MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY — A new outdoor sports complex is in the works in McCracken County. It’s a project the fiscal court has been discussing for a while, but a recent survey recommended the facility.
McCracken County Judge Executive Craig Clymer said the fiscal court paid $15,000 for Pinnacle Indoor Sports to conduct a study to find out whether an indoor or outdoor sports complex would be good for the area.
Pinnacle recommended that the county build a lighted outdoor sports area that can accommodate four standard size soccer games (11 versus 11), up to 20 youth soccer games, and eight Little League baseball and softball fields, including a batting cage and pitching tunnel.
The company also recommended the county build the complex on land where they would have room to expand in the future.
“We likely will be looking at soccer first,” Clymer said. “Our kids have been playing now on the landfill for a good while. We can’t generate interest for tourism to come to a landfill to play soccer.”
The 106-page study outlines a plan for an outdoor sports facility for soccer, baseball, softball, and lacrosse. Clymer said paying $15,000 for the study was necessary. “Because we didn’t know anything about how to build a sports complex, didn’t know what the demand would be,” Clymer said. “Not only do you need to know what the demand in the community would be, but what’s feasible, what’s profitable.”
Pinnacle did not recommend an indoor center, saying the capital costs would make it hard to sustain the building long term, and there is only a short seasonal need. The company instead suggests the county use the Paducah Convention and Expo Center and rent it as an indoor space for other sports, like basketball, wrestling, volleyball, cheer, and dance.
Clymer said this project is in the very early stages, so no costs have been determined yet.
County leaders have been vocal about their financial struggles, but Clymer explained that some of the money generated from the hotel transient tax goes to the Sports Tourism Commission, which will be paying for this project. He said more people visiting Paducah for sporting events like soccer tournaments means more people staying hotels. If more people are staying in the hotels, the county will get more tax revenue to put back into sports facilities.
You can expect to hear about more solid plans in the next few weeks from the fiscal court.
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