The Bubble Burst

Demolished Recreational in Mansfield, Massachusetts, United States

Mar 29 2019

Recreational

KnightHawk

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Gated Sharp Objects Neighbours

Recent status	Demolished
Location #	15931

In 1993, a local soccer coach, frustrated with the lack of indoor facilities in the local area, decided to build an indoor soccer arena featuring two 350-ft. long artificial turf fields enclosed inside a giant bubble. The bubble was kept inflated by air by 2 industrial blowers. This worked well except for one severe snowstorm which caused the bubble to collapse. It was quickly replaced, and backup inflation systems were added. He called it Player's Choice, which would turn out to be an appropriate name.

The facility quickly became very popular, with around 100 teams playing there in the first year of operation. It operated year round, thanks to the huge bubble. Before long, the number of teams doubled, and attracted highly competitive teams, including international teams. The success of the arena spawned other indoor facilities in the area, most of which are still operating.

The venue also offered a snack bar, a warm-up area, spectator bleachers, and an indoor toddler's playground.

A few years ago, rumours started to surface that the owner wanted to sell. although he initially denied this, Player's Choice ended up closing its doors for good in 2014. Since then, it has sat slowly decaying. The taggers and vandals have had a go at it, and all that remains today is the main building, an equipment/power shed and the poles lining the side of the former fields. These poles were used to hold the bubble in place and some of the guy wires are still there. The artificial turf has long since disappeared.

A developer has proposed a plan to re-purpose the venue and wants to build a 130-room hotel, restaurant, and bank on the existing property. Local residents have expressed concern about the amount of increased traffic, and local government has twice postponed any decision. There is a sign out front stating that the property is the site of a future hotel development, but it looks like nothing is going to happen in a hurry for this one.

I was only able to get a couple of indoor shots off, but hope to re-visit and do a 2nd gallery highlighting the inside of the main building.

If you are in the area, it's a cool explore, and definitely worth seeing.

Latlng: (41.998315910954, -71.209082007408)

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