93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
Columbia is looking to boost its resume as a hot spot for sports tourism.
The city is taking over most of the old Boone County fairgrounds, and building a new sports complex. Columbia parks and recreation director Mike Griggs says the city does not have enough fields to do it all right now.
“It really limits the times that we can bring in a big soccer tournament,” Griggs said on the new Inside Columbia Show. “If we do, that means that we have to cancel leagues. And of course our local citizens don’t like that. They want to keep playing.”
The city is planning on several large, multi-purpose, synthetic turf fields. Thirty acres will also be set aside for the Boone County Fair to return, after four years in Sturgeon. Griggs says it adds a nice agricultural area to the site off Highway 63 and Oakland Gravel Road.
“What else can we do there so it’s just not something that’s only used ten days a year?” Griggs said. “We want something that can be used by other people as well. And so how we can work that through as we move forward, that’s the exciting part.”
(This story was last updated at 7:10 a.m. Monday.)
