Caddo Parish, Louisiana, is asking voters to approve the money for a proposed indoor tournament complex before it has picked the land, and that sequencing says a lot about how public sports facilities get financed. On November 3, voters in the parish, which includes Shreveport, will decide whether to let it issue $60 million in general obligation bonds toward a project the Parish estimates at $70 million, per its published FAQ. The remaining $10 million would come from the General Fund, the Oil and Gas Fund, naming rights and possible money from the State of Louisiana.
The headline figures are the $60 million in bonds and a projected $20.1 million in visitor spending. The line in the Parish's own FAQ that explains the proposal better is its statement that the building's own operating profit isn't the primary economic justification. The Parish expects the larger return to come from sports tourism outside the facility, and it's looking at land on a scale that only makes sense if hotels and retail follow. The proposed complex reads as an anchor for private development that hasn't been committed yet.
A Ballot Question That Comes Before the Map
The Parish hired a consultant to study possible locations, and the study pointed to the I-20 corridor west of I-49. The recommendation leaned on traffic of about 73,600 vehicles a day on I-20 and land costs of about $45,000 an acre, along with the hotels and restaurants already nearby. The Caddo Commission's Economic Development Committee recommended the corridor for further consideration, but no specific property has been selected, and the Parish doesn't own land in the areas under review.
The order of operations is set by the ballot. Voters have to authorize the bonds first, and only then can the Parish negotiate for a site, with the final location going to a vote of the Caddo Parish Commission. Any negotiated price is capped at appraised value. Of the $70 million total, the Parish is using a mid-range construction estimate of about $64 million and has reserved about $6 million for land.
On cost, the Parish says the bonds wouldn't require a new tax or a tax increase. The debt would run through the existing 1.5 mill debt service millage. To manage overruns, the Parish plans to use a Construction Manager at Risk process, in which the contractor commits to a guaranteed maximum price and carries the risk of overruns unless the scope changes.
10 Proposed Courts Built for Basketball and Volleyball Weekends
The anchor of the proposal is an indoor arena with an estimated 10 flexible courts, configurable for basketball, volleyball, pickleball, wrestling, cheerleading and other sports. A family recreation center and a sports medicine facility are also expected. The indoor building needs about 12.5 acres, and outdoor fields and a cross-country loop would be added only if funding allows.
Every operating number in the proposal comes from the Parish's feasibility study, and each one is a projection. The study assumes 12 basketball tournaments, 16 volleyball tournaments and 10 other tournaments a year. By year five, it projects $20.1 million in direct spending and more than 136,500 out-of-town visitors, along with 31,700 hotel room nights. Operating costs are projected at $2.1 million in year one rising to $2.4 million in year five, with positive operating income expected in year three. The Parish says existing Parks and Recreation revenues and General Fund revenues would cover early operating deficits.
The Parish's FAQ document on the proposed complex, in its answer to question 38, states:
"The larger return is expected to come from sports tourism outside the facility."
The study benchmarked the proposal against four comparable venues: the Rocky Mount Event Center in North Carolina, Rocky Top Sports World in Tennessee, Wintrust Sports Complex in Illinois and AdventHealth Sports Park at Bluhawk in Kansas. The volleyball count is the largest single line in the tournament assumptions. That suggests the Parish believes it can compete for indoor court tournament traffic that currently goes to other markets.
The Private Money Sits Around the Building
The Economic Development Committee has suggested acquiring up to about 200 acres, far more than the 12.5 acres the indoor building needs, to leave room for expansion and for complementary hotel and retail development. The Parish hasn't decided whether any extra land would be kept, leased, sold or developed through a public-private arrangement.
The same FAQ document, in its answer to question 24, describes the proposed complex as additive to the venues the area already has:
"The goal is to grow the sports market coming to Caddo Parish."
On the private side, the Parish says it hasn't contractually committed to a commercial developer. It adds that developers have expressed interest since the project was introduced, and that it intends to put the opportunity out through a request for proposals if site selection moves ahead. No letters of intent are on the record. The day-to-day operator is also unnamed. The Parish says its goal is a professional business model built on tournament rentals, court rentals, concessions, sponsorships and naming rights, and it hasn't said whether it'll run the building itself or hire a management firm.
Read together, the land plan and the operating plan point toward a public anchor that needs private partners on two fronts, one to run the building and one to build around it. Both are still unchosen, and neither can be chosen until the bonds pass.
Takeaways for Investors
The Complex Is Still a Proposal
Nothing is approved until voters decide on November 3. If voters say no, the Parish won't have authorization to issue the $60 million in bonds for the proposed complex.
The Projections Belong to the Parish
The $20.1 million spending figure and the year-three operating income target both come from the Parish's feasibility study. They're projections made before a site or construction bids exist.
The Payoff Is Planned Outside the Building
The Parish says the larger return comes from sports tourism beyond the facility, and it's weighing up to about 200 acres to make room for that. Developers have expressed interest, but nobody has signed.
Watch the Operator and Developer Selections After the Vote
If the bonds pass, the next public steps are a Commission vote on the site and a developer request for proposals, with the choice of who runs the building still to come. Those choices will show which private firms end up inside the Parish's sports tourism plan.
