Reno's Big Bet on Youth Sports

A big change is coming to downtown Reno. A local hotel-casino owner wants to build up to 12 sports fields over the next six years. These fields will be used for soccer and lacrosse tournaments. The plan is part of a new group called the Downtown Reno Amateur Sports Association. The fields will be near the J Resort Casino, which owns the land. The city council will talk about this plan on October 22. The owner also wants to expand the area around the Glow Plaza event venue. The owner thinks the city will support this idea. They believe youth sports are growing fast in the U. S. Baseball and soccer teams travel a lot for tournaments. The plan is to start with four fields, costing $5 million. These fields will be used for different types of games. The owner has already secured land for three of these fields. The rest of the fields will cost more money, but the owner did not say how they will get the land. The owner says parking will not be a problem. The fields will be near more than 2, 000 parking spaces. They also think downtown Reno can handle 25 to 30 youth sports weekends every year. The first soccer tournament is already planned for June 2026. The owner wants to make the fields available for community use when there are no tournaments. They are still figuring out how to do this. Partners for the project include local sports groups like the Reno Apex Club and High Sierra Lacrosse. The owner thinks this plan will bring in a lot of money. They expect families to spend about $1, 000 each during tournament weekends. This could mean $30 million to $35 million per year. It could also bring in $3 million to $5 million in tax money every year. The owner hopes other hotels will partner with them to meet the needs of visitors.