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DANBURY, Conn. People driving past the future site of the Danbury Sports Dome on Shelter Rock Lane might think the facility has a long way to go to completion. But the domes directors say it is less than two months from becoming one of the premier athletic training centers in the state.
The dome will absolutely be open for business before the end of the year, said Kirk Bamford, one of the domes directors and head coach of the New Canaan High School girls soccer team.
Everything is in place to move forward. Were just waiting for a few technical issues to work out, he said. Were hoping that within a six-week time period, well have the dome inflated, get the field done and help the community utilize the facility.
The 120,000-square-foot facility is missing only its state-of-the-art dome. Made of a material similar to Kevlar, the dome will be inflated in the coming weeks, expanding to a 90-foot-high ceiling. The dome will house a regulation-size soccer field that can be used for field hockey, lacrosse or football to go with a quarter-mile two-lane track. It will also accommodate baseball practices, including batting cages.
The climate-controlled facility will also feature a café, a pro shop, meeting rooms, party rooms, a video arcade, dance/fitness rooms and rehabilitation facilities. Spectators will also be able to watch games on closed-circuit televisions around the building.
The Danbury Sports Dome will differentiate itself from the other new 100,000-plus-square-foot facility in Fairfield County: Chelsea Piers in Stamford, Bamford said.
I think Chelsea Piers is a different type of facility in that its more of a recreational center than a sports training center, which is what were looking to do here, he said. Our goal for this facility is to help all the field sports that can utilize this facility to develop and improve from the ability to consistently practice throughout the year.
Domes sometimes get bad press, Bamford said, but he said this kind of dome is safer and more stable.
This is an air-supported structure. This isnt the same kind of structure the Dallas Cowboys had or the one in Minnesota" that collapsed, Bamford said. That was a ceiling they called a dome. This is a completely separate beast to that kind of structure.
Teams and organizations are already booking field space, the domes chief marketing officer Lilach Asofsky said.
As a marketer I dont necessarily believe in If you build it, they will come, she said. But Im sort of feeling like in Danbury, as soon as the dome is built, they will come.
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