Plans for a Mount Airy sports complex could be striking out before they even step up to the plate due to competition from a 25-field facility to be built in Mooresville.

If everything he has heard about the rival project is true, “I think the complex there will be something we could not overcome,” Todd Harris, a member of the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners. Observers say it will result in Mooresville becoming the “Disney World of baseball.”

“My obvious concerns are it is a 25-field complex, and we’re talking 10 fields,” added Harris, who since last fall has been trying to rally support for building baseball and other facilities in Mount Airy to attract major youth tournaments.

On April 15, the city commissioners appointed a new 14-member Sports Development Committee to explore the concept of constructing a 10-field complex on an 80-acre, former landfill site on City View Drive.

The committee is scheduled to hold its first meeting early next month, but deciding whether its mission even remains viable will be one of the first orders of business for the new group, Harris said Wednesday. That’s because of developments in recent days from Mooresville, a community of about 22,000 people in Iredell County which has a rich NASCAR tradition.

A private group called America’s Park, LLC has chosen Mooresville to be the site of a youth invitational baseball tournament complex that, when constructed, will be the largest of its kind in America.

On May 3, Mooresville town officials approved $500,000 in property tax incentives for the facility that will cost up to $21 million and be built on a 170-acre tract. It will include a stadium with 4,000 to 5,000 seats and about 1,400 parking spaces.

“It was going to be a tough row to hoe to fund 10 fields, much less 25,” Harris said of the local project initially envisioned as a joint effort with Surry County, which has since backed away from the idea. That left Mount Airy to proceed on its own, possibly by partnering with other communities in the region.

The emergence of the Mooresville complex is prompting a re-evaluation of what, if anything, can now be done here, according to Harris, who saw the Mount Airy project as a way to build on the city’s existing tourism industry.

Mount Airy’s proximity to Mooresville, which is about 75 miles away and just south of where Interstates 77 and 40 cross, is a factor, Harris said, as well as the realization that there are only so many teams available to fill tournament schedules. Based on past discussions, 30 to 40 teams were targeted for the Mount Airy facility each weekend, including softball and soccer in addition to baseball.

It could be that there is room for only one such facility in this part of the state.

“In my mind, the first thing to be determined here is how does this Mooresville project affect us,” Harris said at a commissioners meeting Tuesday when updating fellow city officials on the potential obstacle.

While Harris said Wednesday he hasn’t given up on the plan, the impact of the competing complex is something that likely will be carefully examined and evaluated when the local Sports Development Committee begins meeting in early June.

With the new group containing a strong mix of sports and business professionals, Harris believes all the facts can be assembled and those questions answered right away.

A Great Concept

Harris said at the very least, he can take some solace in the fact that the emergence of the Mooresville facility shows that his idea for such a complex in western North Carolina is highly viable.

“I think it’s interesting that a private entity (America’s Park, LLC) feels like they can do this and invest the money and make a profit on it,” he said.

One official in the Iredell County community has said that the project there “will change the face of Mooresville forever,” which is similar to earlier comments by Harris about the potential for such a facility in this area.

The Mooresville site is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors each year and produce about $100,000 in tax revenues annually, not even counting the benefits to restaurants, hotels and similar businesses.

Harris said it is a shame Mount Airy did not know early on about the plans by America’s Park LLC for such a facility in North Carolina, and possibly given a chance to make a pitch for the complex. He said one marketing plus possessed by Mount Airy is that it is a “better destination” for tourism than Mooresville due to all the Mayberry-related and scenic attractions in this area.

The city official said America’s Park representatives likely picked Mooresville off a map after noticing its proximity to major highways, which Mount Airy also possesses.

“I just wish we had known about this,” Harris said.

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.