Seminole County to unveil $27m Sports Complex next week: Complex already booked with tournaments through 2016
The complexes six natural baseball fields feature digital scoreboards and concessions. (Herald photos by Tommy Vincent)
The sports complex features an airplane-themed playground sponsored by Sanford Airport.
The nine artifical fields can accommodate retangular sports such as football, soccer and lacrosse.
The complex also features an administrative building with a meeting room for up to 120 people.
By Rachel Delinski
Herald Publisher/Editor
It’s time to head out to the ball game as Seminole County celebrates the grand opening of the Seminole County Sports Complex next week.
The 15-field complex located on E. Lake Mary Boulevard behind the Sanford International Airport has proved to have a promising future as tournaments have already been booked through the end of the year.
Seminole County Leisure Services Director Joe Abel said in the upcoming 33 weekends, 38 tournaments have already been booked for the complex. These tournaments, which will bring in visitors from out of town, are expected to generate more than 36,000 hotel room stays and a local economic impact of $50 million.
Abel said, “If I do my job right, this complex should operate with no cost to the taxpayers.”
Locally, said Abel, Disney’s Wide World of Sports is the only local facility that compares to the technology and features at the Seminole County Complex.
Seminole County’s complex includes nine artificial turf fields, which will accommodate baseball, softball, and rectangular sports such as soccer, football, and lacrosse. This facility is the largest single location of artificial turf fields in Florida. Additionally there are six natural grass fields. The 15 fields are located in four different hubs, with concessions at each.
Keeping with the times, each concession will have charging stations as well as video displays with scoring. The complex is also wi-fi enabled and parents can download an app that will allow them to check scores on different fields.
“For example,” said Abel, “If you have two children playing on two different fields you can check the app to see how the other team is doing.”
The complex also features batting cages, warm-up areas, and movable pitching mounds, plates and back fences to accommodate different levels of play. Dugouts were intentionally made extra large to fit travelling teams and their gear.
On the sidelines, parents won’t have worry about the summer sun as each set of bleachers has a sunshade. There are also water fountains located throughout the complex. Parking should be a breeze with more than 500 paved parking spaces and more than 300 grass parking spaces.
When looking for some down time, parents and kids can sit, eat and play at the airplane-themed playground sponsored by the Sanford International Airport. Soak up some air conditioning in the administrative building, which also includes bathrooms, vending machines and a meeting room with the capacity to fit 120 people.
In addition to sporting events, Seminole County hopes the community will utilize the rentable spaces. The parking lot also has hookups to accommodate food vendors for festivals or community events.
The cost to build the 102-acre complex was $27 and construction lasted a little over a year.
Seminole County leaders will celebrate the complex’s grand opening Friday, May 13 at 7 p.m. A ribbon cutting for the complex and playground are planned, as well as fireworks after the ceremony. The public is invited to attend.
