Schneider Park: A New Home for the "Beautiful Game"

Toledo, Ohio (January 2023) –

TOLEDO, Ohio – A $1.38 million federal budget appropriation, supported by U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, gives the City of Toledo’s Schneider Park much-needed funding assistance for the expansion and enhancement of Northwest Ohio’s home for soccer. The Congressionally Directed Spending award will allow for completion of the first phase of the park’s master plan.

A collaboration with the City of Toledo, two local soccer clubs - Toledo Football Academy and Toledo Celtics - and design firm The Mannik & Smith Group, Inc., the 33-acre Schneider Park improvement project will demonstrate environmentally sustainable public recreation. "The City of Toledo is very grateful for the unwavering support Senator Brown has shown for the Schneider Park Renovation project, said Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz. “The funding from this appropriation will allow us to make important park improvements that provide greater safety, better accessibility, and an improved visitor experience for our community. This project will also serve as a benchmark for brownfield redevelopment and sustainable design for our region and our country.”

The community-focused complex will expand the park onto an adjacent vacant 8-acre parcel, re-route vehicular flow through the site with a new road and parking lots constructed with recycled tires, and add a multi-use trail throughout the facility. The project includes the construction of new soccer fields, sustainable bioretention that will treat over 3 million gallons of stormwater annually, and the installation of additional park amenities. The planned improvements to this soccer complex draw more than 5,000 soccer players and their families to the park annually.

“The best ideas don’t come from Washington – they come from Ohioans who know what their communities need - and that’s why I’m proud to support this project that will help Toledo continue to flourish,” said Senator Sherrod Brown. “This funding will help Schneider Park become a great example of how investing in public recreation spaces can boost the local economy while improving environmental sustainability. I will always use every tool available to get resources to Ohio, and that’s what we did with this project.”

Director of Toledo Football Academy, Paul Holdgate, said, “TFA is grateful to Senator Brown for this support and to The Mannik & Smith Group, Inc. for preparing the funding request. And we appreciate our ongoing partnership with the City of Toledo and Toledo Celtics. This is the final piece of phase one that will enable so many soccer players of any age, gender, and various levels the opportunity to play this fabulous game. From the community to thousands of recreational and travel soccer players. In addition, it will highlight and financially assist Toledo and its surrounding businesses through various events that will be held in this forward thinking revitalization project.”

The project also received transformational funding from a $600,000 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant supported by Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur. Additional support has been provided by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the Lucas County Land Bank, and the City of Toledo through its American Rescue Plan Act assistance.