By AARON SANDERFORD
Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — Nebraska’s Capitol City joined the regional arms race in youth sports Wednesday, announcing plans for a new venue with eight turf fields for baseball and softball.
The new Lincoln Youth Complex is set to be built just north of the University of Nebraska’s Haymarket Park and Bowlin Stadium, near North 1st Street and Cornhusker Highway.
Other Nebraska cities planning large youth sports complexes include Grand Island, Valley and La Vista. Much of the building boom follows state tax breaks and an influx of federal funds.
Boosters expect the Lincoln project to cost up to $27 million, with most of the money coming from federal coronavirus recovery funds, private donors and the West Haymarket Joint Public Agency.
The complex is set to receive $4.5 million in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act from the City of Lincoln and $4 million in ARPA funds from Lancaster County.
Organizers say they have secured pledges of up to $10 million in private funds and will ask the West Haymarket JPA for $4.5 million, said Chris Whitney of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce.
“There is a dire need to expand our youth sports facilities and provide a destination for more people than ever before,” said Jeff Maul, vice president of the Lincoln Chamber.
Two of the fields will be championship-caliber — one each for baseball and softball. They will become home fields for Nebraska Wesleyan University, which chipped in $2 million.
Wesleyan’s baseball and softball teams currently play at city parks.
Nebraska Wesleyan’s president, Dr. Darrin Good, said the new complex would boost the experience for his school’s student athletes, as well as “athletes from across the region.”
Five of the fields will be playable as baseball or softball fields, as part of an effort to lure travel teams and their families to Lincoln, organizers said.
Each of the dual-use fields can be repurposed in the off-season for flag football, soccer, lacrosse and other sports, the Lincoln Convention and Visitors Bureau said in a release.
Organizers said the eighth field will be built to give young people with mental and physical disabilities a field for outdoor sports, “a space for players of all backgrounds and abilities.”
The project will also include a playground and parking for more than 750 vehicles, the release said. The group expects construction to begin in spring 2023 and end in fall 2024.
Nebraska Examiner Senior Reporter Paul Hammel contributed to this report.