Project Sports: A Future Built By Sports
Proposed New Facilities
OPTION A
Downtown Spokane, North Bank
The North Bank of the Spokane River in downtown Spokane would provide a dramatic and memorable setting for visiting athletes. Walking distance to hotels, shopping, restaurants and bars, a sports complex would allow Spokane to compete for events alongside any rival city in the country.
OPTION B
Spokane Valley, Mirabeau Site
The Mirabeau site, located near the Valley YMCA in the Spokane Valley, provides an advantageous site for the businesses of the Spokane Valley. With close proximity to the mall, hotels, Centennial Trail, Plantes Ferry Sports Complex as well as easy access off the freeway, this site makes it a viable contender for this project. This site also has surrounding land which would allow for future outdoor field development.
Improve Existing Facilities
Southside Sports Complex
Potentially, expand the complex into adjoining land to develop additional multiuse fields allowing for field recovering time and league growth. Convert 2-fields to artificial turf with lights—which supports growth trends in soccer and outdoor field sports.
Witter Aquatic Center
Consider the viability of covering Witter to allow for year-round programming. This would provide opportunities to pursue and develop additional competitive swimming events. This improvement would also allow for local competitive and community swim programs to grow and sustain year-round programming.
Championship Golf Course
Identify a current regional golf course that could be renovated to meet “championship” standards. Develop a feasibly study that addresses associated capital costs, O&M, and potential tournaments. As a side benefit, a renovated course presents opportunities to expand leisure travel to Spokane. An example of a similar successful renovation would be Chambers Bay Golf Course in Pierce County.
Multi-Use Fieldhouse
The Spokane Sports Commission is proposing a multi-use fieldhouse in Spokane that would allow us to recruit large national and international sporting events, regional tournaments and help alleviate ongoing community demand for additional sporting venues. An indoor track, ice arena, and enough floor space for large tournaments in a variety of sports is lacking in Spokane. The proposed multi-use fieldhouse would secure the future of large, premium events already hosted in Spokane and would foster new sports business that would bring tens of millions in economic impact.
The proposed fieldhouse would be two levels with more than 127,000 square feet of flexible space. With a preliminary estimated cost of $20-25 million, the state-of-the-art fieldhouse would include an indoor track and ice arena. It would be an ideal destination for indoor track meets, basketball, indoor soccer, volleyball, gymnastics, wrestling, hockey, figure skating, boxing and more.
In addition to concluding the need for a new sports facility, the Sports Facilities Assessment & Priorities Study also determined the need for current sport facility improvements.
The Spokane Sports Commission works diligently behind the scenes to attract, retain and facilitate sports events here in the Inland Northwest. These efforts are helping our region realize the economic, social and community-building benefits of sports. To continue to secure events in the future, we rely on maintaining efficient and effective facilities that support an inviting environment for sports programs and community activities.
In 2012, as a proactive approach to evaluate countywide sports facilities and develop a vision for the future, the Spokane Sports Commission launched a comprehensive Sports Facilities Assessment & Priorities Study. The results of this study have helped us develop strategies and future actions to protect, enhance and provide facilities in response to shortfalls or over provision.
POTENTIAL LOCATIONS
Plantes Ferry Sports Stadium
Soccer: Continue and support the plan to convert 2-fields to artificial turf and add permanent lighting. Expand parking and develop access off Trent Ave. Phase-in the re-grading and seeding of the natural turf fields.
Softball: Renovate and upgrade fields to meet tournament standards similar to Merkel; backstops, dugouts, press box, seating, concessions, lights, fencing, etc. These renovations would offer numerous opportunities to attract tournaments.
Albi Stadium Site
Construct multi-use fields on the additional property near Albi Stadium. Include minimum of two artificial turf fields and increase lighting to expand the seasonal uses and meet current trends in soccer and general field sports. These additional fields will add to the synergy of the Merkel Sports Complex and renovated Albi Stadium.
Franklin Park Field Complex
Develop a capital improvement plan to bring the venue up-to tournament standards for ASA Softball, WIAA Softball, Little League, and Pony League Baseball. As part of the renovations, ensure the fields can also support youth baseball. Matched with the 5-fields at the Merkel Complex, this would provide 10-tournament quality fields necessary to attract larger softball and youth baseball events. Improvements would also extend the life of the venue for local league play.
