The pitch for pro soccer in Burlingame is heading to its goal, as a couple of local sportsmen are working alongside city officials to establish a new team potentially housed along the Bayfront.
Nick Swinmurn and Jordan Gardner, respective owner and operator of the Burlingame Dragons soccer club, are interested in kicking off a new minor league team.
The club called SF FC is slated to join in 2019 the United Soccer League, which serves as the highest-ranked national association behind Major League Soccer, should the proprietors build a stadium.
Despite identifying alternative potential locations in San Francisco and Redwood City, ownership said they are optimistic the burgeoning club can score a deal to build in Burlingame.
“We are confident,” said Swinmurn, who also owns Nachoria restaurant and Dunk Contest basketball apparel store in downtown Burlingame. “Some things are out of our control, but we are just doing everything we can ... we wouldn’t be talking publicly about it if we didn’t think there was a really good chance we can make it happen.”
One element out of their hands is competition for valuable space on an increasingly sought after slice of land along the Burlingame Bayfront near the Millbrae border.
The team is shooting to build a modular stadium capable of accommodating 6,000 fans at Murray Field, one of the city’s most popular recreational sports sites, adjacent to where Topgolf is slated to construct a new sports entertainment facility at the Burlingame Golf Center.
The two potential regional draws stand to consume much of the available acreage east of Highway 101 in the area starved for adequate infrastructure, generating real concerns for Swinmurn and Gardner over where prospective fans could park their cars.
“The challenge is just parking. That is the make-or-break thing over there,” said Swinmurn, who founded online shoe retailer Zappos and is a minority owner of the Golden State Warriors.
Swinmurn said he and Gardner have been collaborating with city officials to discuss ways to facilitate potential transportation hurdles as the two sides seek to make the stadium easily accessible.
Convenience can be an essential asset for a club trying to makes its name and build a fan base, noted Swinmurn, and expecting those without tenured allegiance to switch from their car to a shuttle for the better part of a mile can be a big ask.
“If it is a hassle to get to or to park at, that is a big hindrance,” he said.
Burlingame Mayor Ricardo Ortiz said officials are committed to clearing the congestion hurdle under the belief that the club could be a real asset for the community.
“I’m a soccer fanatic, so to me it would be a great thing … hopefully we can have a way to work that out,” he said.
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Assuming the club would serve not only fans from the Peninsula but the larger Bay Area, Ortiz said he expected many fans could avoid the potential car crunch by taking a train to the nearby Millbrae station and shuttling a short distance to the stadium.
Gardner said the organizers are attempting to overcome the transportation difficulties in Burlingame, while also keeping their options open to building elsewhere.
“We have a connection to the community but we can’t focus solely on the city of Burlingame for a project of this scope,” he said, while noting the appeal of the Peninsula’s setting between San Francisco and San Jose.
Gardner’s confidence in the Bay Area’s appetite for such an endeavor is fortified by the success of the Dragons club, he said, while acknowledging joining the USL is a more substantial venture.
“We feel the Dragons were a really good stepping stone for the next project,” he said. Swinmurn added the existing Burlingame club would continue to operate should the professional team launch, and would likely be an affiliate to SF FC.
With about three months required to build the modular stadium, Gardner said he is hopeful to firm up a deal shortly to leave adequate time for addressing the other details to starting a team and invigorating a fan base by opening day.
“We have a lot of the pieces in place so we just need to lock down a stadium and we are ready to go,” he said.
In Burlingame, he said preliminary talks have started with officials who are planning to lay turf at Murray Field, over which the soccer club could build a stadium. He said there could be an opportunity for public access to the field when the team isn’t using the space during its 10-month season.
Considering the variety of moving parts, Swinmurn said the process has been challenging but he is continually heartened by a belief that the team, if done correctly, could be an attraction for his hometown.
“There are enough people out there who want it that it’s a matter of presenting something to them that they project their passion onto us instead of the million of other options,” he said.
Ortiz too agreed SF FC could be a real score for Burlingame.
“I think it makes sense for the city and it makes sense for them and if we can answer some of these questions, I think we will be better off for it,” he said.
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(2) comments
I love soccer more than life itself and play 4 times a week - but we dont need any more teams in the bay area. We have the Dragons - East Bay Stompers- SF Deltas - SJ Quakes. Every region in the bay area is represented and people can go watch quality play. Judging by who these developers are and having no direct history of soccer makes me think its all about the money and land.
How would this proposal impact soccer field inventory in Burlingame? There aren't enough fields today for AYSO and Burlingame Soccer Club. Many Burlingame AYSO teams practice half as often as those in neighboring cities due to the dearth of fields. This project should only be approved if it increases field capacity for youth soccer in Burlingame.
This is a disturbing trend from the Burlingame City Council. The Council seems more interested in attracting visits from those outside of Burlingame than it does about making life better for families inside Burlingame. The Council recently approved the TopGolf sports bar on the largest public recreational space in town, so as to further pad the wallets of already at capacity hotel owners. Now another project aimed at attracting non-residents to town????
The last time that I drove by a Dragons game the stands at Burlingame High were less than half full.
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