A conceptual drawing of the West Henderson Field House in Henderson Nevada. Palm Desert officials support the idea of building a similar facility here.
The Palm Desert City Council gave a resounding thumbs-up last week to exploring an indoor sports complex on the city's vacant 140-acre university area site, with members calling it a "win, win, win, win, win opportunity" that addresses local sports field shortages while attracting tourism dollars.
"I'm 100% gung ho behind this project," said Mayor Evan Trubee. "The timing, to me, seems perfect."
The city isn't making any formal decisions yet. Staff presented the concept to gauge Council interest before spending time and money on further analysis. The response was clear: keep going.
Councilmembers said the facility would solve problems Palm Desert faces. Mayor Trubee referenced consistent complaints at Parks and Rec meetings about shortages of soccer and football fields.
Councilmember Karina Quintanilla highlighted how outdoor tournament cancellations hurt local youth sports.
"When there are these tournaments that come from out of the area, sometimes they book months in advance and have a last minute cancelation, and those fields have already been blocked off, and our local youth sports can't utilize them," Quintanilla said.
The weather factor came up repeatedly.
"We hear a lot of folks that say, you've got the skate park, but it's too hot. When are you going to make it indoors?" Quintanilla noted. "This makes a lot of sense."
Mayor Pro Tem Joe Pradetto asked whether this would be city-operated. Staff said they think it should be privately run, suggesting the city shouldn't take on that responsibility.
Pradetto agreed, saying it should be privately owned too, though he's comfortable with the city owning it if a private company operates it.
"We feel that an organization, a company, that runs these facilities that has experience would be best suited to do that," said Assistant City Manager Richard Cannone.
Councilmembers saw possibilities beyond sports. The facility could incorporate educational components with Cal State and COD's kinesiology programs, host emergency preparedness drills, and serve as a large-scale convention space, depending on how much flex space gets built in.
The city started preliminary discussions about nine months ago with Visit Greater Palm Springs, which had completed studies showing support for this type of facility in the valley.
If the council continues supporting the concept, staff would enter a non-binding agreement with Visit Greater Palm Springs to share information, then issue a Request for Proposals to find qualified developers and operators. Staff would evaluate costs and funding strategies before bringing back a formal proposal.
"Everything seems to be lining up perfectly," Trubee said, referencing the fire station infrastructure work, the recently adopted specific plan, and the power substation development all happening in the same area.
There's no cost to the city at this stage. Staff presented this for discussion only, not formal action.