MAJOR DAY FOR SOCCER

Approval of stadium plan means MLS closer than ever
Comment By PETE HAYES The Telegraph
September 11, 2007 - 12:02AM

It’s been a long and arduous trip for Jeff Cooper. And following Monday’s approval of a pre-annexation agreement that will lead to a 18,500-seat, soccer specific stadium and an eventual Major League Soccer franchise for St. Louis, he needed a beer.
But first, a phone call.

Cooper, the man behind all the fuss, phoned MLS President Mark Abbott.
“I told him to bring on the MLS,” Cooper said. “St. Louis is ready.”
Indeed. Cooper, a successful East Alton attorney, never forgot his Granite City soccer roots. And when he and his St. Louis Soccer United group began working toward landing an expansion MLS franchise for the city, they knew a soccer-specific stadium is a must.

Build it or they won’t come.

Well, with Monday’s 4-1 vote by the Collinsville City Council, they will for sure be building the stadium on land near the intersection of Interstate 255 and Horseshoe Lake Road. That’s farmland now, near an area that’s been home to recreation soccer fields for Collinsville children. But come 2009, it will also be the site of the best professional soccer in the U.S.

And Cooper is the man mostly responsible.

“I’m very, very happy,” Cooper said after Monday’s meeting. “I think everything went very well.”
There were brief speeches by several supporters on behalf of the stadium plan – and some talk by Collinsville School District officials, who question the use of TIF money for such use.
“There’s no real opposition,” Cooper said. “We’re still too early in the process.
“The more people see of the plans, the more they support them.”

Many business leaders from Collinsville attended the meeting and soccer fans demonstrated outside Collinsville City Hall, beating drums and chanting, “MLS! MLS!”
While much work remains to be done, Cooper is relieved that this portion of the process is behind him.

“We have taken a major step,” he said. “The first step is always the hardest.”
The stadium plan includes several soccer fields for youth teams, commercial, hotel and restaurant areas as well as housing units in a “Soccer Main Street” area surrounding the stadium.

It was indeed a beautiful day for the beautiful game Monday in Collinsville, a city that’s been known for its strong youth and high school teams, will now be the venue for the highest level of soccer in this country. It seems fitting, somehow.
It will be interesting to see how soon it al comes together, too. I wouldn’t be surprised if Soccer Main Street is up and running before Ballpark Village rises out of its hole in near Busch Stadium.

In fact, if I were a betting man, I’d put my greenbacks on Cooper. I’ve learned that much – and so has the MLS.

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