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Palm Beach State College has rejected a plan for a 10,000-seat arena on its Lake Worth Beach campus promising luxury box seats and ice hockey in favor of a smaller, professional soccer stadium.
Denver-based Oak View Group promised 600 club seats, 20 private seats and 10 luxury boxes, with nearly 100 concerts each year at the arena. OVG also claimed to be in talks to bring minor league hockey to their proposed arena, which would include an ice rink. The total cost would be $360 million, the company said.
The college will move forward with an 6,000- to 8,000-seat plan from Palm Beach Sports Management, owner of the United Soccer League's Palm Beach County
club, which is estimated to cost between a $50 million and $60 million. That bid does not include luxury seats.
Palm Beach Sports' pitch would be privately funded, the group has said. OVG did not detail its financing plan.
Soccer stadium second time PBSC uses land for pro sports arena
OVG promised to complete its arena in three years. Palm Beach Sports has said it can get the soccer stadium built before the end of the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup, whose final is scheduled for July 25.
Palm Beach State rejected OVG's plan because it did not pay the college's required $25,000 filing fee. Palm Beach Sports paid the fee, a college spokesperson said.
OVG did not return emails requesting comment. A telephone number listed on its website had a busy signal.
Palm Beach Sports' stadium would go on 10 to 12 acres on the campus' southeast section, with Palm Beach Sports leasing the land for 50 years, with up to two 25-year extensions afterward.
As proposed, the facility would host professional and collegiate soccer teams and allow for the college to host events, including at least two graduation ceremonies each year.
The plan would be Palm Beach State's second recent effort to place a professional sports center on its campuses. Land on its Palm Beach Gardens campus became the SoFi Center, home of the TGL indoor professional golf league tied to Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
Sponsor to complete PBSC soccer stadium by 2027 Women's World Cup
Palm Beach Sports has urged Palm Beach State to act fast in approving construction of its stadium. Brian Seymour, an attorney with the law firm Gunster, told the college board of trustees on July 9 that the project could capitalize on excitement surrounding soccer with the FIFA Men's World Cup, and next year, the women's tournament.
However, the stadium faced opposition from one PBSC board member, Dave Kerner, director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and a former elected Palm Beach County commissioner.
Palm Beach Sports sent their bid, unsolicited, on March 9 to PBSC President Ava Parker. Kerner voted against the proposal each time it came up for a vote: May 19, June 16 and July 9. PBSC said on June 4 that competing bids had until July 21 to be submitted.
Kerner tried unsuccessfully on June 16 to persuade fellow board members to extend the project approval process 180 days.
He has argued the college is breaking state transparency laws, risking successful lawsuits against the institution. PBSC chief legal officer Geovani Denis has said the college has followed the law.
In a July 22 public notice, the college listed Sport Surfaces LLC, along with OVG, as another company that sent a competing submission to the college. Its submission was incomplete, a college spokesperson said.
The United Soccer League has 283 soccer teams across North America. Palm Beach Sports started the league's Palm Beach soccer club in 2023.
Palm Beach Sports' co-owners are international polo player and Palm Beach Polo restaurant owner Nacho Figueres, along with former sportscaster and broadcast producer Michael Cohen, former professional squash player Natalie Grainger and her husband, the financier Peer T. Pederson, Jr.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: PBSC chooses soccer stadium for Lake Worth campus over indoor arena
