Langley has evolved into a major sports hub, thanks in large part to a pair of top-level sports facilities, one of which probably couldn’t be built today, according to Mayor Eric Woodward.
At the Langley Events Centre (LEC) there is professional hockey, basketball and soccer, along with Junior A lacrosse and NCAA-level university sports from Trinity Western University and other top-ranked events.
And the 60-acre McLeod Athletic Park hosts top-ranked junior football and baseball teams and national track and field championships that drew top names, among other events.
It is a trend that has not gone unnoticed, according to Woodward.
“Other mayors around the region, they come out to the Langley Event Centre, and they’re [saying] ‘what a fabulous facility’ and they wish they had that in their community,” Woodward remarked.
“And they’re larger and wealthier than we are, and they don’t have that.”
Describing it as “a destination that you typically wouldn’t see in a municipality of our size,” Woodward said it helps that the LEC, which opened in 2009, went up before construction costs skyrocketed.
“That facility today would, I think, be almost un-buildable for the cost of what it would be.”
Location – the fact that the LEC is located just off Hwy. 1, making it easy to get to from other communities in the region, especially outside rush hour, has played a part, Woodward explained.
With the highway expansion finished out to 216th, and the pending arrival of SkyTrain, he said Langley is well positioned between urban Metro Vancouver and the more rural Fraser Valley.
“We have that urban feel on one side, but then, really, still that rural community out into the Fraser Valley.”
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Then-Langley East MLA Rich Coleman called the LEC a highlight of his political career, when he brokered a $15-million provincial government grant to get the project off the ground.
It made Langley an attractive location for pro sport franchises like the Vancouver Giants, who relocated from the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver to the LEC in 2016, and the Fraser Valley Bandits, who moved from the Abbotsford Centre to Langley in 2022, and Vancouver FC of the Canadian Premier league, who launched in a brand-new stadium next to the LEC in 2023.
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If there is a downside to elite teams playing in Langley, it’s the impact on junior-level sports.
Woodward said the growth in high-level sports has made it harder for some leagues to find playing time, which is why his Contract with Langley slate, which has a majority on council, approved plans that will expand the LEC by adding three ice rinks and two dry-floor arenas just to the north of Building B, the field house and gym facility.
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It will mostly benefit “non-profit” players who “haven’t had a new ice sheet in decades,” Woodward said.
“It’s really been geared towards them.”
While Langley had “tremendous success” in establishing the LEC, “we need to ensure and continue to ensure that community groups and everyday kids and families have access to great facilities as well,” Woodward added.
Long-range plans include an indoor soccer field and soccer campus, as well as another community centre, Woodward told the Langley Advance Times.
“There’s a lot of demand for sports facilities in the community, and really, the only one that can afford to provide them is local government,” Woodward said.
“We’re stepping up to get it done because the alternative is to just not have the facilities at all which, to many of us on council, isn’t really an option.”
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McLeod, a 60-acre athletic park that just underwent more than $5 million in upgrades for the Bell Canadian Track and Field Championships, is another example of a facility that “you wouldn’t typically see in a municipality of 150,000 people,” Woodward commented.
More than 1,330 top Canadian athletes competed in the the 2023 championships in Langley, including Olympic medalist and Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medalist Andre De Grasse, who won the 200 metres, and two-time Olympic medalist Aaron Brown who won the 100 metres.
Among its features, McLeod has a stadium, competed in 2006, that can hold 2,200 spectators, with an artificial turf field, night lighting and an arena-sized video display screen.
In 2010, the South Surrey Big Kahuna Rams of the B.C. Junior Football Conference relocated to McLeod, becoming the Langley Rams.
McLeod has an eight-lane rubberized track, and can accommodate javelin, high jump, long jump, discus, shot put and pole vault events.
It also has a regulation baseball diamond, softball diamonds, soccer fields, tennis courts and a lacrosse box.
