The Las Cruces Youth Soccer League is the is the largest youth sports league in Las Cruces. In addition to a very active youth league, Las Cruces also has vibrant leagues for men, women, and seniors. On the competitive side, Las Cruces has youth affiliate programs with Major League Soccer teams, many of our youth players go on to play in college, several of our youth players have gone onto play professionally and with the US National team, and Las Cruces has a semi-pro men’s soccer team. And unlike many sports soccer is equally available to boys and girls.

Unfortunately, while soccer is very popular in Las Cruces our soccer facilities are in poor condition and are not sufficient to meet the needs of the Las Cruces soccer community.

• Our soccer fields are poorly maintained and need to be taken out of service because they become unsafe to play on after becoming lumpy and weed infested (Burn Lake currently and the Tashiro side of High Noon in the recent past).

• While the majority of baseball and softball fields in the city have lights, LCYSL has only one lit soccer field in Las Cruces currently, and less than 20% of our fields will have lights even after the Burn Lake fields are returned to service.

• Most of our soccer facilities use porta-potties, most also lack a drinking water source, and none of fields have a working scoreboard and PA system. Most of the soccer fields in the city also lack bench and bleacher seating, leaving players and fans sitting on the ground.

Improving soccer facilities in Las Cruces will improve the safety and quality of play for Las Cruces participants and also enable Las Cruces to attract revenue generating events like regional showcase tournaments. Events that could provide a great benefit to the Las Cruces economy while showcasing our vibrant and successful soccer community.

While the Las Cruces Youth Soccer league has sought to provide the city with resources, expertise, and support, the city has not engaged the soccer community in managing or maintaining existing soccer facilities or in planning for improvement and expansion of soccer facilities in Las Cruces.

The soccer community needs to be better supported by the City of Las Cruces, both in the Parks and Recreation budget and in the upcoming GO Bond proposal.

By signing the petition below, ask the City of Las Cruces to:

• Include the Las Cruces soccer community in soccer facility planning.

• Add more soccer fields, especially lighted fields, by including soccer fields in the GO Bond plan and providing additional maintenance funding in the Parks and Recreation budget.

• Improve existing soccer fields to bring them on par with other sports facilities in Las Cruces by doing things like:

-Returning Burn Lake fields to service

-Installing new fields as per plans for East Mesa fields

-Improving field management and maintenance (turf, goals, etc).

-Adding lights to existing soccer facilities (PVD, High Noon).

-Adding drinking water and toilet service to existing soccer facilities.

-Adding shaded benches, spectator seating, and playground areas.

-Putting scoreboards and PA systems on soccer fields.

-Connecting soccer facilities to the city walking and bike trail networks.