On Jan. 30, Peoria City Soccer officially introduced itself to the local community. The pre-professional team will compete in the Heartland Division of the Central Conference and play its home games at Shea Stadium from May to July. There is no official affiliation with Bradley other than paying rent.
“We have a beautiful venue in Shea Stadium, it’s world class,” Kim Blickenstaff, Peoria City’s local investor, said.
But the team still has ties to Bradley.
Bradley head coach Jim DeRose is the main groundskeeper for the venue. DeRose does not officially have a title with Peoria City, but consultant Bobby Parker, Bradley’s associate athletic director for communications and event & facility operations, introduced him as chief administrative officer.
The team’s head coach and BU assistant Tim Regan who played professionally, echoed Blankenstaff’s statement saying, that the pitch will be the best in the division.
“I will be the head coach until [DeRose] fires me,” Regan said.
Blankenstaff said that the club will seek community partnerships and fan engagement.
“[Soccer] is in the DNA of the kids here,” Blickenstaff said. “Kids are going to be dragging parents to these games. The tailgating is going to be wonderful.”
DeRose said that the donated season ticket bank initiative the Bradley soccer program took part in this past fall connects to the core of Peoria City’s mission. He hopes the stadium will grow to be an affordable community gathering place with lots of local flavor thanks to unique marketing activities and a winning soccer product.
“Philosophically, our thought was if we can get kids, young people, from these different places, and not for profits to come to a game they may see one person who changes it,” DeRose said. “‘[They] think I want to get out there. What do I need to do? I need to practice, I need to work hard, I need to go to school.’ That kind of is the genesis of what this program is about.”
The front office is also open to offering work experiences to Bradley students. Information will be released about opportunities when the nature of broadcasts and breadth of marketing has been decided.
“We hope to stream games and have opportunities for play-by-play and color,” DeRose said. “There’s lots of different ways for marketing and social media. We’re going to be looking for people to do that, especially for those students that stay in Peoria in the summer.”
In terms of players, athletes will mostly be of college age. However, Bradley student-athletes cannot play on the team.
“There is no limitation geographically [for players],” Regan said. “[According to] NCAA rules we can’t have [our] players participate. By that same token, we also look at our Bradley players going elsewhere.”
Regan said he has used his and DeRose’s network in the college ranks to recruit.
“When we talk to other team’s coaches about playing Bradley we bring up the fact we have [Peoria City],” Regan said. “Some of our players will be international … you’ll see a big mix.”
Last summer, Bradley player Gerit Wintermeyer played for the Chicago FC United, and the Bradley program has had good experiences with the league. Regan played in League Two at age 17.
While the team has announced its name, other branding such as logos and kits will be announced at a later date. DeRose hopes to get the community involved in those decisions.
“We want fan engagement and get people’s ideas on what the [logo] should look like,” DeRose said. “We want our supporters group to happen organically and we want someone to take the lead with that much like Section 8 with the Chicago Fire.”
To keep up with the team fans are encouraged to follow its social media accounts and use the hashtag #Path2Pro. Find it at PeoriaCitySoccer.com, Facebook.com/peoriacitysoccer, on Instagram @peoriacitysoccer and Twitter @PeoriaCityUSL2.
