Pasco needs a new sports tourism plan

Sportsplex USA is gone, that much is certain.

What's less certain is what's next.

The California-based company threw up its hands late last month and walked away from Pasco County, frustrated by the process of developing an $11-million athletic complex here.

When commissioners meet Tuesday in Dade City, their agenda will include a discussion of how to move forward without Sportsplex.

Commissioners all say they remain dedicated to hitching the county's tourism agenda to sports leagues that will bring people into Pasco for overnight tournaments. The thinking is that those overnight stays will put people in county hotels, pumping bed taxes into the county's tourism fund.

For $60,000 in county tourism funds, Sportsplex left behind a proposal for an athletic facility on 24 acres of county-owned land near Trinity Boulevard and State Road 54. That proposal envisioned four ball fields and other spaces for lacrosse, soccer and football.

Commissioners agree the Sportsplex proposal was worth the money, but they're divided on where to go from here.

"We need to take a step back and have some in-depth discussions," said Commissioner Ted Schrader, who proposed seeking another round of offers from potential developers.

Commissioner Michael Cox, a fan of both Sportsplex and the proposed Trinity site, favors moving in the same direction.

"What the commission ought to do is get the site selection behind us and go out and find an operator," Cox said.

He has offered a company owned by former Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. as one possibility on that front.

Ripken's firm builds youth-league fields and approached the county in the early days of the search for an athletic complex developer. Ripken never made the list of possible candidates, though.

As the county searches for a Sportsplex replacement, it must contend with the shadow that failed relationship might cast on future deals.

"It may make people be timid about coming here," Commissioner Ann Hildebrand said.

Sportsplex's decision last month took many people by surprise. Commissioner Chairwoman Pat Mulieri had expected another round of discussions on Jan. 26 related to Sportsplex's proposal for the proposed athletic complex in Trinity.

That meeting was supposed to give Sportsplex a chance to answer questions about the project posed by Commissioner Ted Schrader.

"I thought we would have a 4-1 vote after Commissioner Schrader got his questions answered," Mulieri said last week, the presumed dissenting vote belonging to Commissioner Jack Mariano, who became a staunch opponent to the Sportsplex proposal.

During the last meeting with Sportsplex, Mariano peppered company officials with questions about everything from their financials to the wisdom of using Astroturf on the ball fields.

Sportsplex officials mentioned Mariano by name as one reason they were pulling out.

"We are not a P.R. firm attempting to sell this project to the citizenry nor do we have the expertise to navigate all the political agendas," Sportsplex chairman Paul Berghoff wrote to County Administrator John Gallagher. "The current environment in Pasco County tells me there is no way we could successfully co-exist on a long term basis running a business endeavor as partners."

For his part, Mariano isn't sad to see Sportsplex leave.

"I think all they did was focus on what they could do to make money, not what we could do for tourism development," Mariano said.

Cox said that kind of attitude puts a wrench in the county's expressed desire to attract more public-private partnerships - something that's likely to be more important as tax revenue continues to shrink.

"The budget deficit isn't going to get any better," Cox said. "And people are still going to want services. You have to have some level of trust."