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City of El Monte Proudly Hosts
“FREE” Chivas USA Game
For more information, call 626-580-2200 Game #1 July 3, 2010
Game #2 July 31, 2010
Pre-Game Party 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Santa Anita & Brockway (Map) El Monte Free interactive Games, Water Slide, Face Painting, and MORE!! Latino - La Raza - Super Estrella - El Gato - Hot 92.3 - Kiis FM
Game #3 August 14, 2010
Pre-Game Party 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Santa Anita & Brockway (Map) El Monte
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El Monte courts Chivas USA with party, soccer fans
EL MONTE - The city is interested in Chivas USA. And if it plays its cards right, the Major League Soccer team might return some of the love. As a first step to pursuing the relationship, El Monte is taking 1,000 kids to Saturday night's Chivas game at the Home Depot Center for free, and throwing a free afternoon pre-game party on the corner of Santa Anita and Brockway. Officials are pulling out all the stops, with performances by Banda Limon, Mariachi Los Tequileros, and the Chivas Girls. The city is also paying to bring thousands more residents to two additional games later this summer. "We are trying to show them this community loves soccer, and wants to be a partner," City Manager Rene Bobadilla said. El Monte is spending $15,000 to $20,000 to do so. So far Chivas USA President and CEO Shawn Hunter is impressed. "This is a first step that may lead to bigger and better things," he said Wednesday. It is those bigger and better things that El Monte is after. Officials would like to see the club open a Chivas Futbol Academy here, similar to what it has in the city of Bell Gardens. Such academies host club teams and player development programs and can serve as a sort of farm league for future MLS players. They can also bring with them state-of-the-art facilities for use by both Chivas USA and the public at large. The academy in Bell Gardens includes four soccer fields, two of them artificial turf, and two baseball fields. City Manager Bobadilla already has a potential site picked out - the former site of Ball jar glass company at Valley Boulevard and Arden. The city has been planning on purchasing the 27-acre site to develop into some sort of parkland for recreational use, and to relocate the city's maintenance facilities. "The city severely lacks soccer facilities for the amount of interest. We have kids playing anywhere there is a patch of grass," Bobadilla said. But to make any sort of fields happen, El Monte needs private investment to pay the estimated $30 million needed to transform the former manufacturing site. And while Chivas USA wouldn't build the academy facilities alone, the team's name could help attract private partners. "We can use the brand to do great things, if we could find the right opportunities to invest in a youth complex. Those fields in Bell Gardens are only used by Chivas a fraction of the time. The rest of the time they are used by independent leagues, American Youth Soccer Organization. It's a magnet for the sport," Hunter said. While Hunter said Chivas USA would consider developing an academy in El Monte, the city isn't the only potential site for future Chivas facilities. Other cities are courting the club as well. But Hunter said the club isn't limited to just one location for future academies. Officials are considering three to five "key locations" in Southern California. In the meantime, Chivas can continue building a relationship with El Monte in other ways, Hunter said. Once a month, Chivas USA's first-team squad holds a practice in a Southland community and it is "highly likely" the team will hold such a practice in El Monte, Hunter said. Such events alone can help to attract the city's kids to soccer and to Chivas, he said. While Chivas' fan base certainly stands to benefit from El Monte's efforts, the budding relationship is coming at a cost to the city. El Monte is spending between $15,000 to $20,000 of asset forfeiture funds on the games and party. Additional support has come from various sponsors, including Longo Toyota, Scion, Lexus, Primestor, Super Print Shop and MBE Digital. While Bobadilla views the cost as an investment in a future partnership, the events are alone worth the cost, he said. "Regardless what happens, it is just great we are bringing thousands of kids to Home Depot Center to see a MLS game and a fireworks show," he said. "Most of these kids have never been to a professional soccer game." The City Council agreed, voting last month to support the event. "It's great to find other ways of providing entertainment and activities for our community ... and it's exciting to see if we can get more of our young people involved in sports, especially taking advantage now of the excitement people have for the World Cup," Mayor Andre Quintero said. The free tickets for Saturday's game ran out in a matter of days. Residents can sign up for free tickets to the July 31 and Aug. 14 games at the pre-game party, which will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Free transportation will be provided to the game on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, call the parks and recreation department at 626-580-2200. |