$4.5M sports complex to open in Oswego County

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Aug 04, 2000 by Allen, Paul

SCRIBA-After years of being told by local government officials and area naysayers that it couldn't be done, Anthony Richmond is months away from having his dream of a domed sporting complex and community center in Oswego County become a reality. Ground was broken recently on the $4.5 million, 120,000-sq.-ft. facility, to be called The Community Sports Complex and Civic Center, which is located just off Route 481 in the Town of Scriba. The complex, which will house a regulation-size outdoor soccer field, an NBA-size basketball court, two tennis courts, and a quarter-mile track, is scheduled to open for business in October.

"When I first brought this to the table, people thought I was crazy," says Richmond. "They said that I was wasting everyone's time because it was too big of a project and that it'll never happen in Oswego. And then once we got approved and construction started, that sentiment quickly changed to 'Well, he'll never be able to swallow that nut and pay all those bills.' It's a damned-if-I-do, damned-if-Idon't kind of attitude. "That attitude is what has also given me the fuel to keep on going and show these people that something like this can be wildly successful here."

Richmond says that he will have the equivalent of 51 full-time jobs at the complex, with its 10,000-sq.-ft. clubhouse that will house a pro shop, food court, locker rooms, and a spectator lounge.

He estimates that in the first year of business, his complex will get 350,000 visitors. How many millions of dollars has he projected to gross in the first year? Richmond will not give specific figures but says, "It's scary what is actually projected."

According to Richmond, funding for the $4.5 million facility included more than a million dollars from several major private

investors, a $1.8 million low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and a $1.7 million loan from a local bank. Birdair, the company that constructed the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, has been contracted to build the Oswego County sports dome.

In a fax, HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo-who Richmond says was instrumental in helping get a $1.8 million HUD loan-says, "As one who's spent more than a few winters Upstate, I know how hard it is to 'drive to the hoop' through a snowdrift. That is why I am particularly pleased that the Department of Housing and Urban Development has been able to help the people of Oswego County find the funds to construct this year-round sports complex."

The idea of an enclosed sports complex in Oswego came to Richmond when he was an all-state soccer player in high school, he says. "When I was traveling all over the Northeast playing on all these select soccer teams in high school, I realized there is no reason why I should be doing all this traveling," Richmond says. "I always thought Oswego would be a perfect location for a sports complex like this. It's central to so many major cities. We're close to Syracuse, Watertown, and an hour from Rochester and Canada."

Richmond doesn't want his facility to be just for the North Country, he says, but for all of Central New York. But he is concerned that Onondaga County residents will think the Community Sports Complex and Civic Center is too far away. "We're only 20 miles from Great Northern Mail and we're right off of 481," he notes, and adds, "It's only a 30-minute drive from here to Manlius."

After high school, Richmond went on to play soccer at the University of Massachusetts where he received his business degree in sports management. After graduating, he returned to Oswego where he coached the Oswego University women's soccer team for two years. For the last four years, Richmond has coached varsity boy's soccer and girls' junior-varsity basketball and softball at Mexico High School.

He became more serious about building an enclosed sports complex after he returned to Oswego and began running soccer and lacrosse camps and tournaments, he says. Within the span of a few years, Richmond's tournaments grew from 24 teams to more than 80. "We had so many

lacrosse teams sign up this year, we had to turn some away," he says. "I realized that there is a huge demand for these tournaments. I wanted to take it to the next level and started looking at forming leagues and finding a place for the kids to practice. When I began researching, I noticed there was also a need for a good basketball facility, and that there was no indoor tennis center in the area. North Country Gymnastics, which is located in Oswego, also needed a bigger space. When I began crunching the numbers, making sure that it could financially succeed with all the entities under one roof, I realized it could work."

Richmond wanted to cater to the needs not only of the kids but also of their parents. "My whole concept was to create a very professional atmosphere and treat the kids like professional athletes-give them a top-of-the-line facility, the best floor system, professional courts, and state-of-the-art equipment." But unlike some facilities that don't have anything for the parents to do except watch their kids, Richmond says he wanted to offer the parents as many things to do as their kids. Another innovation with the new facility is its use of electronic technology. All schedules of events, league standings, and court or field reservations will be done and maintained online at the company's Web site at www.edomesports.com, says Richmond. Members can go to the site to book times on any of the courts, he says.