Proponents of a spate of proposed Spokane-area sports facilities have huddled on the sidelines to strategize against their newest adversarya slow economy that has spiked their hopes of building two multimillion-dollar recreational complexes here this year.


The proponents, led by a Spokane Regional Sports Commission steering committee, expect to break their huddle later this month with a new game plan that suggests an alternative lineup of small neighborhood indoor-courts facilities, the first of which it hopes will move forward more quickly than the big regional complexes envisioned previously.


In the past five years, three major sports facilities have been proposed here, including two indoor-courts facilities and an indoor swimming-pool complex. None, however, has been launched or even has secured funding, and one dropped by the wayside.


Even though its a challenging time, we think theres room for something like this, Eric Sawyer, executive director of the sports commission, says of the new approach.


The commission is looking to Spokane County for financial support. Its steering committee plans soon to present to the Spokane County commissioners design concepts and possible locations for the first of three or four neighborhood recreational facilities it would like the county to help fund, Sawyer says.


County Commissioner John Roskelley says the county recognizes that additional court facilities are needed here and likely would commit some funds to such a project, but would rather not be the sole financial benefactor. He says the County Commission would be receptive to some sort of public-private partnership, and to looking at a funding package proposal from the sports commission.


Roskelley hasnt talked to the sports commission yet about the idea of building smaller, neighborhood complexes rather than a larger facility, but says, I see where that would be a better way to go. We try not to get involved in large projects that will cost the county a lot of money over a period of time.


$5 million each


Meanwhile, the sports commission steering committee in recent months has been discussing the proposal for staged development of facilities with 25 to 30 groupsmostly sports leaguesthat potentially could use the facilities, as well as with community leaders.


The resulting vision is the construction of neighborhood sports complexes that each would include between 40,000 square feet and 50,000 square feet of floor space, enough room for five full-sized basketball courts or 10 volleyball courts.


A sports facility of that size would require about 10 acres of land and cost about $5 million, not including the cost of the land. For such a project to be financially viable, Sawyer says, it would involve a public entity in some way and not carry any debt. Similar projects in other communities have failed to be self-supporting when they carried debt, Sawyer says. Who would own the proposed facilities here, how they would be funded, and who would manage them still need to be worked out, he says.


Potential sites identified for the first neighborhood facility include two in the Spokane Valley, near the Spokane Fair & Expo Center and in the vicinity of the Evergreen Road-Interstate 90 interchange; and two on Spokanes North Side, near Joe Albi Stadium and near the Division Street Y.


The steering committee hasnt set a goal for when it hopes to see construction on the first facility begin, or how quickly the others would follow. Generally speaking, Sawyer says, I suspect that well start with one, show that its a success, and go on to more.


Dave Pier, vice president of Brett Sports & Entertainment Inc. and chairman of the steering committee, says that in addition to providing more courts for community use, such facilities could have a significant economic impact in the Inland Northwest and draw financial support from companies in the hospitality trade.


We have a goal of making Spokane a hotbed for youth sports, Pier says. He adds, employing entertainment-industry jargon for filling hotel rooms, Sports is the No. 1 way to get heads on beds in the county.


Even with just one neighborhood sports facility under its belt, the sports commission could lure more sporting events to Spokane, Pier says. Basketball and volleyball leagues would be the most common users, but a complex could be a venue for other activities, ranging from Special Olympics events to wrestling tournaments to jump-rope competitions.


Sawyer says the commission estimates that adding just one neighborhood sports complex could bring to the Spokane area about $3.7 million in new spending annually.


He says that includes money from out-of-town athletes and their families who stay here during events, as well as money spent here to manage the events.


That number would rise dramatically, Sawyer says, if more than one facility is constructed and larger events are attracted.


Trouble getting started


As the new plan takes shape, two previously announced projects, proposed last year by separate nonprofit organizations, arent moving forward as quickly as initially hoped.


One of those groups, Sports USA, said last spring that it hoped to build an $8 million-to-$10 million indoor-courts complex in the Spokane Valley. At about the same time, another nonprofit, Spokane Regional Aquatics Center Inc., announced plans for an indoor swimming facility, also in the Spokane Valley, that advocates now are saying would cost as much as $24 million, substantially more than initially estimated.


Neither group has secured a site for its project, and while both were optimistic last spring about groundbreakings in 2002, neither expects to start work this year.


Kert Carlson, founder of Sports USA, says he now is attending the sports commissions steering committee meetings, and his organization could become involved in those envisioned projects, rather than try to build its own facility.