PORTLAND, TX — The fields at the Portland sports complex off Buddy Ganem Drive stay busy between practices during the week and tournaments on the weekends. It’s become a huge money maker for the City of Portland.
“It’s nice to have nice fields for the kids to come and be able to practice and do their sports and know they don’t have to worry about running in the grass, hitting potholes,” Portland resident, Cheryl Hart said.
Hart goes to the sports complex four times a week to work out.
Her coach Robert Butler lives in Aransas Pass but prefers the fields in Portland.
“As far as right now, you got Corpus and other towns that have to have their events here because these are nice facilities,” Butler said.
City Manager Randy Wright said building these facilities was a part of a bigger plan.
“In 2017 when we opened our sports complexes, sports tourism was one of the things we thought would be very important for the city,” Wright said.
Seven years later, it’s generating more dollars for local business owners.
“Parks themselves don’t generate profit but where we benefit as a community is in the 10 to 12 million dollars a year in economic impact that these families and visitors bring to the city to our various businesses in town,” Wright said.
Wright tells KRIS 6 the city hosts as many as 60,000 to 70,000 kids a year coming from all over the state to play in Portland.
Now a company has been hired to operate the sports complex's fields for the next several years.
“We want to increase the number of people coming. We want to improve our efficiency and how we operate these fields,” Wright said.
Their plan includes hosting more tournaments and increasing food and beverage costs.
When the time comes to expand sports complexes, Randy Wright expects sports facilities companies to get involved in the project.
