Excitement in High Point centered around the city's brand new Carolina Core Football Club has been building for months as one member after another of the team settles into place. The Carolina Core has been announcing new players every week, holding open tryouts, and rallying the administration. And now another big piece of the puzzle is taking shape.
The team has begun construction on what will become a permanent training facility.
It's a very nice and expensive complex called the Go-Forth Elite Performance Center, and it's scheduled to open in 2025 ahead of Carolina Core FC's second season of MLS NEXT Pro. MLS NEXT Pro is a league that prepares players for Major League Soccer and acts as talent. Pipeline to that league.
The GoForce Elite Performance Center will be an 11,000-square-foot facility that includes the club's athletic headquarters on the upper field at High Point's Phillips Park Soccer Complex.
Team representatives say the facility will be privately funded and designed to be a state-of-the-art, state-of-the-art facility. It will include a comprehensive gym, medical and rehabilitation spaces, equipment management areas, locker rooms, studios for group games and training video analysis, administrative offices, player lounges and a kitchen.
Carolina Core Football Club will open the 2024 MLS NEXT Pro regular season on the road on Sunday, March 17th. The first home game of the regular season will be played on Saturday, June 1st. Regular season tickets are on sale now.
Approximately 90% of reserved seats have been sold out so far.
Megan Oglesby, the soccer team's principal investor, said in a prepared statement this week that the construction of this new training facility is a very exciting and important step in the advancement of the players and team.
“Carolina Core FC is dedicated to the growth and career advancement of every individual who comes through our club, from players to coaches to interns,” Oglesby said. “We are investing in this club through this training facility with the same passion and dedication with which we built this club. It is paramount that our state-of-the-art training facilities reflect the talent of our club's people and provide them with the tools they need to excel in their careers.”
Goforth Home Services secured naming rights for the facility as part of a 10-year sponsorship agreement.
Crews and heavy equipment are currently moving dirt and performing other site operations.
