A group of North Idaho investors and soccer parents has formed North Idaho Sports Complex LLC to develop a 16-field soccer complex near Hayden.

North Idaho Sports Complex has agreed to buy 40 acres of land near the intersection of Huetter Road and Prairie Avenue for the complex.

The facility would be used primarily by the Coeur d'Alene Sting Soccer Club, which has about 370 youth players, but the company plans to open the fields to other community sports groups as well.

John Swallow, a spokesman for North Idaho Sports Complex and a Coeur d'Alene resident, says the land purchase is contingent upon whether the city plans to move forward with annexation of land west of Hayden, a detail that the group plans to discuss with city officials soon.

Swallow declined to disclose the land purchase price or details of the pending transaction.

"We've built a plan around that parcel," Swallow says. "We're fairly confident that it will be annexed, and we're working with the land owner."

He adds, "If we have a good idea the annexation will happen, we can close on it."

If plans for the land purchase are finalized, the business hopes to begin construction this spring or summer, and for the fields to be ready for play by spring of 2013. The plan calls for the Sting club to lease the facility for 20 years and for the fields eventually to have lights.

Mike Thompson, Sting director of coaching and player development, says the nonprofit club has 25 teams and about 370 soccer players in the under age 10 through age 19 groups. It currently uses three separate community soccer fields, and it plans to continue using those fields for at least the first few years after a complex is built, Thompson says, but the larger-sized facility will allow for growth and the hosting of tournaments.

The Sting hosts a tournament each May that draws about 4,000 players from several states and Canada, for an estimated $1.1 million economic impact, he says.