Mattoon is soon to be home to one of the biggest sport centers in the state! (Left to right: Blake Pierce, Kim Uphoff, Rick Hall, and Brock Ashley) Photo from Sports Travel Magazine.
Emerald Acres Sports Connection will be a new sports complex, which is in the process of being built in Mattoon, IL. It is being built here in Mattoon, because of its central location between several major metropolitan statistical areas (Chicago, Indianapolis, and St Louis), which makes the project more accessible. Decatur and Champaign airports are a 45 minute drive from the 150 acre facility. The facility will host athletics of all kinds and boasts premium amenities, and is projected to open in 2024.
The $60 million dollar indoor and outdoor sports facility is projected to attract 580,000 visitors and generate $23.8 million in direct spending and hotel room nights on an annual basis. They will have an indoor field house, eight indoor basketball courts, 16 indoor volleyball courts, family entertainment center and a medical tenant lease space.
In addition, an outdoor field house with four baseball/softball (300 ft), four baseball/softball (400 ft), 12 multi-purpose turf fields and four multipurpose grass fields, to facilitate high quality sports programs for families and athletes of all ages. Plans also include the addition of a family entertainment facility with an art entertainment center, VR experiences and redemption arcade.
Ground was ceremonially broken on May 31. Bob Stroud, someone close to the project stated, “The ceremony included the announcement that the sports complex’s main building will be known as Sarah Bush Lincoln Fieldhouse and that the SBL Walk-in Clinic in Mattoon will move to this site.” The sports complex is being built on the land purchased from Rural King, with partners keeping this project ongoing being Rural King, the Sports Facilities Companies (SFC), Goodman Real Estate Services Group and the City of Mattoon, IL.
Katie Lotz, Lake Land College (LLC) economics instructor added,“Any major investment that is projected to draw this many visitors to the community is going to positively impact the economic lives of those who then live in the community. If you look around Lake Land/s district, you’ll see that those places that are doing well have something to draw people in. Let’s use Effingham as an example. It’s a small town, relatively speaking, but it has a variety of restaurants and other establishments that give people a reason to travel there. And while they are there, they spend their money! I talk about the ‘multiplier effect’ with my Macroeconomic students. It’s the idea that if you start off with some initial amount of spending or investment, this money is going to be spent again and again throughout the community, leading to larger increases in overall income. In regards to the Emerald Acres example, you’re going to have a sufficient amount of people employed in the facilities, surrounding restaurants and retail spaces, and in the hotels. And then these workers will spend their earnings in the broader community, leading to economic gains for people and businesses, not even directly associated with the Emerald Acres project.”
Lake Land College basketball coach, Julian Larry said “it is a good program that would bring out the community, increase in business and more food places to try.” Some students also had some opinions on the project. Isaac Scout commented, “it is a cool idea which is going to increase the population and business, increase in employment will make people have money for tuition.” Canyon Robinson remarked that “as long as it is not affecting the environment it is ok.”
Emerald Acres can be beneficial to our economy, once it opens in early 2024. For more information, visit playemeraldacres.com.
