Evaluating Citizen Perceptions and Financial Feasibility of a Multimillion-Dollar Sports Complex in a Small Rural Community in the United States

Sport complexes in the United States are needed to help youths and adults be involved in physical activities to battle being overweight or obese, especially in rural communities. Additionally, conducting youth sports contest tournaments may potentially increase economic impact to the community by drawing spectators from outside of the community. However, care must be taken to prevent them from becoming “white elephants” that may negatively affect the community from both feasibility and sustainable viewpoints. A mixed methods approach was used to determine the desires of the community population to construct a multimillion-dollar sports complex as well as the financial feasibility of such an endeavor. The results of the quantitative survey-based research revealed that the small, rural community in the southern United States was strongly in favor of creating a sports complex. However, us-ing the triangulation qualitative analysis indicated that fulfilling the financial obligations for building the sports complex was not feasible. In particular, the community unemployment rate, future job growth, annual household income, and housing value were significantly below the national average. As a result of these findings, it would not have been financially feasible to construct the sports complex in a sustainable manner. Thus, the city is deprived of physical activities because it cannot afford a sports complex.