New Orleans area will soon get a $45M youth sports complex | Jefferson Parish

Jefferson Parish will soon enter the booming youth sports industry as it opens a roughly $45 million complex in Avondale, which parish leaders say will drive economic growth and tourism for the West Bank.

Construction is nearly complete on the state-funded, 147-acre John Alario Jr. Youth Sports Complex, located on Nicolle Boulevard across from NOLA MotorSports Park. It features four multipurpose artificial turf fields that can be used for baseball, softball, football, soccer, lacrosse and rugby, as well as a sports shop, pavilion, concession stand and covered restrooms.

The complex is already nearly fully booked with travel sports tournaments for 2026, and has already started booking dates in 2027 and 2028, according to operator Andy Powers. Project leaders plan to expand the facility to include a dormitory and administrative building, and local developers are eyeing the area for a potential hotel.

The public facility will be primarily used for travel sports, although local sports will have some opportunities as well. The complex’s inaugural tournament is scheduled for Feb. 21 with 60 baseball teams expected to participate.

Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng said the new complex, along with the parish’s other sports tourism ventures, will offer Jefferson Parish a unique opportunity to develop its own tourism market, rather than rely solely on visitors passing through to New Orleans.

“This will be the first time visitors get off a plane with the destination being Jefferson Parish,” Lee Sheng said.

Funding explained

The project, spearheaded by former state legislator John Alario Jr., was funded through state capital outlay funds and developed by the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District, better known as the Superdome Commission. By using the Superdome Commission, the parish was able to circumvent a 25% local match rule for all state capital outlay projects.

Duplantis Design Group of Thibodaux designed the complex, and Ratcliff Construction Co. of Alexandria handled construction.

The project took more than a decade to come together due to feasibility studies, COVID-19 delays, planning and construction. Its cost, estimated to be between $42 million and $45 million, ended up being more than double the original estimate due to rising material and labor costs, as well as the addition of a fourth multipurpose field, according to operators.

Once complete, ownership of the facility will turn over to the parish, which has contracted Champions Sports Management LLC to manage it. Under the agreement, Champions will invest $1 million over five years to construct an administrative building on the property, starting in May 2026, with a $1 million match from the parish.

Champions will also remit a percentage of gross operational revenue back to the parish on a gradual scale from 0% in year one to 3% after the third year.

Champions Sports Management LLC is run by Andy Powers, the owner and founder of two Texas baseball training facilities, and Wally Pontiff, father to the late LSU baseball player Wally Pontiff Jr.

Youth sports boom

Families currently spend more than $40 billion every year on youth sports, according to the most recent data from The Aspen Institute.

Parents spent an average of $1,016 on their child’s sport in 2024, an increase of about 46% compared to pre-pandemic spending. Travel makes up the largest portion of those costs at $278, according to an Aspen Institute survey conducted with Utah State University and Louisiana Tech University.

That survey also found that about one in 10 of those parents believe their child could compete at the Olympic or professional level, indicating many parents see athletic spending as as an investment in their child’s future.

Investors ranging from large private equity firms to small towns have clamored to reap from the “youth sports arms race,” as The Washington Post called it in 2022.

Best known for youth sports is Cooperstown, New York, with the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, often considered a rite of passage for 12-year-old baseball players. But other hotspots for children’s sports include central Florida; Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; and Sandusky, Ohio.

In Overland Park, Kansas, developers last year opened the $70 million, 420,000-square-feet AdventHealth Sports Park at Bluhawk, with a 3,200-seat arena, eight basketball courts, a turf football field and NHL regulation ice rink.

Sites for regional tournaments currently operate in Baton Rouge, Youngsville and Hammond, and at the northshore’s Pelican Park and Coquille Park.

‘This is going to be the place to be’

Jefferson Parish leaders say they are confident the facility will stand out to prospective families for its proximity to New Orleans and the airport, along with nearby attractions like the motorsports park, the Tournament Players Club Louisiana golf course next door and swamp tours in Bayou Segnette.

Powers said they plan to start tournaments with Mardi Gras-style parades and second lines to introduce the teams.

“There’s no place on Earth like here,” said Powers. “If you tried to run it like anybody else, you miss a huge opportunity to lean into this New Orleans Cajun culture.”

The hope is that the new facility will spur economic growth in the immediate area, especially a grocery store or restaurant to serve the food desert there, said state Sen. Patrick Connick, R-Marrero, the successor to Alario.

He said tournaments will also bring a windfall of tax revenue through both sales and hotel occupancy taxes, and provide a boost to local businesses during the slow summer months.

One tournament alone can attract thousands of visitors to nearby hotels and restaurants for several days at a time. Powers said they plan to see families from anywhere within a six-hour driving time, including Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas.

“Once this thing gets going, you’re going to see hotels, you’re going to see the grocery store, you’re going to see pop-up food vendors and chains,” said Mario Bazile, the parish chief administrative assistant overseeing the Recreation Department. “Once this gets rolling, this is going to be the place to be.”

Lee Sheng has made sports tourism a focal point of her second and final term as a means of boosting the local economy while revitalizing underutilized recreation spaces.

In addition to the new complex’s upcoming tournaments, the parish also plans to soon host a professional disc golf tournament at Parc Des Familles in Marrero this March, and the Mike Miley Pickleball Tournament in Metairie in February. And last summer, Powerboat P1 hosted its season opener powerboat race in Lake Pontchartrain.

“It’s the one investment that we can get directly back in our economy,” Lee Sheng said. “So many things like zoning, we’re trying to lay a good template for business to come here. With this, the investment in sports infrastructure is a direct investment in the economy,” she added.