MATT LIBBER Facility Spotlight Maryland SoccerPlex

Executive Director, January 2019

The SoccerPlex is a non-profit located on 160 acres of the larger 700 acres of South Germantown Recreation Park. This park is part of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission system, and we work within a public-private partnership with that organization. In addition to the SoccerPlex, the park includes a swim center, tennis complex, driving range, archery range, BMX track, miniature golf course, splash pad, community garden, picnic pavilions, three baseball, two softball, and one miracle field, a cricket pitch, and a $6M playground.

We generate all of our revenue through operations and sponsorships. We received no tax dollars for operations or the original construction beyond the nominal annual lease subsidy.

We are the home venue for approximately ten different soccer clubs in the area and host tournaments for 4 of them. We were previously the home venue for the Washington Spirit of the NWSL until 2020 and are now the home venue for the Maryland Bobcats of the NISA, the third tier of professional men’s soccer in the US. We also operate a 4,000 member recreational soccer league, and run soccer development classes, clinics, and camps. We provide around $50,000 in scholarships annually for our in-house programming. We also run an adult soccer league year-round, including indoor sessions during the winter. In addition, we partner with the local school system to provide after-school programming at the schools.

We provide various field sports outdoors, including soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, ultimate frisbee, flag football, etc. We provide space for volleyball, basketball, twirling, cheerleading, martial arts, CrossFit, and indoor soccer. We are pretty versatile in our ability to host events. We are also the second-largest convention space in the County and host tradeshows, concerts, and cultural events throughout the year.

We have some level programming every day of the year except for a few holidays we close, like Christmas and New Year’s Day.

We pretty much maxed out on space at this point, but we plan to improve the facility to make the customer experience better. These may include campus-wide WiFi, updated restroom facilities, shade structures, additional lighted fields, etc.

Sitting at a desk. I have always been more involved in the operations side of events. During the workday, I struggle to sit still sometimes and give myself projects to break up the day or week. I have been known to paint walls, install hand sanitizer posts around the park, work with the grounds crew, or clean out storage areas to not sit at the desk. The other thing is dealing with politics. Being on Park property has its challenges, including dealing with bureaucracy at times which can be frustrating. As a rights holder, if the politics were too much, I would find a different venue. I cannot pick up a 24 field complex and Fieldhouse and move it to a new County.

The SoccerPlex is officially listed as a proposed training site for both the Baltimore and DC bids. We promote both from the SoccerPlex perspective. I am part of the Baltimore Bid Committee and assist with planning for training venues and the Activation Committee to host events to drum up community support for our bid effort.

I have served on many Boards and have seen lots of different governance models, some good and some bad. Over the last few years, SportsETA has undergone many changes, and our governance model needed to be updated as the Industry changed. We now look at common sense, like making Rights Holders full voting members, which seemed like a simple concept but was not part of our organization structure until the changes we pushed through in 2019. There are still quite a few things I want to change, including the board of directors’ makeup and the nominations process. Anyone who has been around SportsETA (and NASC before the name change) can see how much more engaged the membership is now than ever. We need to harness that and grow the offerings from the organization. It also means changing the way we do business and govern the organization. There is no reason in 2021 that a rights holder or hotelier cannot be the Chair of the Board of Directors.

The efforts from myself and others like Ben Hoffman, William Knox, Michael Grade, and Mike Millay, to name a few, to get the Facilities Summit up and running has been fantastic for SportsETA and the Industry as a whole. There has always been a gap in education and networking for facilities staff within the Industry. This is something I was working on before I even took the job at the SoccerPlex. We now have momentum behind us to build on the foundation we established in 2019, and we see a lot of interest. I also made a name for myself during the pandemic.

I became the voice for sports organizations in Maryland and the region to bring sports back safely and effectively. We were able to get over 90 soccer clubs in the Maryland, DC, and Northern Virginia area to join together to create a co-operative to help each other out through the pandemic. These are usually organizations that don’t get along, compete on the field, and compete for players. We saw these groups sharing information, training curriculums, and resources to make sure everyone survived the pandemic. It was a site to see for sure, and we are working to keep that spirit of cooperation going post-pandemic.

Italy. The food, the people, the history. That being said though I am a proud Marylander and do not think there is a better place to live. We have the ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, the Mountains, farmland, basically everything but a desert. We have great food, a mix of north and south, tons of history, pro sports in every category, etc. There is a reason Maryland is nicknamed “American in Miniature”

I don’t think it is a single thing but rather a collection of keep sakes from events I have worked on and/or created. It includes a signed ball from the Honduras National team from a Gold Cup I worked, signed jerseys from Tottenham and Southampton both of which were partners when I worked at Elite Tournaments, the collection of credentials from various events, etc.

If I had to narrow it down to one though it would be my 6th Place plaque for the High Jump of the 2011 NAIA Track and Field National Championships. No I never ran track or competed in the High Jump in my life. It was a gag gift from Jamie Adams, formerly of the NAIA, but it reminds me of the great relationships I have made in my 20+ years in sports tourism.

Travel is the number one thing. My wife and I love to explore new places. I love visiting National Parks, especially ones related to history. I plan to visit every brewery and try every beer before I die. And my brother and I started a quest nearly 15 years ago to “Do the 92” where we see a game in all 92 stadiums in the English Football Leagues. With relegation and promotion the list of 92 is always changing so we may never be done the journey is the best part.

Opening weekend of the English Premier League is always something I look forward to. Hockey playoffs are always great to watch (Let’s Go Pens), and the Ravens vs Steelers in Baltimore is always a great game.