Premier Sports scores big with new facilities

The heads of two area sports commissions say improvements to Premier Sports Campus at Lakewood Ranch will allow them to attract larger, higher-quality sporting events to the area.

This month, the facility received its certificate of occupancy for new facilities, which include public restrooms, a building with training rooms and meeting space, medical treatment space, a satellite Lakewood Ranch information center and a concession stand surrounding a showcase field with bleachers for 3,000 spectators and a scoreboard.

“The stadium probably will be the centerpiece of our marketing pieces when we’re talking about Premier,” said Rob Wells, director of sports for the Sarasota Sports Commission. “From an overall impression standpoint, it really shines and highlights the facility as whole. It will never deter anyone. Even if you don’t need the bleachers and the press box, it’s still a great field and can be used for a tournament. Everybody is gong to want to use it. That’s a good problem to have.”

Sean Walter of the Bradenton Area Sports Commission echoed those sentiments. "We market destinations to bring in new economic dollars," he said. "We had sat down with Premier Sports Campus and said we could obtain a lot more tournaments if they had the facilities to go with their 23 fields. Ever since they began work on those upgrades, it has given me the ability to market the facility to people who previously wouldn't have used it. Some of the events found it too much of an expense to bring in temporary restrooms, seating and concessions. There were certain bids that required a stadium."

Now the stadium and facilities that go along with it are on site.

"Premier is doing amazing," Walter said. "I am not surprised, though. When it comes to Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, everything is top notch."

Walter said he already has made agreements with events that weren't interested before the facilities were added, but he didn't want to identify them because he wasn't sure if Premier had signed contracts yet. He did say U.S. Soccer, which held its Winter Showcase and Nike Friendlies last December, is going to make a commitment to continue the event at Premier now that the facilities have been added.

Premier Sports Campus Director Antonio Saviano said the grand opening of the new facilities will be during the Chargers Soccer Club’s Labor Day Showcase tournament.

“We get 13,000-plus people,” Saviano said. “It will be a good showcase for that weekend. A few small events between now and then will use the restrooms.”

Premier already is known nationally for the quality of its 23 fields, which have pristine grass and an underground drainage system that keeps the fields in playing condition, regardless of the weather.

“The issue when promoters would come out there, is they would say these are the best fields we’ve every seen but there was never infrastructure,” Wells said.

Premier has brought out tents, portable toilets and even trailers to accommodate the needs of sporting groups and events. But the new facilities open opportunities for groups who wouldn't have used it previously.

“It really enhances the facility,” Wells said. “It is a requirement for a lot of events to have a championship field or a stadium field and they want it to be on site. It makes us more competitive in the national landscape.”

For example, the Sarasota Sports Commission has bid on two collegiate lacrosse national championships that require a championship field, based on Premier’s improvements.

“We’re still waiting to find out the results of those,” Wells said. “We couldn’t go after them before.”

Saviano said fields also can be reconfigured for a variety of sports and even will be used in October by the the U.S. Australian Football League, for which play requires three fields combined to form one larger oval field.

Premier is expected to host 70,000 visitors in 2016, Saviano said.

Lakewood Ranch developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, which owns and operates Premier, declined to provide costs of the improvements.

Wells said Premier will join the Sarasota and Bradenton Area sports commissions at a booth in January, at a national soccer coaches convention in California.