By Greg Halbleib

BLOOMINGTON – As the lease for the Community Soccer Fields near Central Illinois Regional Airport is extended through 2020, Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner says a sports complex to replace the fields would require private development.

The Federal Aviation Administration has said it wants the Community Fields property vacated because it’s next to the airport, which owns the land. The Bloomington-Normal Airport Authority extended the lease for the fields for three years on Tuesday with the caveat that the property is not a long-term solution for local soccer.

Renner said the city could provide some incentives with the anticipation that a complex would bring people and their money to the community.

“So if we were to rebate as an incentive, as part of the city’s skin in the game, some sales taxes that we’re not getting right now for a certain period of time, then we could conceivably have a multi-purpose sports center without spending any of our current money,” Renner told WJBC’s Patti Penn. “Obviously, we have sales taxes that are flat and costs are increasing. It’s not like we have money laying around.”

Renner said an ideal complex would involve facilities for growing local participation in rugby and cricket, and even another indoor ice rink to take some of the scheduling pressure off the Pepsi Ice Center.

“If you can host tournaments, that means you’re going to get a lot of people from a lot of places coming in and dropping money in Bloomington and Normal,” Renner said. “That’s an exciting part of this as we move forward. So it’s not just that we’ll have an asset, but it will also be potentially a source of economic growth, jobs, etc.”
Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].