Bryan Thornton was having a fun day at the new Forest Grove Sports Complex in northern Bettendorf on Saturday, Jan. 11.
He was at the complex at 7 a.m. to watch his daughter’s softball team take batting practice. He stayed almost all day to watch game after game during the three-day competition – the facility’s first sports tournament.
The McHenry, Illinois, man liked what he saw during the tournament. His daughter’s team – the Wisconsin Lighting – played well. But he was also impressed with the new sports facility. The Jan. 10-12 tournament marked the first sports event for the $14 million Forest Grove Sports Complex.
“It’s great because there’s a lot of space here. The kids have space to warm up for games. Some places you go to and there’s not even space to warm up,” Mr. Thornton said.
Hundreds of other parents, players and coaches also were at the new sports complex for the tournament, called the JP Sports Blizzard Bash. That event brought almost 50 girls’ softball teams from across the region – including teams from Chicago, St. Louis and Milwaukee – to play at the TBK Bank Sport Complex and the new Forest Grove Sports Complex, which is located at 6945 Iron Tee Way, Bettendorf, and next door to the Iron Tee Golf entertainment facility.
Many of those softball visitors also praised the new sports facility during its opening weekend.
“It’s nice to see these facilities go up. You have everything located in one nice building,” said Susan Weir of Bartlett, Illinois, who was at the tournament on Jan. 11, enjoying a bag of popcorn and watching her granddaughter play softball.
The new sports complex, located in the rapidly growing northern part of Bettendorf called The Plex, also is a hit with the people responsible for building the facility.
“It’s been a massive undertaking. … Everybody has been very impressed with this facility,” said Ryan Hintze, one of the owners of Forest Grove Sports Complex and the CEO of Iron Tee Golf and owner/operator of Corn Belt Capital.
In addition to the recent softball tournament, the new sports facility has been seen and been used by a few other young athletes. Youth league players began practicing in the new Forest Grove complex on Sunday, Jan. 5.
Mr. Hintze said the opening reviews and comments from players have been very positive for the new facility.
“There are just a lot of opportunities to have many events in this place,” he said.
In addition to hosting sports contests, the Forest Grove Sports Complex will greatly help the local economy. When all those athletes, their coaches and parents arrive for games, they will also be visiting local retail shops, restaurants and hotels. And they will be putting a lot of money into the Quad Cities.
“It’s going to be amazing for the economy,” he added.
The Bettendorf sports facility was still a work in progress in early January. Mr. Hintze said there were still a few “finishing touches” left to be completed. Several workers were busy getting those jobs done, and working on the large sports playing field and several other jobs around the building before the first softball tournament.
Some of the new facility’s features include:
- The centerpiece is a large playing field with artificial turf. It’s also designed to accommodate indoor baseball tournaments, with additional line markings for lacrosse, soccer and flag football. The playing field can be used as a 11V11 soccer field, adaptable for two 9V9 or four 7V7 games. During the recent softball tournament, the playing surface was divided up into two softball fields, labeled “East Field” and “West Field” with practice space outside the two fields.
- The sports area has dugouts and is netted from ceiling to the floor.
- There is a batting cage room. A crew of workers was putting up the netting for that area in early January. The room is expected to be ready for batters soon.
- There is also a concession area, seating for spectators and restrooms. The concession area was doing brisk business on Jan.10, selling slices of pizza, pretzels, drinks and other treats to fans at the softball tournament.
- The complex has a series of cameras set up to livestream games. “You can be sitting in the Iron Tee, having a drink and watch the games being played here,” said Mr. Hintze.
- The new sports facility will have about 10 to 15 employees on the job during events.
- The features aren’t limited to the building. Outside the sports complex, a courtyard area will be set up next to Iron Tee. That courtyard will eventually have firepits, turf and lighting. It will be set up to host outside gatherings and entertainment. Also, the concession area of the sports facility has an outside window that will be used to serve people gathered on the courtyard.
In addition to those many features, the new facility will likely sport a new name in the coming days. Mr. Hintze said the building’s owners are now in the process of granting naming rights to the facility to a sponsoring company.
He added there are about three companies in the running for those naming rights. The sponsoring company – and the new name of the sports facility – could be announced by the end of January.
When the new name is finalized, grand-opening and ribbon-cutting ceremonies will be held.
No matter what the name, the new facility is getting great reviews from its first customers.
“This is a nice place. I like what this community is doing by putting up a sports facility like this,” said Mr. Thornton.
