Sports Council seeks millions in improvements, upgrades to South Commons softball complex

With the city’s 24-year-old softball complex built for the 1996 Olympics showing the wear and tear of age, the Columbus Sports Council is making a pitch to city leaders to improve the facility that it uses to attract events and economic development dollars to the city.

On Tuesday, Sports Council Executive Director Merri Sherman presented a plan to Columbus Council during a work session that was aimed at public-private partnership to make $5.6 million in renovations to the eight-field complex that has hosted everything from the top players in the world to local church league teams.

There is some urgency to Sherman’s request. The city has the opportunity to host the ESPN-televised USA Softball International Cup in July 2019. Sherman attended the 2018 event last month in Irvine, Calif., and said Columbus is positioned to host next year’s tournament, which will attract anywhere from six to 14 teams from across the world.

But there need to be significant upgrades to the facility, Sherman said.

“With that, we need to improve our facilities,” Sherman said. “They are over 20 years old at this point and we have some things that have outlived their useful life, such as our lights.”

The Sports Council has met with contractors, architects, landscape architects and turf specialists to determine what needs to be done to bring the softball complex back up to the standard it was at in 1996 when it one one of the finest facilities in the country. The initial cost would update the stadium and the two fields that flank it. Those three fields are south of the five-field hub in the eight-field complex.

“With that project, it would give us stadiums on fields 6 and 8, as well as our main stadium,” Sherman said. “It is repairing the water leaks, upgrading the restrooms, concessions, the field surface, the dugouts, putting in bullpens, batting cages and all of those features needed for a complex of our magnitude.”

The $5.6 million cost would not include work that needs to be done to the remaining five fields and the roundhouse, which houses the concessions, restrooms and pressbox.

The main stadium seats 2,500 spectators. The proposal is to have the two adjacent fields turned into mini-versions of the main stadium, Sherman said.

“This will position us not only for the current business we have through the Georgia High School state softball championships, but also for some of those collegiate events we host at the facility,” Sherman said. “... By building the 6 and 8 fields into stadiums that not only positions us for the current business we have, but for future business, as well.”

City Manager Isaiah Hugley and other city officials plan to meet with members of the Sports Council next week to discuss the proposal and how to fund it. The Sports Council has begun to talk to private donors, said the organization’s board chairman, Kim Sheek.

“We have floated some trial balloons,” Sheek said. “It keeps coming back with the question, ‘What’s the city’s commitment?’ We don’t know that. ... My gut tells me, we are going to have to know the commitment from the city before the private sector gets involved.”

The Sports Council did not ask the city for specific amount on Tuesday, instead outlining the needs for improvements, renovation and upgrades to multiple city facilities, including Memorial Stadium and Golden Park in the South Commons, as well as the Woodruff Farms Soccer Complex. The Sports Council uses all of those venues to attract tournaments and events to the city.

The softball complex was completed for about $3 million in 1994 using revenue from the 1993 1-percent Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. Shortly after the Olympics softball games were played here in July 1996, the $3.5 million stadium was built with a combination of private funds and excess money remaining with Columbus ‘96, the local Olympic organizing committee. The Sports Council was agency that spun out of Columbus ‘96. Its primary focus for the last two decades as been to recruit and host sporting events in the city.

Part of the effort to attract the International Cup is playing off the legacy of the 1996 Olympic softball competition held in Columbus. The softball complex was used to support the games, which were played in Golden Park.

In the two years prior to the Olympics and the year after, Columbus held an international tournament called SuperBall, which brought in the top teams in the world. The facility also hosted the SEC softball tournament in its infancy in the late 1990s.

“We have a huge advantage in Columbus because we do have that emotional tie to South Commons,” Sherman said. “Because the Olympics were there, because those international players have played there, ... people want to come to our facility because of the great players who have played there. They want to play in our stadium.”

Softball is also making a comeback on the world stage. The first Olympic softball competition was held in Columbus, but the sport was removed from the games after the 2008 Olympics. Team USA won three of the four Olympic softball gold medals. Softball has been added back to the Olympics for the 2020 games.

Sherman was also touting the economic impact the complex and stadium have had on Columbus over the years. Last year, she told council the complex had an impact of $4.62 million, according to information in the Sports Council archives. Since 1995, the economic impact of the softball on Columbus has been $147.75 million.

The venue draws about 9,556 out-of-town visitors annually and is used by more than 2,720 local residents, according to information Sherman provided to council.

Councilor Judy Thomas, who represents District 9, supports the Sports Council push to attract the international tournament, but notes the city budget is currently tight.

“If we put some money up front, we should get a good return when that event comes to Columbus,” Thomas said.

The investment in the city-owned facility should be considered carefully, Thomas said.

“We don’t have any extra money lying around,” she said. “But I am saying let’s look at it, and look at it carefully. Let’s see if there’s another project we can delay and move the money to this. I don’t know that there is, but we should look at this.”

This story was originally published August 6, 2018 at 7:49 AM.