A delegation from Cochrane Wolves FC, a local soccer club, appeared before Town council during the committee of the whole meeting on April 17 to discuss the possibility of one day opening an indoor soccer air-dome in Cochrane.
Director of soccer operations for Cochrane Wolves FC, Scott Ansel, presented to council an outline of the development of Cochrane's minor soccer community over the last 18 months, demonstrating the need for an air-dome or “bubble” facility, and touting the benefits such an amenity would provide the town.
“After seeing continued exponential growth of our organization, in both the indoor and outdoor seasons, we’re confident now that there is a realistic possibility that the Town of Cochrane could hold a facility like an air-dome,” he said.
Ansel said his club has grown significantly over the last 18 months after undergoing a change of leadership and direction. With the positive reception of their new programming, the club, alongside the SLS Centre and the Cochrane’s executive director Drew Hyndman, started to look into the possibility of erecting a bubble facility to continue playing outdoor-style soccer in Cochrane during the winters.
After a year of discussion with the Town, Ansel unveiled their concept of the Cochrane Sanctuary Dome Project, which is a focus group dedicated to supporting the initiative moving forward.
Currently, the SLS Centre is the only space that is available to play non-rink-based sports in Cochrane. Like other sports groups in Cochrane, Ansel said the Wolves have outgrown the facility.
Additionally, he outlined the centre does not support soccer in terms of the playing surface.
With the rapid and continuous growth of the club, Ansel said the age range with the largest increase is the eight-to-12-year-old age range. Within the next five years, he estimates there will be between 750 to 1,000 Cochrane players competing during the indoor (winter) season.
In order to better support soccer families in town, Ansel said there is a need for greater facility space.
“We currently see hundreds of families in Cochrane that are leaving here to head into Calgary to participate in Calgary-based sports clubs,” Ansel said. “And we feel that we’re in a place right now as a town, with the level of growth and the level of sports growth, that now maybe we can sustain having a dome here.”
A sports engagement study to help better understand their struggles was presented to council. Feedback from Cochrane Minor Hockey provided information that with their 800 indoor registrants and four full-sized rinks, it was still not enough.
The Cochrane Wolves, meanwhile, have 500 players and only one indoor-rink soccer space to play on. To put that into a different perspective, Ansel explained you can have six full-sized hockey rinks on one full-sized soccer field.
“For our indoor programs, our competitive programs, to paint a picture, they would be training on half of a hockey rink, which is about a 12th of a full-sized field that they would train on in the outdoor,” Ansel explained.
Canada Soccer’s grassroots guidelines suggest that U7 to U9 players play their games on a space that is about half of a hockey rink space. Currently, Ansel said players in those age ranges play in a 10-by-10-metre space.
Figures from the largest air-dome company in the world provided by Ansel outlined that operating through 20 weeks during the peak times of winter could generate $280,000 of revenue alongside $112,000 operating revenue during the weekends. Operating costs for the dome would be around $140,000 annually.
The costs for the structure are expected to be between $2.2 million and $2.6 million for a space that would be 130,000 square metres in size, with an additional $1.2 million for turf installation.
In terms of location, Ansel said there is no set location that it would need to be built, but outlined the only consideration that council needs to take into account is a place that can benefit the community.
Ansel said that the space can also provide opportunities to hosts community events, provide other sports a facility to use, and host multi-sport competitions or other events.
With interest in soccer at an all time high in Canada as the country gets set to be one of the host countries for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Ansel added that Alberta recently joined Quebec, Ontario and B.C. by establishing League 1 semi-professional soccer leagues for both men and women.
“We want Cochrane to join that pathway, not just look from afar,” Ansel said. “You need a national license to be part of the League 1 program, and Cochrane Minor Soccer is currently enrolled in that program.”
After the presentation, Coun. Patrick Wilson inquired on his perspective about the capacity and quality of outdoor spaces in Cochrane. Ansel said he looks forward to seeing the development of the future Horse Creek Park facility, but noted outside of the current fields for the Cochrane Rangers, the available outdoor facilities in town are pretty limited.
Ansel also explained that with the current shift to play organized competitive games away from boarded and carpeted indoor rink-style fields, home indoor soccer games are no longer played in the SLS Centre.
“We had nine competitive teams that participated in the [Calgary Minor Soccer Association] this past indoor season,” Ansel said. “We weren’t allowed to play games, so our families had to travel over 150 times to Calgary to play every single game. Sometimes our trips are over one hour away.”
Coun. Susan Flowers congratulated the accomplishments of the Cochrane Wolves FC, and asked Ansel how long the dome would hypothetically last. While Ansel did not have a direct answer, he outlined that although one of the former soccer bubbles in Calgary collapsed on three different occasions, the company he is in contact with has never seen one of their domes fail.
She also asked if it would be possible to relocate a dome, and Ansel explained that all aspects of the dome would be entirely moveable.
Although Ansel said he was waiting for the green light from council for the project prior to fundraising, Mayor Jeff Genung asked if the Cochrane Wolves would contribute financing toward the project. Ansel assured his organization intends to be very hands-on in this regard.
“We firmly want to be part of getting there and supporting [this],” Ansel said. “We don’t want it to be Town-led and we’ll be there at the end. We want to work with you and any other partners in town to drive this forward and bring this home.”
