I was treated with the opportunity to spend the night and all day today at the new St George’s Park in Burton England.  This 100MM British Pound multi-purpose, recently completed facility is the finest of its type anywhere.  It has a pair of lovely hotels, meeting space, complex banquet and dining rooms, incredible soccer fields (including an exact replica/duplicate) of the Wembley Stadium surface (same size, crown, sub-base, grass, everything).  The physical therapy facility and aquatics center will be used to help wounded war veterans go through rehabilitation. 

The complex will primarily be home to the England National Team for men and women for events such as the World Cup or any other national team competition.

Today’s event was the start of a weekend tournament for 9 Barclays Premier League academy teams at the U-15 age group competing also with 3 teams from Europe (Spain Portugal and Germany). The complex is owned by The FA and is being run by metrics and proforma that do not include the necessity of private profit because The FA is a non profit entity with a mission of charitable and educational purposes. It’s other real estate asset is Wembley Stadium.

A BBC story and video for St George’s Park can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19530548

The FA has taken a huge step and made an enormous investment in the long-term future of their soccer program and others in need of top of the line medical rehab treatment.