By Whitney Downard, Indiana Capital Chronicle, and Max Reich, Mia Hilkowitz, Alaska Jones, Marissa Meador, Zoe Benson and Libby Erlenbaugh, Arnolt Center

The sprawling sports complex on the edge of southern Lebanon, bordered by open fields and new townhomes, is a welcome and familiar site to Jessica Hill. She regularly brings her 8-year-old son, Larry, to The Farmers Bank Fieldhouse for his basketball league games and practices. The duo also come to watch the Lebanon Leprechauns, a professional basketball team that plays in the Midwest Division of The Basketball League.

The 200,000-square-foot Fieldhouse is one of hundreds across the country and more than a dozen in Indiana promising economic growth, a tourism boost, community engagement and a foothold in the fast-growing world of youth athletics.

“It fuels our community, which is great,” said the mom, who pointed to opportunities for youth sports fans. The venue also hosts birthday parties, golf simulators, batting cages and even personal trainers — though all have an associated cost.

The building is part of a changing Lebanon, which is also set to host a mammoth technology park that’s spurring new housing and associated development — growth that Hill said could sometimes be overwhelming.

“In the long run, this place will be good for our community,” she concluded.

The Hills were among roughly 300 hometown fans at the sports complex who watched the Leprechauns narrowly lose a May 23 game that featured a local dance squad, opening game prayer and people shooting hoops on open courts.

Lebanon is the latest in a trend of communities investing in sports facilities. (Niki Kelly/Indiana Capital Chronicle)

Mike Edwards, an associate professor at North Carolina State University, who researches sport and community development, said that type of investment can benefit communities, but only if the needs of local residents remain the priority.

“I’m a big believer that your first priority for how you’re spending your tax money for recreation, for sport partnership should be a direct benefit to your local residents,” Edwards said. “If it’s not balanced with direct use, accessibility and benefits to that local community, then you’re probably missing out on, really, what the focus of these facilities should be.”

Sports tourism projects have popped up all over the state — from Columbus and Noblesville to Hammond and Newton County. But the recent push to make Indiana a go-to destination for youth sport competitions started, arguably, in Westfield.

Economic impact and strategic investment 

On the outskirts of Indianapolis, the $49-million Grand Park Sports Complex, has 15 clover-shaped outdoor baseball fields visible from above, sprawling across acres of open land. Inside its main building, which opened in 2016, synthetic turf bears the brunt of hundreds of cleats as youth athletes cycle through tournaments, practices and games across a range of sports.

Weekends are the busiest times for the complex, as it is usually hosting youth sports tournaments and larger events. Grand Park’s largest events are the Crossroads of America College soccer showcase, the NXT Lacrosse MidAmerica Invitational and the Amateur Baseball Championships. Grand Park also hosts the Indianapolis Colts Training Camp. Occasionally, the complex will host non-sporting related events — including farming and equipment expos, corporate events and even a political rally for President Donald Trump during his inaugural campaign. Youth sports teams train at the soccer fields and baseball diamonds for the rest of the week.

Matt Trnian has served as director of Grand Park Sports Complex since January 2022. He said the complex attracts around 5.5 million visitors each year, from all over the country, but mainly from the Midwest.

Trnian said Grand Park is designed to attract tourists who otherwise never would have visited Westfield and its businesses.

“So the vision with these events is to have them spend their tourism dollars within the community and to eat at our local restaurants, shop at our local retail stores and spend their tourism dollars within our community,” Trnian said. “So there’s certainly a direct impact to the visitation that Grand Park has to the local businesses throughout Westfield.”

Revenue for Westfield’s Grand Park reached an all-time high last year, as reported earlier this year by Inside INdiana Business. Recently, an adjoining sports, entertainment and business district started generating enough tax increment financing to cover debt payments roughly a decade after opening.

The city still owes $62 million, according to the story, with payoff scheduled for 2041. But, unlike other public parks, the complex isn’t free for residents to use — similar to how other publicly funded sports complexes operate.

A cultural shift for youth sports

Access to these facilities and their programs often depends on a family’s ability to travel and keep up with the rising expenses associated with youth sports.

While local leaders see the economic benefits from sports complexes, the multi-million-dollar complexes often shut out children who can’t afford to participate.

The Lebanon Leprechauns face off against the Logansport Iron Horses on May 23, 2025. (Niki Kelly/Indiana Capital Chronicle)

“If you’re going to use public funds to build a facility like Grand Park [sports complex], how do you assure that the local youth in that area can still access it?” said Cassandra Coble, an associate professor at Indiana University who researches youth sports.

For example, open courts at the Lebanon sports complex cost $12 per session, unless you purchase a membership for at least $50 per month. A junior hoops summer camp starts at $250 per child while a volleyball camp is $200.

Beyond infrastructure, these complexes reflect a cultural shift in how some Americans view youth sports — not just as recreation, but as tools for community advertising and development.

Many of these complexes pop up in rural areas where land is more readily available, which can create other participation hurdles for families such as a shortage of volunteers to coach or maintain playing spaces.

“Rural communities face a unique set of challenges when it comes to access to sports and physical activity,” Edwards said. “Transportation is often a major barrier in areas where parents commute into urban centers and kids take the bus home from school, it’s hard for them to access space.”

Limited parks staffing and tight municipal budgets can make it difficult to maintain scattered parks and fields. In response, Edwards said, many towns have moved toward consolidation.

“There’s been a real emphasis on centralizing complexes and parks,” he said. “But in doing so, you sometimes make the park less accessible to the population.”

Coble said she worries about the rise of these complexes, many of which are private, and their long-term effect on youth participation as costs for travel, equipment and private coaching increase

The average U.S. family spent $1,016 on their child’s primary sport in 2024, a 46% increase since 2019, according to a recent survey by the Aspen Institute. This figure doesn’t include expenses related to secondary or even tertiary sports teams. When added up, parents said they spent around $1,500 dollars in 2024.

In total, families in the U.S. currently spend an estimated $40 billion annually on youth sports — double the revenue generated by the NFL, according to the Aspen Institute study. That figure leaves out additional public spending by schools and municipalities, and investments from private facility operators.

Experts, including Coble, say the growing commercialization of youth sports is limiting access to equitable opportunities and, in some cases, is pricing children out of participation altogether.

“There has for a long time been a gap between who has legitimate access to participating in youth sports,” Coble said. “But that gap is growing and growing with the introduction of private training and private facilities.”

An ecosystem for youth sports

Less than 20 miles away from Grand Park, The Farmers Bank Fieldhouse is pitched as one part of the overall “youth sports ecosystem” in central Indiana, according to Lebanon Mayor Matt Gentry.

“It’s actually a multiplier; it’s not a competition-type situation,” Gentry said. “Even before we built our facility, we were getting overflow hotel rooms and stays in Lebanon because of Grand Park and because of the Pacer Athletic Center.

“They’re already kind of feeding and supporting each other,” Gentry continued. “Us having a facility isn’t a negative for (them).”

Gentry said the attraction brings an estimated 60,000 visitors monthly from across the country. Conversations with business owners have made it clear the Fieldhouse has had a positive ripple effect, he added.

“They’ve told me directly they’ve seen increases in business, and our downtown has seen an influx of visitors with different events,” he said.

Courts at Lebanon’s sports complex can shift to accommodate both tennis and pickleball matches. (Niki Kelly/Indiana Capital Chronicle)

The city is planning additional economic development around the facility using the Fieldhouse as the main attraction. But, more than a year after its opening, the land in front of the facility is overgrown and features mounds of dirt from the original construction.

“Having the Fieldhouse there is the anchor tenant that makes everything possible,” Gentry said. “We would not be getting an interest in these amenities if we didn’t have the tourism base, and frankly, just the foot traffic, generated by the fieldhouse.”

The $25-million public bond for Lebanon’s complex is set up to be paid for over 25 years by property taxes, innkeeper’s taxes, and food and beverage taxes, though Gentry acknowledged that local income taxes are a last-resort option if all else fails.

“Essentially, all of the development is going to pay for the Fieldhouse, back onto itself,” said Gentry.

Hoosier cities add to the momentum

Across the state, Fort Wayne’s city leaders introduced plans for a $1.5 billion redevelopment project in February.

The first phase of the proposed North River development includes the North River Fieldhouse, a 160,000 square foot, $60 million facility to advance Fort Wayne’s standing in the sports tourism industry, according to a news release from the city.

It’s expected to host events 27 weekends of the 52-week year, create about 900 new jobs and generate an anticipated $36 million in new economic activity, according to consulting firm Victus Advisors. The city recently approved a contract with Victus to secure a developer for the site.

The city hasn’t yet determined how it will finance such a project, though it is exploring whether it can tap into federal money slated to help with river cleanup, according to WANE, a local television station.

The facility will also be available for public use outside of the tournament season.

Alec Johnson, Fort Wayne’s deputy director for redevelopment, said that the facility is expected to serve as a catalyst for the success of the rest of the mixed-use district, which will include a boutique hotel, riverwalk, shopping and dining alongside the proposed E-sports venue, athletic fields and basketball courts.

Johnson said the question of public benefit has been central to planning, which includes a “very active” neighborhood association within the district.

“The way that they sort of look at it is, everybody is falling in love with the riverfront development,” Johnson said about the district’s neighborhood association. “So, how do we sort of leverage that and allow that momentum and positivity to jump the river to the northside and spill out into the neighborhood so they see the benefit?”

Niki Kelly contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to reflect that Fort Wayne’s River North Development includes plans for an anchoring athletic fieldhouse but not accessory athletic facilities.

This story was written by journalists at the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism at Indiana University and the Indiana Capital Chronicle. Max Reich, Marissa Meador, Mia Hilkowitz, Alaska Jones, Libby Erlenbaugh and Zoe Benson are students with the Arnolt Center.