City council discusses recommended investment in sports facilities

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Should the city of Chattanooga help fund new sports facilities?

A recent report from the Chattanooga Tourism Company is recommending that a brand new indoor sports facility among other facilities be built to attract new tournaments.

The report from the Tourism Company, previously presented to the Hamilton County Commission, calls for a roughly 60 million dollar investment in an indoor sports facility and at least 29 million in renovating outdoor sports facilities among other recommendations.

Chattanooga Tourism Company CEO Susan Harris says the study is to help local leaders understand where our area is falling short in attracting top level youth sports tournaments.

Harris said, “When visitors come to Chattanooga, they’re eating in the restaurants that I like to eat in and that you may like to eat in. They’re supporting our small businesses. We have over 30,000 people who work in the tourism industry in Hamilton County and those are folks who are raising families and pay bills and go to our schools. So really the tourism economy is critical to our community’s success.”

Some council members worry that if they overfocus on building these sports facilities to draw tourists, they would neglect needs of existing sports facilities used by residents.

Councilwoman Jenny Hill said, “I’ve been looking pretty critically at what are we building for Chattanoogans to really enjoy if we were to move something like this? How does it complement?”

Harris says she believes this kind of investment would benefit locals in addition to a potential increase in tourism.

She said, “I think there’s always going to be some natural tension with our elected officials who are being responsive to their constituents and their community. So that’s one of the things that we think our job is to continue to educate them about the economic impact of visitors.”

A member of Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly’s staff said the administration was working on a strategic plan regarding future investments in sports facilities.

Previously, Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp publicly voiced his support for the county focusing on building a new indoor sports facilities.

There are no formal proposals for any public funding of sport facility projects at this time.