Metropolitan State University of Denver’s new athletic complex has seen only one full season for its six varsity sports teams. But in that same amount of time, itap also emerged as a community hub for inner-city youth sports and a host site for nonprofit events.
“From the get-go we wanted to create a great facility for our programs, but also something that the community could use,” Metro State president Stephen Jordan said. “The core is serving kids and helping kids in the community learn about sports and how beneficial it can be.”
The Regency Athletic Complex, a 13-acre site that hosts the school’s softball, baseball, soccer and tennis programs officially, and the intention was also to be a facility that gives youth a great place to learn the value of sports.
Since the complex’s opening, the school has had a direct partnership with Denver Parks and Recreation so that the organization can hold its sports programs at the facility, particularly for kids in the Sun Valley and La Alma neighborhoods who don’t have easy access to ballfields.
“The emphasis in building this was providing a significant way to partner with the downtown Denver community, particularly underrepresented groups and things of that nature.” Metro State Denver athletic director Anthony Grant said. “Itap beyond what was envisioned.”
Denver Parks and Rec deputy director of recreation John Martinez called it a great partnership and said itap an ideal location for youth sports for kids in Sun Valley because itap right off the light-rail line.
The $23.6 million site on the south side of East Colfax Avenue — 1390 Shoshone St. — is seen as a state-of-the-art complex within Division II college sports and hosted the Division II Spring Sports Festival earlier this year. It’s seen as a great recruiting tool and received an award from the Downtown Denver Partnership this year as a transformational project within the city.
“We took pretty much a brownfield site and an ugly site that was one of the gateways to downtown, and turned it into pretty nice facility,” Jordan said.
Additionally, the complex has hosted several nonprofit events and a changing of the guard for one of the local U.S. Army units.
Jessica Montoya, a development associate with Playworks Colorado, recently held a kickball tournament on one of the fields and raised $13,000 in sponsorships for the event.
Playworks is a nonprofit that uses play time as a core strategy for learning in schools.
Montoya said this was the second kickball tournament she’s been a part of and this year was much more successful than when it was held in a local park.
“I don’t think I would have known of that facility, but now itap just a dream destination for us,” she said. “It was perfect.”
The facility has a tiered structure on fees for outside groups using the site. Nonprofits typically only pay minimal fees to account for maintenance of the facility while other groups pay more.
Grant said that the facility hasn’t been advertised as a host site for events, but previous partnerships have opened those doors. In the future, he sees the complex playing an even greater role in the community. One of the hopes is to engage underprivileged youth and expose them to college. When the time comes for them to choose a school, maybe they’ll remember Metro State.
“I foresee it as an opportunity to engage youth in general, Grant said. “You put something in front of young person and it gives them something to aspire to. This venue provides an opportunity for that.”