Youth Soccer Group Buys Selke Field

(KNSI) – Selke Field will continue to be the home of kids’ soccer in the area thanks to an agreement signed this week.

On Friday, St. Cloud State University announced it had sold the site near Talahi School to the Central Minnesota Youth Soccer Association. The purchase was closed for $350,000. SCSU says it will use the money to make facilities upgrades on campus.

Selke Field was the longtime home of St. Cloud State Men’s Football. A corner of the sprawling park acted as a softball diamond for the Huskies’ varsity squad until 2024. The rest has been used by CMYSA for decades. The organization fields over two dozen teams with 1,100-plus kids playing the beautiful game each year.

CMYSA turned to crowdfunding to help subsidize its efforts to make the purchase, raising over $100,000 in the process. The group intends to keep the iconic granite walls that were installed at the site during the Works Progress Administration, part of the New Deal under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

A Selke Social is planned for September 21st to celebrate the deal from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. A soccer tournament will be held as part of the event.

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