O.C. Great Park to open its Sports Park, with a soccer stadium and fields, tennis and volleyball courts and more

Get ready to play ball.

The Orange County Great Park — home to the massive orange helium balloon that can be seen from the 5 and 405 freeways — will be ready to unveil its more athletic side with the opening of the first phase of the Great Park Sports Park on Saturday Aug. 5 from 2 to 9 p.m.

The first 53-acre phase will allow the public to try out new amenities such as the state-of-the-art soccer stadium with 2,500 permanent seats and 2,500 grass berm seating, six natural turf soccer fields, 25 hard-surface tennis courts, five sand volleyball courts and a 1-acre playground for children.

The tennis and volleyball facilities each hold seating for more than 100 spectators.

When fully completed, the Great Park Sports Park is planned to boast 194 acres, a size twice that of the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim.

This project is the result of a public and private partnership between the City of Irvine and Five Point, the Great Park Neighborhoods’ development manager, which has committed $250 million to improve 688 acres of the Great Park, according to a news release.

The Great Park, located at 6950 Marine Way, Irvine, already possesses features such as a carousel, an arts complex, a farm and a visitor center.

The opening of the first phase of the Great Park Sports Park will include games, competitions, food trucks and a free concert from The Blues Brothers.

For more information on the Orange County Great Park visit cityofirvine.org.

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Twitter: @AlexandraChan10