hope to play in the Elite One Cup championships will pay between $1,350-$1,700 to compete in city qualifiers that will take place at nine locations across the country. That fee would also cover any team that qualifies for the championships here.
Greg Smith, founder of The Elite One Cup, said he expects the level of play between the two divisions to be indistinguishable, but the field of teams will be split into divisions to make the event run more efficiently.
Markel said the pandemic has called for some extra flexibility around the OP soccer complex this summer, but facility officials are looking forward to hosting a tournament of this scale in 2021. Smith said that if the tournament is canceled for any reason, teams will be placed in a future qualifier or given a “significant” refund.
“Obviously that Overland Park facility is phenomenal,” Smith said. “But also when you take into consideration the geographic location for accessibility reasons and all of the amenities that go along with it ... it was just a no-brainer.”
“We could not be any more proud to have been able to put in place a truly impressive partnership.”
This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 5:00 AM.