Studies support the need for new sports facilities in Little Rock, commissioner says

LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — Multiple feasibility studies were completed to see if new and improved sport facilities were needed in Little Rock.

“For the past few years, the (Little Rock) Convention and Visitors Bureau has been doing studies on the need and the impact of outdoor and indoor sports facilities in the city of Little Rock,” says Antwan Phillips who serves as a commissioner on the Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission.

Phillips said all studies found that sports facilities were needed in the city.

“We look at the number of people in the area and then we compare the facilities around us,” Phillips said. “There are some towns around us who have built facilities but not to the capacity that we are proposing, not to the standard that we are proposing.”

Those facilities would include turf fields, rehabilitation areas and event spaces.

If Mayor Frank Scott Jr’s. ‘Results for the Rock’ one cent tax proposal is passed by voters in November, $94 million would be invested into existing parks in Little Rock and new facilities: an indoor and outdoor sports complex and the development of 15 acres of green space downtown.

“The outdoor sports facility is planned to be out in Southwest Little Rock on the other side of (Interstate) 430 where you can play softball, baseball, soccer. Then we will have an indoor sports facility that is going to be in downtown Little Rock where you can have all indoor activities: basketball, volleyball, pickleball, and it will have event space,” Phillips said.

The Sports Facility Advisory, a development planning firm, found that Little Rock sports venues combined could potentially bring in over $43 million in annual revenue.

Phillips said these facilities could have a positive economic impact on the city.

“In the city of Little Rock, we have so many families that travel out of town and out of state to support their kids and we want them to be able to do that right here in their hometown,” Phillips said.

A similar sales tax was proposed by the mayor in 2021 called Rebuild the Rock, but was not passed by voters.