National Sports Center

The National Sports Center opened in 1990. The facility was built by the State of Minnesota as part of a statewide building program to improve Minnesota’s amateur sports facilities. The current 600-acre campus, the world’s largest, bears only a faint resemblance to the facility that opened in 1990. The original complex had less than 30 soccer fields, the cycling velodrome, residence hall, stadium and sports hall. By 1994, the NSC had developed over 50 fields by purchasing land north of 105th Avenue. The Schwan Super Rink opened in October of 1998, the National Youth Golf Center opened in phases between 2000-2004 and the Schwan Center opened in April 2005. In the fall of 2006 four additional sheets of ice were added making the eight-sheet ice arena the world’s largest. The newest expansion at the National Sports Center is at the Sport Expo Center, located at the Schwan Center, this facility opened in June 2012. This 18,000 square foot facility is ideal for shows, events, expos and sports training.