Albuquerque Baseball Complex
Albuquerque City Councilor Dan Lewis is excited to share an update on construction progress on the Albuquerque Regional Sports Complex since the official groundbreaking on January 31. Please click on this link to see an aerial video taken by the project’s contractor, Bradbury Stamm.
The City’s commitment to build this world-class facility is a key reason that the National Senior Games chose Albuquerque to host the 2019 Games. The three-week event is expected to bring $45 million in revenue, more than paying off the City’s $21 million investment.
With five fully lit turfed fields, on-site batting cages and grandstand seating, the Regional Sports Complex was planned from the start to be a championship-level facility for our own local baseball and softball teams that would also attract regional tournaments. But thanks to $2 million in cost savings, the complex can also include:
- LED Lighting for all five fields
- Portable fencing so all fields may be converted to softball or little league dimensions
- A storage area for the portable fencing and a vehicle to move the material
- A shade structure over the batting cages
- A padded outfield wall on the Championship Field
- Metal panel outfield walls for the other four fields
- A portable batting cage for the Championship field and pitcher screens for all fields
- Upgraded infield turf on all five fields with a blended thread that is slightly shorter than the outfield turf. This top-quality turf holds the infill material underneath better, preventing the ball from taking bad hops.
The complex will also include a building to house concessions, restrooms, a community meeting room, umpire locker room, and a viewing area.
“Local families spend thousands of dollars every year traveling out of state for youth sports,” said City Councilor Dan Lewis. “A facility like this, combined with our great weather, will attract high-level tournaments year 'round.”
The complex is located on 81 acres of City-owned property at Arroyo Vista Boulevard and High Mesa Drive, just west of the new APS community stadium. This facility will expand recreational opportunities for citizens and attract sports tourism to Albuquerque, equating to more hotel room nights sold, more visits to shops and restaurants, and a boost to the local economy.
This $17.8 million bond-funded project will be completed in the fall. The design for the fields was developed through a task force of local sports and recreational experts working with architects from Consensus Planning and G. Donald Dudley Architects.
Read about more community support, view the Phased Plan, and the Softball Plan.
“The opportunities for local youth to participate in sports provide tremendous return via the interaction, competition and commerce, not to mention the ability to take place in a safe haven for our children. Money that our constituents spend traveling to events in Arizona and Texas can be spent at home and kept within our own community.” - Buddy Gouldsmith, Assistant Coach University of New Mexico
“A five-field lighted complex allows for 50 teams to participate over a four-day period. Forty of those teams would require hotel nights at a minimum of 10 per team. That is 40 teams times 10 rooms per night...times 4 nights = 1600 room nights per event. 8-10 of these events alone could be played yearly making the economic impact on Albuquerque tremendous!” - Ryan Brewer - Co-Owner Albuquerque Baseball Academy.
