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# Sporting St. George
- URL: https://www.redeyebr.com/sporting-st-george/
- Published: 2026-03-23T21:38:35.000Z
- Updated: 2026-03-25T01:37:17.000Z
- Description: The new city wants to build a park, and an operator is exploring a sports facility between LSU and downtown
- Author: JR Ball

**The City of St. George is playing offense in youth sports.** BREC and St. George officials last week [unveiled plans](https://www.theadvocate.com/baton%5Frouge/news/brec-unveils-plans-for-redeveloped-airline-highway-park/article%5F2ad40f4f-570a-47f3-86c5-a704f73e5380.html?ref=redeyebr.com) to transform the 133-acre Airline Highway Park into a regional sports destination. The $9 million to $12 million first-phase overhaul includes a large baseball complex, batting cages, a recreation center and indoor pickleball courts. Construction is slated to begin in 2027.

**Mayor Dustin Yates is pushing further.** He tells *RedEye* that the city is negotiating a cooperative endeavor agreement with BREC to run its own programming at the park—modeled on the deal under which the Baton Rouge Soccer Association operates at BREC's Burbank complex.

- St. George officials are also in early talks with a private group about building **an indoor sports complex** capable of hosting basketball and volleyball tournaments.

**Why it matters:** Sports are a civic religion in Baton Rouge. What the parish lacks is the kind of modern infrastructure—indoor courts, tournament-ready fields, enough space to keep traveling families and their spending local—that competing cities have already built. Such facilities also tend to attract hotels and retail development—both critical in a city that relies on sales taxes.

**Everyone wants to play:** At least two firms are exploring whether Baton Rouge can support a large standalone indoor sports facility between LSU and downtown, Visit Baton Rouge CEO Jill Kidder tells *RedEye*—with more details expected to emerge in late April.

- Private developers are also working with BREC to **expand and improve the multisport complex at Olympia**.

**Big business:** The numbers explain why everyone is moving at once:

- Youth sports tournaments generated an estimated $37 million in indirect economic impact across the parish in 2024.
- Between 2020 and 2024, Baton Rouge hosted more than 180 sporting events, drawing 107,700 attendees.
- Nationally, youth sports tourism is projected to hit $77.6 billion by 2026.

**The bottom line:** The athletes and the families are already here. The facilities haven't kept pace. That's the gap everyone is now racing to close.

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