Youth Sports Complex Boom Hits Clearwater and Venice

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Youth Sports Complex Boom Hits Clearwater and Venice

Clearwater voted 4-0 to negotiate a $180 million sports complex at The Landings, Sarasota County approved Venice's Wellfield regional sports park, and more cities are chasing tournament dollars.

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A 56-year-old municipal golf course in Clearwater is the latest piece of Florida real estate being lined up for youth sports tournaments. The Clearwater City Council voted 4-0 on Wednesday to keep negotiating with a developer who wants to turn the 77-acre, city-owned Landings Golf Course into a sports and entertainment complex priced at about $180 million, and possibly far more.

The vote does not approve construction. It does signal where the money in youth sports is going: into fields, fieldhouses and hotel room nights.

What the Clearwater Landings Proposal Includes

The developer, identified by the St. Pete Catalyst as Sunshine Recreational and Entertainment LLC, pitched 13 multipurpose fields, pickleball and sand volleyball courts, a water attraction, restaurants, fitness facilities and trails. An expanded version shown before the meeting added a 220,000-square-foot indoor fieldhouse with eight basketball courts and pushed the estimate toward $300 million. Fox 13 reported the original plan at $179.6 million.

The process started with an unsolicited proposal in December 2025. The city accepted it under Florida's public-private partnership statute in August and invited competing bids. Only one arrived, from Clearwater Golf Associates, which would keep the golf course. A city evaluation committee ranked the sports complex first.

Why Pinellas County Wants More Fields

The demand case was laid out in March by Caleb Peterson of the Sports Commission for Visit St. Pete-Clearwater: the Clearwater Fall Classic alone drew 82 teams, 80 of them from outside Florida, and generated about 5,000 hotel room nights. Pinellas Park opened the $26.5 million Sprowls Horizon Sports Park in February, and tournament operators still say they are short on turf.

Neighbors are split. Supporters told Fox 13 the project would keep families in Clearwater. Opponents, organized as Keep Keene Green, raised traffic, stadium lighting, flooding and whether out-of-town teams would get scheduling priority over local clubs. One resident drew applause at the meeting with a line the council will hear again: "You promised that you would balance tourism with our quality of life."

Venice: Wellfield Park Becomes a Regional Sports Complex

Ninety minutes south, Sarasota County commissioners unanimously approved the master concept plan that turns Venice's 80-acre Wellfield Park into the Wellfield Park Regional Sports Complex. The county took ownership of the park from the city on October 29, 2025. Venice has committed $20 million toward what was pitched as a $40 million overhaul, and county staff now say the full price will be higher, per Hoodline and the Venice Gondolier.

The catch is Amendment 3. Commissioners tied the funding timeline to the statewide property-tax measure on the November 3 ballot, and Commissioner Joe Neunder said projects like this one could be affected if it passes. A Phase 1 design vote is expected in November, with pricing around June 2027.

The Same Playbook in Louisiana, Michigan and Kentucky

Florida is not alone. In St. George, Louisiana, the city council unanimously created a 55-acre economic development district near Airline Highway for an indoor sports complex, authorizing up to 5 mills of property tax on businesses and a 2 percent hotel tax inside the district starting in 2027, per The Advocate. Mayor Dustin Yates said residents pay no new tax; businesses opt in by buying property there.

And the Sports Facilities Companies, the industry's biggest venue manager, added two more Midwest contracts this month, according to the youth sports business newsletter Buying Sandlot: the Kalamazoo Indoor Sports Facility in Michigan (eight basketball courts convertible to 16 volleyball courts, about 17,000 square feet of turf, funded by a hotel assessment and projected at $50 million in annual economic impact) and the Boyd County Sportsplex in Ashland, Kentucky, a 110,000-square-foot air-supported dome run by former U.S. Paralympic archery coach Jonathan Clemins.

What Clubs and Families Should Watch

Every one of these projects is justified by tournament travel, which means the clubs that fill them are the real customers. The questions worth asking your city are the ones Clearwater residents asked: who gets priority on the fields, who pays for lighting and traffic, and whether local leagues get a rate that is not the tournament rate. The next Clearwater step is an interim agreement with the developer, followed by more council votes.

Find tournaments, showcases and camps at these venues and others on BallerTube's Florida events page, and follow the money on our youth sports business tag. Florida high school rules for sanctioned events run through the FHSAA.