Greer's OC

You can come out and see the first-phase of the Orange County Great Park Sports Park  on Saturday, August 5 from 2 to 9 p.m. The grand opening celebration of the world-class Sports Park in Irvine includes family-friendly games, including sneak peeks at the amenities, demonstrations and sports clinics with well-known former U.S. national team soccer stars Landon Donovan, Amy Rodriguez and Brad Friedel; and savory eating at 14 food and dessert trucks. The celebration will culminate in a free concert featuring Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi of the Blues Brothers.

Built on the site of the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, the Sports Park is ultimately planned to be nearly twice the size of Disneyland and is the result of an innovative public-private partnership between the City of Irvine and FivePoint, the development manager of Great Park Neighborhoods. The first phase: a world-class youth sports facility that complements the award-winning schools and well-planned neighborhoods.

The centerpiece of phase one at the 53-acre Sports Park will be a Championship Soccer Stadium with capacity for 5,000 fans. In addition, there are 25 hard-surface tennis courts, six natural-turf soccer fields and five sand volleyball courts. Both the tennis and volleyball centers include championship courts with fixed seating for more than 100 spectators each. A one-acre playground with activities for children tops off the first phase of this new family and regional destination.

Once complete, the 194-acre Sports Park is planned to include a dedicated softball complex with five fields, a championship stadium and four batting cages; a baseball complex with seven baseball fields, also with a championship stadium and four batting cages; plus, four basketball courts, six more soccer fields and “flex fields” that can be used for rugby, cricket and lacrosse.

From 2 to 5:30 p.m., there will be exhibitions, clinics, competition, games at Tennis Courts, Soccer Fields & Volleyball Venue. At 3:30 p.m. there’s an Opening Ceremony at FivePoint/City of Irvine (Soccer Stadium); from 4 - 5:30 p.m. – Soccer Exhibition Game (Soccer Stadium); and at 7 p.m., a free concert featuring The Blues Brothers.

 For directions, click here.