New sports complex to bring millions in revenue, officials say

What is currently dirt and construction will become what officials are calling a future state-of-the-art facility.  

Officials broke ground on the site of the future DE Turf Sports Complex in Frederica on Thursday. Slated to be completed by March 2017, it will include a dozen fields: 10 synthetic turf fields and two with natural grass.

Bill Strickland, president of the Kent County Regional Sports Complex board of directors, says sports tourism was a 9 billion dollar industry across the U.S. in 2014 and the complex on Route 1 will ensure Delaware is well-positioned to get a sizeable piece of that.

“Not only is there nothing similar to this in Kent County but candidly, there’s nothing like this in the middle Atlantic area,” says Strickland.

The 84-acre complex will be used for sports such as soccer and field hockey. It will also include a championship stadium field. The hope is have it used for future tournaments, with the first one scheduled for March 2017.

The project itself costs around 24 million dollars. Strickland says it has been secured through grants, bonds, and legislative support.

District 17 Senator Brian Bushweller tells 47ABC, 3.2 million dollars of the 24 million dollar project was secured through the state’s infrastructure fund; however, he says the pay-off is huge.

Senator Bushweller notes construction alone will mean jobs for about 180 people. This is on top of tournament management, trainers, and concession workers.

“The real economic value is not only in those jobs,” explains Senator Bushweller. “It’s also in the fact that you’re going to have all these parents coming from the mid Atlantic region staying in our hotels, eating in our restaurants. I’d like to think other recreational opportunities here in Kent County that they’d be interested.”

The challenge ahead is creating marketing plan and generating buzz. Rob Smith, executive director of the complex, says they’re ready.

“In the mid-Atlantic market, we’re pretty dialed in with significant clubs that we can reach out to that will actually help us extend outside of the region,” says Smith.

According to Strickland, one of the biggest challenges surrounding this project was addressing how people would safely get in and out of the complex.

The South Frederica Overpass, a project overseen by DelDot, is not scheduled to be completed until 2018. Spokesman Geoff Sundstrom tells 47ABC, the agency’s challenges were financial.

“The project was able to move forward once the General Assembly approved additional funding,” Sundstrom explained in a statement. They are now working with complex officials on alternative travel measures.

Stickland tells 47ABC they plan to build a temporary “in-and-out” access until the overpass is officially built.

“Each one of those challenges made us better as a business entity, and I think in the end those challenges proved to be beneficial for us because it’s a more efficient model that we unroll today and that will be in place in March 2017,” he says.

We’re told despite the recent rainy conditions on Delmarva, the pace of construction has remained on track.