The grand reopening of The Basin Sports Complex is set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 30.
Among many other things, the event will include a bounce house, a car show, face painting, food trucks, kids’ train rides, a kite festival, softball scrimmage, tattoo air brush, Battle in the Basin Flag Football Tournament, softball scrimmages and more.
Director of Athletics Todd Dooley said the fields, which cover 93 acres, are owned by UTPB. They are open for rental and usage.
There are 14 diamonds of varying dimensions, basketball and tennis courts, pavilions and soccer fields, among other features.
“I’m ready to have this thing launched and really open it up and let the community see it opened back up. I think people who have been using it are recognizing that we’ve made a significant investment in the facility itself from the standpoint of we’ve done right around $100,000 worth of dirt work out there where we’ve replaced the dirt in the infield, overseeding. We’ve spent over $50,000 on fencing and gates. Any number of things that needed attention. Restrooms, the concession stands are on the list of things we need to get done and improved and make sure that they’re up to code and all those things,” Dooley said.
The fields are currently being used for girls’ softball, a flag football tournament on April 30 and a Flag Football League that will start in May.
“We’ve got some slow-pitch softball, some adult softball — a league that will start up, and then we’re getting some use on some rentable space for soccer teams and those kinds of things, so we’re wide open,” Dooley said.
Baseball practice is taking place on the fields, but nobody has contacted UTPB about a league.
Typically, he said Little League baseball is associated with neighborhoods.
“One of the things that we’re working on is trying to find a baseball tournament to host this summer. Midland has one and they had to turn some teams away last year, and so in an effort to expand that tournament we’ve offered the facility is an option to grow that tournament field,” Dooley said.
Possibilities also include ultimate Frisbee and a kickball tournament.
Sports Facilities Management, which is managing the fields, has been doing the lion’s share of the work, Dooley said. He added that the company CEO will be in town for the grand reopening.
“We’re excited to get it going. We had to shut it down for the entire month of March to do the work that needed to be done to get it ready to open it back up …,” Dooley said.
It reopened in early April.
The website is playthebasin.com and there is a Facebook page for The Basin Sports Complex.
People can go on and enter their information, write in their request and the dates and the company will be in touch.
“One of the things that we found that was a little unexpected, but really good is that there are pavilions out there. I think there are four pavilions out there and you can reserve those,” Dooley said.
There is a drop-down box on the side where you can schedule a pavilion. On Easter, he said, the pavilions were booked all day.
“It’s good to see those being used,” Dooley said.
The online system is going to streamline the process of booking fields.
It costs $25 an hour to rent a field if you don’t need lights. If you need lights, it’s $50 an hour and there are lights in the pavilions and the common areas.
The priority was getting the fields playable and safe initially.
“… Early on, we’re going to utilize food trucks and then as we round out the concession stands and offer those options they’ll be coming online. … But the amount of expense to get them where they need to be this early is just not doable, so food trucks serve as a stopgap,” he said.
But they will have reverse osmosis systems and ice machines. Dooley said they also have to make sure the electricity and water are up to code because they have to get health and safety inspection if they are going to do hot food preparation.
They will spruce up the buildings and added fencing and gates. Eventually, along with the concession stands, there will be other vendors and they would like to offer screen printed T-shirts.
“We want it to be a full one-stop-shop option for people,” Dooley said.
He said he thinks April 30 will be a great day for UTPB.
“… It’s more of a celebration of here we are; we’re excited to get going and let the community know that we’re open for business,” he added.
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Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
