As construction continues, SCHEELS Sports Park developers and The Sports Facilities Companies have hired Brandon Doherty to serve as general manager. Doherty will oversee the operations of the planned 70-acre multisport outdoor and indoor sports park, which will be located behind the SCHEELS superstore on South MacArthur Boulevard in Springfield.
Doherty comes to Springfield from Starkville, Mississippi, where he served as the general manager of the Cornerstone Sports Complex.
“We are so excited to have recruited Brandon to Springfield to hit the ground running so that when the sports park opens, we are ready to serve our local athletes during the week and welcome thousands of families and their kids to the capital city to play and watch the sports they love and bring a giant boost to our local hotels and businesses,” said Dirk McCormick, SCHEELS Sports Park developer.
Doherty has more than 15 years of experience in the parks and recreation industry as a director, educator and coach. He has a master’s degree in recreation administration from Aurora University, has served as an instructor at the Outdoor Wisconsin Leadership School and helped launch a leadership school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Since the groundbreaking at the sports park site last year, crews have been working to prepare the ground and install more than two miles of underground watermain, storm and sanitary sewer. As long as weather permits, crews will begin work this month on the foundation for the Springfield Clinic dome, parking lots, fields and electric work.
The park is a public-private development funded by the developers, private investors and a portion of the city of Springfield’s local hotel-motel tax and sales tax.
Since the sports park groundbreaking, construction has already begun on a new hotel at Legacy Pointe, Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott, that will be located next to the SCHEELS Sports Complex. The hotel will have 91 rooms with amenities for families and business travelers.
“We are so grateful for all of the work that continues to happen in this remarkable public-private partnership to make this sports park a reality for Springfield,” said Mayor Misty Buscher. “I believe this sports park and the families it will bring to our beautiful city will be a boost to our local businesses, and our economy, and we will all get to enjoy everything that this sports park will bring to the capital city.”
Completion of the dome and outdoor fields is anticipated in fall 2024, which will then be available for Springfield-area athletes and their families. Springfield District 186, the Springfield Park District, Springfield Area Soccer Association (SASA) and The Hitting Center have already signed commitments to utilize the facilities.
Tournaments are planned to begin in spring 2026.
The complex will include a 190,000-square-foot indoor dome that can be configured at different times for basketball courts, volleyball courts, a soccer field, performance and turf training areas. The outdoor facilities will include lighted, multipurpose turf fields for baseball, softball, football and soccer fields.
