Major League Soccer may come to Cleveland in 2005
HUDSON - Ohio businessman Bert Wolstein has signed an agreement with Major League Soccer to bring a team to northern Ohio in 2005, but said Boston Heights is no longer a possibility to house a stadium.
"That's long gone," said Wolstein, who is waiting to hear from Cleveland and Cuyahoga County officials on a proposed site downtown.
Wolstein, who would not disclose the possible location for the stadium, said he expects to hear by the end of the year if everything is a go.
"We're hoping to hear soon," said Wolstein. "If we are going to make it happen, we should make it happen now. We can't put a team on the field unless we have a stadium."
When asked about a back-up location to build a minimum 20,000-seat soccer stadium, Wolstein said there wasn't one.
"I don't think I need a back-up," he replied.
Wolstein previously had confirmed his interest in building a soccer facility on the grounds of the Boston Hills Country Club, but said that idea has been abandoned.
In addition to a new stadium for the professional soccer team, Wolstein said he also hoped to find a suburban location to build about 20 soccer fields for youth at various playing levels to use.
"Kids from the states travel to other countries and others travel here and have tournaments," Wolstein said.
Wolstein said he did not have a specific location in mind for the soccer fields.
"It could be anywhere," he said. "It could be in Hudson if we got the cooperation."
Wolstein served as president of the Cleveland Force of the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1979 to 1988.
"We were pretty successful with that," he noted.
Wolstein is the CEO of Heritage Development Co. Among the company's developments is the 225-room Bertram Inn and Conference Center in Aurora, the MarketPlace at Four Corners on the Aurora/Bainbridge border and the Barrington Estates residential community.
In addition to the northern Ohio team, MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced that a second expansion team called the Chivas USA, owned by Jorge Vergara, also is scheduled to start in 2005.
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