FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 18, 2001
For more information, contact
Winkie La Force, Capitol Sports Management 919-890-6283
Diego Munoz, CASL, 919-834-3951
La Liga de Futbol de Raleigh Finds Home Fields In Agreement With CASL & Capitol Sports Management
RALEIGH, N.C. – La Liga de Futbol de Raleigh has found a home for its regular season soccer league at CASL’s WRAL Soccer Center complex. The agreement, made possible with the support and sponsorship of Capitol Sports Management and CASL, provides La Liga with a stable environment for regular season play.
“CASL is proud and excited to enter into this agreement with La Liga and Capitol Sports Management so that the interests of the community and the sport can be furthered to everyone’s advantage,” said Diego Munoz, CASL’s Interim CEO and General Manager. “This is a long time coming for the Hispanic community, and we are glad to be a part of offering a stable playing environment.”
“We see this partnership as a first step to better exchange the strengths of two communities, CASL and La Liga. We hope as they share their love of futbol/soccer, they will uncover other opportunities where they can continue to work towards common goals,” said Winkie La Force, Capitol Sports Management’s executive vice president.
The agreement allows La Liga to play at WRAL Soccer Center on Sunday mornings before their traditional worship times and when the fields are fully available for their use. La Liga has 19 teams with players from around the world, but predominantly from Spanish-speaking Latin America. The league began play on March 27th.
Fernando Rivera, one of the leaders of the La Liga de Futbol de Raleigh, says “We are very happy to have reached an agreement with CASL to rent their fields.” Noe Chavez, another leader, adds, “All the teams are quite happy to have access to these good fields.” “The access to good, USSF certified referees is another big plus,” says Donato Miguel, also a part of the league’s leadership.
“It is gratifying to see the soccer players enjoying themselves on the CASL fields. There was a lot of work to get to this point and I hope that the collaboration between CASL and the Hispanic Community will continue to develop and expand quickly over the next months and years. However, there is still a lot of work to be done as both the players, the league and CASL get to know each other better,” says Tim Wallace, an organizer of the league and professor at N.C. State University.
The agreement also calls for the creation of an advisory committee between La Liga, CASL, and the community to facilitate continued relations between the La Liga’s Hispanic community, the Raleigh community and CASL. “La Comite Consejero,” which the committee will be named, will meet regularly and provide the forum for La Liga and the Hispanic community at large to become more involved with soccer in the area and the larger Raleigh community.
“This is only the beginning of what I hope will be a long lasting relationship between Triangle Hispanics, advocates, CASL, and organizations like Capital Sports Management. All working together made it possible to give newcomers a sense of belonging playing the game of futbol, the world’s game.” said Dr. Nolo Martínez, Director of Hispanic/Latino Affairs, Office of the Governor.
La Liga and the Capital Area Soccer League (CASL), are non-profit organizations serving the Hispanic and Wake County soccer communities. Capital Sports Management, Inc. is a subsidiary of Capitol Broadcasting Company, owner of various broadcast media companies across the Carolinas. La Liga de futbol de Raleigh is sponsored by WRAL-TV.
Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc. is a diversified communications company which owns and/or operates WRAL-TV, WRAL-Digital, WRAL-FM, Microspace, the North Carolina News Network, DTV Plus, Wolfpack Sports Marketing, and Capitol Sports Management in Raleigh, NC; WJZY-TV and WFVT-TV in Charlotte, NC; WILM-TV in Wilmington, NC; WRAZ-TV and the Durham Bulls Baseball Club in Durham, NC; and the Myrtle Beach Pelicans Baseball Club in Myrtle Beach, SC; Capitol Broadcasting Company also founded Local TV on Satellite in Raleigh, NC.
