It was a potential deal announced with great excitement but eventually fizzled.
Back in 2008, the city announced it was working on an agreement with the Vancouver Whitecaps to set up a team training facility, as well as a national training centre, at John Oliver Park.
Then mayor Lois Jackson met with Premier Gordon Campbell to discuss the possibility of establishing a national soccer training facility in Delta.
The idea would have been tied to a deal being negotiated at the time with the Whitecaps, who were interested in building a soccer training centre at the 20-hectare (50-acre) East Delta park near the corner highways 91 and 10
The municipality had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Whitecaps for the soccer club to construct a centre.
The Whitecaps' $31 million plan included a clubhouse for national and professional players, a training facility and several fields.
Delta would pay for the necessary roadway improvements to the park.
Delta would also provide a 60-year-lease for the Whitecaps for a portion of the park that would be used by the soccer club.
Campbell and local Liberal candidate Wally Oppal even promised provincial funding for the future national training centre during the 2009 election campaign.
Gordon Campbell and Wally Oppal announced over $17 million in provincial funding for a soccer training centre during the 2009 election campaign, but Delta and the Vancouver Whitecaps could not ultimately come to an agreement
The proposal, however, fell apart when Delta and the soccer club could come up with an agreement on how much community usage would have been given.
"They really didn't offer any community access. We were stuck with them offering times for something like six tournaments a year. They also only wanted to build one artificial turf field and we wanted them to build two," said former councillor Robert Campbell, who chaired the parks and recreation commission, less than two years later.
By 2012, the Whitecaps and government announced the province would help complete "a world-class soccer development centre" at UBC.
The Whitecaps at the time had also launched a soccer academy in partnership with the school district, but that partnership didn’t last.
As far as the future of John Oliver Park, which is utilized for soccer, football and rugby, the city’s latest parks, recreation and culture strategic work plan from 2018 notes there are limited development opportunities in Delta's parkland, but one park that has potential for enhancement is John Oliver Park.
“Care should be made to ensure a comprehensive plan is followed for development,” the plan notes.
Some of the city’s medium-term (2023-2027) wish list items identified in the plan include improvements to the park, such as additional fields, a fieldhouse facility capable of hosting community activities, additional parking and other improvements.
The total estimated cost for all those projects at the site add up to $30 million.
“The approved John Oliver Park Master Plan envisions the development of the park as an outdoor field complex to create an extensive outdoor sports and recreation hub for the residents of Delta. The multiplex layout in the Master Plan identifies the conversion of a natural grass field to synthetic turf, the creation of a cycling course, sport courts, permanent field house facility as well as a trail system and interpretive lookout, all supported by additional parking area.”
Prior to the failed memorandum with the Whitecaps, the city had earlier made a deal earlier with the Ex-Britannia Rugby Association for the park which included new fields and restoring the historic John Oliver Barn.
The rebuilding of the barn was deemed not feasible once it was dismantled
