Premier Sports Complexes
Attracting teams for tournaments and the keys to keep them coming back
By Mike McLaughlin
Photos: Shawnee County Parks + Recreation
So, you have built a premier sports complex. How do you make it pay? By keeping it busy every day.
“When you build a leading-edge, multi-use facility, sustainability is the number-one concern,” says Darren Tolin, Shawnee County Parks + Recreation (SCP+R) sports supervisor in Kansas. “It’s a double-edged sword. You need to fill the complex daily to generate revenue, but higher use leads to higher maintenance costs.”
The Bettis Family Sports Complex is one of the premier multi-use sports facilities in the Midwest. The 22-acre complex on the outskirts of Topeka is nestled along the shore of Lake Shawnee. Six lighted baseball fields and a multi-use, full-size lighted soccer field have artificial turf, while baseball/softball outfields are grass except for turf warning tracks on the largest field. The complex has a concession stand, restrooms, locker rooms, a plaza area with picnic tables, offices, a conference room, an umpires’ locker room, and the Lake Shawnee Event Center, which is rentable year-round and overlooks Lake Shawnee.
The complex hosts youth baseball leagues, baseball and soccer clinics, youth and adult soccer leagues, and youth and adult flag football. The facility serves as the home field for Shawnee Heights High School baseball and boys and girls soccer. Across the lake, Envista Softball Complex is the home field for Shawnee Heights softball.
SCP+R contracts with the Shawnee County Amateur Baseball Association to run youth baseball leagues at the complex. To help generate revenue for upkeep of the complex, teams pay premium fees to play at Bettis. SCP+R also contracts with Perfect Game Midwest to schedule baseball or softball tournaments most every weekend.
Bringing In Players
The SCP+R complex and other locations hosted 37 tournaments in 2022. These tournaments generated $6.7 million in economic activity, based on a formula supplied by Visit Topeka.
The ability to attract tournaments resulted from recently upgrading Envista to turf infields to match the fields at the Bettis complex. The ball fields are designed with multiple pins for bases so different age ranges can use the fields for either baseball or softball. Portable pitcher’s mounds are used and/or removed to accommodate different ages and uses.
A typical spring weekend at Lake Shawnee featured these events:
A National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) district softball championship Saturday and Sunday at Envista
A Perfect Game Midwest softball tournament Friday and Saturday on the four smaller ball fields at Bettis
SCP+R recreational youth soccer Saturday on the multipurpose field at Bettis.
Depending on the season, adult soccer and youth flag football are scheduled on Sundays on the multi-purpose fields.
The complex has hosted several NBC World Series, summer college leagues, American Legion baseball, and even a lower-level minor league professional baseball team.
Beginning in February, college teams from colder climates take advantage of the complex’s turf infields to play early-season baseball games. As many as 20 college teams have rented a field at the complex in a given year.
Concessions are an important part of the revenue mix for the complex. Outside food and drink are not allowed with the exception of a personal bottle of water. Fans are informed that a portion of the gate fee and concession profits are used to enhance sports complexes throughout the county. Having profitable concession sales helps keep league fees affordable.
Soccer clinics are popular on the multi-use field. Groups from British sports camps to Sporting KC, Kansas City’s professional soccer team, and others have held clinics at the complex. Even local independent coaches rent the multi-use field for youth and adult clinics and practices.
The Two Greatest Challenges
Staffing and maintenance are the greatest challenges in operating the complexes. A team of four full-time and 20 seasonal staff members maintain 30 ball fields at both complexes. Hiring 80 additional seasonal sports-site staff members for daily games and tournaments, concessions, and admissions is an annual effort. Tapping into high school athletes and returning staff to recruit their friends is a key to finding employees.
Beyond daily cleaning, replenishing concession inventory, and contracting mowing to an outside landscaping firm is maintaining and periodically replacing the artificial turf. SCP+R has extended the projected 8-year life of several fields to as long as 12 or 13 years by cutting out and replacing high-traffic areas such as the circle around home plate, the batter’s boxes and catcher’s area, and the first-base area.
Still, when the time comes for replacement, SCP+R must either persuade Shawnee County Commissioners to allow the department to spend the necessary money to replace an entire turf infield or multi-use field, or it may turn to the department’s Parks For All Foundation, which holds endowments created by donors after whom certain fields are named. A departing county commissioner proposed adding turf to Envista to bring the fields up to the same level as those at Bettis. Since the turf fields were added, Envista has hosted overflow games from a local college tournament and the post-season Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association softball tournament.
Making Money
How a department charges for field rentals and tournaments matters, Tolin says.
“We are tax-based as parks and recreation receives county funding to help operate sports facilities, but we still have to make up the roughly 40 percent that isn’t covered by taxes.”
The shortfall comes from revenue from league fees, concessions, and field rentals. Rentals may be done by contract, rental fees, or per-game fees.
For the recent NJCAA tournament, SCP+R kept the gate fees and concessions and made $5,000—much more than a simple rental would generate. Going with per-game fees, says Tolin, can avoid headaches if part of a tournament is rained out. However, organizers may complain about paying for an entire weekend but only playing part of the scheduled games.
During national tournaments, Bettis has received many compliments as one of the nicest facilities around. The one item lacking was shade, given that the complex features an abundance of concrete walkways, and the turf field temperatures can reach 130 degrees on the hottest summer days. This year, SCP+R hired a playground-equipment contractor to add three, large triangular shade structures to the plaza area, allowing fans some shelter from the sun.
Keeping the complex in premier condition is another challenge with such a small staff. Upholstering padding along the concrete backstop area behind home plate, repairing and replacing safety netting, painting wood, power washing, and caulking concrete always seems to take more time than staff has available. An outside power-washing contractor cleans concrete areas and even restrooms. SCP+R’s horticulture department is responsible for maintaining planting beds throughout the facility.
The complex was renovated in 2011 in conjunction with the Shawnee County Amateur Baseball Association and the Shawnee Heights School District. Engineer and parks and recreation advocate Jim Martin saw the possibilities of a site featuring two elevations, and proposed turning traditional ball fields into a premier sports complex. The larger high school, college, and professional-level fields are on the upper level. Four youth fields are on the lower level, and the multi-purpose soccer field is behind the offices and event center overlooking Lake Shawnee.
With the complex showing some age, future projects include solving drainage issues that have undermined the parking lot and some decorative stone retaining walls. Landscaping that has overgrown planting beds must be cut back or replaced. Scoreboards will eventually need upgrades or replacement.
Such expenses must be projected and funds set aside in budget years timed to the most pressing needs to keep teams returning to Bettis Family Sports Complex.
Mike McLaughlin is the Communications and Public Information Supervisor for Shawnee County Parks + Recreation in Topeka, Kan. Reach him at (785) 251-6880, or Mike.Mclaughlin@snco.us.