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We are excited to announce that Bellevue United FC and Newport FC have agreed to merge clubs. The merger combines two of the four original soccer clubs in Washington State since 1961; the original clubs were Bellevue, Eastgate, Mercer Island, and Newport.
Bellevue and Newport have been in discussions over the last year to merge clubs, much of which was driven by the desire to maximize administrative efficiency to properly fund the operations of our clubs as we have moved from a 10-week rec program to year-round soccer programming.
Starting with the upcoming registration, you will see some changes in our operations such as a new joint registration page and platform where families can register for either a Bellevue team or a Newport team. From the player’s perspective, the change should be minimal as we will maintain neighborhood identities, teams, and colors.
What you need to know?
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Teams will continue to be formed based on neighborhoods and schools. Kids still get to wear their Bellevue Blue or Newport Red – merely register for the program you want.
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A key advantage will be the ability to form teams when we don’t have enough kids from a given area or age group, this most notably occurs in Select.
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Bellevue United FC will now encompass all Bellevue United FC and Newport Youth Soccer teams and programs. Regardless, we believe that neighborhood identity is a competitive differentiator for brand and training in your community.
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Micro, Mod, Rec, and Select (including Premier for certain teams) will still be offered.
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New to Newport families will be offerings for Winter Futsal and Spring Training, and a slightly different format in Micro (U6 and U7).
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New to Newport families will be a new Juniors program for U8 and U9 for players that want more soccer than just Fall Rec. Check the website for information!
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Will fees increase as a result of the merger? The short answer is “No” however, some fees will be aligned where the clubs have differed, and other fees just need adjusting as we have not increased them for three years.
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Both Bellevue and Newport websites will remain active during the transition. Operations and Boards will merge behind the scenes. Newport’s brand will be integrated a neighborhood-based naming convention, reinforcing the value of playing for your neighborhood team.
What about Coronavirus?
We are in unprecedented times, but we will come out of this together. We have updated our refund policies in the event we are not able to start some programs as regularly scheduled. For Select and Premier team tryouts, we are in a holding pattern until we have a better handle of how long we will be off the fields. Regardless, families shouldn’t stress about whether their player is going to make a team or not – this should be the least of our worries.
See you on the pitch!
Charles Dyer
Bellevue United FC, Club President
Cc, Chris Benis
Newport FC, Club President