On any given weekend, local families and competitive individual amateur athletes, such as pickleball and tennis players, are up before sunrise, loading luggage and gear into cars for yet another tournament two, three, or even five hours away. The youth‐sports and pickleball boom has turned travel into a way of life and a reliable spending engine for places that are ready to host.
Communities investing in modern venues are reaping the rewards: nationwide, sports travel generated tens of billions of dollars in direct spending last year and supported hundreds of thousands of jobs. Greater Palm Springs has a chance to claim its share instead of watching it drive through.
Scott White, President/CEO, Visit Greater Palm Springs
Visit Greater Palm Springs (VGPS) commissioned feasibility work to test a straightforward idea: build an indoor, tournament-ready complex that keeps play going when the temperatures climb and turn our summer and shoulder seasons into a booming season. The results are blunt. A thoughtfully designed facility can close a glaring infrastructure gap and produce meaningful, recurring returns for residents and small businesses alike, including a projected $46.3 million in annual economic impact, 34,300 room nights, and 561,500 total attendee days, alongside positive operating performance before debt service.
Visit Greater Palm Springs President & CEO, Scott White, accentuated the potential benefits of this strategic, exciting opportunity in his report to the organization’s board of directors last month, stating, “To drive demand to the summer months, the region needs to find a pathway to an indoor amateur sports facility. An update of the 2024 CSL study by Synergy Sports further substantiated the viability of a large-scale indoor multi-court complex… We are hopeful we can find a city or multiple cities that want to partner with VGPS and build this critical facility for our region. Alternatively, we could form a sports and entertainment district and raise the capital to build and own the complex. In the meantime, we will continue to explore new sales and marketing opportunities to generate awareness for the summer months.”
A reach that’s built for tournaments
This isn’t a neighborhood gym. It’s an “anchor facility” designed for events with 100+ teams under one roof – exactly what regional and national organizers prefer. And the market is there: within three hours, Greater Palm Springs can draw from roughly 22 million people; widen the lens to a five-hour (300-minute) super-regional radius and the reachable market jumps to about 32.4 million. That scale supports a year-round sports tourism calendar that subsidizes weekday community programming.
What the complex looks like and why it matters
The studies point to a ~200,000-square-foot building with 10 to 12 full-size courts and flexible hard-court layouts, paired with strength and conditioning, on-site medical partner space, food and beverage, family entertainment, and classrooms. Crucially, the plan anticipates accessible design and programming for adaptive sports. In short: big-event capacity on weekends, community value every day.
Facilities like this do more than host games; across the country, they’ve anchored mixed-use districts, drawing new restaurants, retail, entertainment, and even housing – exactly the kind of placemaking that keeps spending local and compounds over time.
The numbers add up quickly
Synergy’s model projects hundreds of thousands of non-local participant and spectator days each year – a surge that flows through hotels, restaurants, shops, attractions, and tax receipts. By year five, the total annual economic impact is estimated to approach $74 million, with corresponding sales and hotel tax revenue. The analysis also concludes the complex can cover operating costs and support capital repayment – so this is not a “build it and hope” proposition.
Low competition, high strategic fit
Within the region, true multi-court indoor competitors are limited. That scarcity – paired with the Valley’s climate, attractions, and family entertainment – positions the complex to book tournaments that reliably fill rooms during the summer and shoulder months.
A financeable path (and smart risk management)
The studies outline multiple paths to delivery: public-private partnerships, private development with master-leaseback, and other models that reduce municipal exposure while keeping the venue accessible. Naming rights and sponsorships can further backstop costs. A practical next step is to pair site selection with letters of intent from tournament organizers.
Where it belongs and what it unlocks
Ideal sites aren’t mysteries: look for acreage that allows expansion, strong road access, nearby hotels and dining, transit options, and room for complementary development. Done right, the complex becomes both a quality-of-life asset and an economic catalyst – keeping local athletes closer to home while welcoming visiting teams year-round.
Consistent, visionary leadership has changed the game in GPS
Bigger, bolder, and more strategic thinking, combined with effective implementation, have been propelling the undeniable success of VGPS for over a decade under Scott White’s leadership.
White, along with the potent and expert VGPS board of directors, has made a forward-looking destination marketing and development strategy its signature. The organization doesn’t just market the next season; it plans for the next decade – spotting challenges early, seizing opportunities, and turning them into extreme tax revenue generation, new jobs and a higher quality of life for those living here. For many years, VGPS has implemented a variety of strategic and tactical initiatives geared to growing visitation during the slower shoulder and summer months and making the destination truly more year-round. Their playbook has delivered results for more than a decade. Still, to keep building upon shoulder and summer season business, the region must continually improve and expand upon the amenities, attractions and hospitality assets it has to offer. To this end, the indoor sports complex fits perfectly.
The moment to act
Greater Palm Springs already shines eight months a year. An indoor anchor facility is a key element to winning the other four. The feasibility work makes the case and maps the route. Now it’s a choice: let our families (and their spending) and an expanded base of potential new visitors keep driving elsewhere, or build the venue that brings the games – and the gains – home.
