Several years ago there was a motion to build a sportsplex that could be used by the locals during the week and reserved on weekends for the travel ball teams that would fill the sportsplex and bring much revenue to this city and local business such as the hotels and restaraunts. Well, this is the first year in and the date of profitability has been pushed back by several years while the taxpayers continue to pay the bill. There are those who fall on the side of "give it more time and you will see what an asset this will be to our community" and then there are the nay-sayers who say, "Winvested in Pringles Park and look at it. We invested in the Ned and look at it. Now we are invested in the sportsplex and look at it... when will we learn our lesson".
The city has accrued debt, $9.1 million to be exact, to build this sportsplex. They were initially looking at two years before it started paying for itself, now that two has turned to 4. When asked why, it was stated that the city was too optimistic in their projections and neglected to look at such scenarios as rainouts and holidays.
You can read more here.
Some questions:
-What are your views on the West Tennessee Healthcare Sportsplex?
-Do you think it to be a good investment eventhough the current year's projection is suffering? If so, why?
-Should we always compare new projects to old ones such as Pringles Park, etc.?
-If the city was not responsible with the taxpayer's money by not doing the proper research on this project before signing off on it, what recourse do we as citizens have to gain back our $9.1 million folly?
-If we had it to do over again, knowing what you know now, should we build it?
-Are the local taxpayers really able to use it as promised during the week?
1 comment:
They shouldhave made it more compatable with other sports like travel soccer. The Shootut in the West tournament attracted 100 teams in April. About 3/4 of those teams traveled in. If you average 12 players per team x 70 teams, that's over 700 people. Each ofthem also brought an average of 1.5 parents with the, making the total something around 1700 people. All of those folks need hotel rooms and and places to eat. If they spend $100 each that adds up to $170,000 for just 1 tournament for 1 weekend.
Memphis built the Mike Rose Soccer complex a few years ago and they attract teams from all over the country year around.
I'm not against baseball but I do think they should have made it about more than just baseball. There are more kids playing soccer than all other sports combined.
Post a Comment