Sports developments make pitch for Schererville’s Illiana Speedway site; baseball, sportsplex proposed

Now that the Town of Schererville closed its dance card to stock car racing, it’s opening it up to a different flavor of sports entertainment.
Two potential suitors came courting the Town Council with two different ideas for the former Illiana Speedway’s 77 acres during a Wednesday night study session: The Northern Baseball League, in which the Whiting Oilmen and Crown Point Corndogs are included; and American Structurepoint, the architects who built the Hammond Sportsplex. The league wants to expand with a new team and stadium, while the other wants to build a sports complex not unlike Hammond’s.
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With 114.7 million spectators catching a Major League Baseball game in 2019, baseball remains by far the nation’s “favorite pastime,” Northern League owner Don Popravak said. But going to an MLB game has gotten more expensive as time goes on, so Minor League stadiums bring all the excitement at about 25% less cost, he said.
Minor League stadiums also bring in taxable revenue — $86 million total in 2019 in retail alone — to their communities as well as endless marketing opportunities, Popravak said. Further, stadiums can be used by their communities for other purposes, such as an ice rink in the winter, which opens up other sports opportunities like hockey leagues.
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Additionally, development opportunities abound around baseball stadiums, including housing, he said, and a multipurpose concept could make the Illiana Speedway property the “heartbeat of Schererville.”
“We’re providing quality of life and pride to our communities,” Popravak said. “We like local ownership because we want to be part of the community, and we also like to create rivalries (within the area) because that promotes inter-county tourism.”
Schererville is perfect for the stadium, he said, because it’s “The Crossroads of the Nation,” with 44 million cars traveling I-80-94 and 36 million traveling I-65 per year, he said.
When Councilman Kevin Connelly, R-2, asked for a show of hands in the packed room as to how many people would be interested in a baseball stadium, 10 middle-aged men raised their hands.
Connelly said he liked the idea but wondered about the cost since many stadiums often look to public-private partnerships to fund the construction and upkeep.
“That’s the thing people don’t understand is that these (local) parks are privately funded,” he said.
John Kennedy, director of business development for American Structurepoint out of its Hammond office, then took the audience through the process of designing a sportsplex base on what the community wants. With the 135,000 square-foot Hammond Sportsplex, for example, the group put in as many elements as they could along with revenue-generating items, while Merrillville’s Dean and Barbara White has a smaller footprint and is more of a community center.
Clerk-Treasurer Kristie Klein asked Kennedy who runs Hammond and Merrillville, to which he said that both are run through their respective municipalities.
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Council President Ton Schmitt, D-4, said the town is interested in a multipurpose field or building because there’s been a boom in sports-related events coming through Northwest Indiana, so the demand is there. The town would be open to any investor wanting to help it make that happen, he said.
Some residents, however, weren’t completely sold on either idea.
“The first presentation was exciting, but I would want something smaller and more multipurpose,” said Phil Foreman. “I think Schererville needs to get better about meeting the needs of its younger demographic, and I would want more of a ‘Rennaissance idea’ that would incorporate green space.”
“And how many jobs would (these entities) bring?” his sister, Chrissy Foreman, said. “It would be something to do, though, without breaking the bank. Both have a lot of potential.”
Michelle Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.