DREAM CITY 2020: Imagine city as top destination for sports

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the 17th in a series of columns about the future of the Pikes Peak region written by community leaders and visionaries. It's part of the ongoing community initiative Dream City: Vision 2020. Share your vision at www.dreamcity2020.com.

While admiring the superb ongoing "Dream City: Vision 2020" initiative conducted by The Gazette and others in the region, I felt compelled to offer my own vision related to sports.

It's Jan. 1, 2020, in Colorado Springs. There is no large American city with more on its sports plate than our town, and a magnificent downtown Colorado Springs Sports Park showcases it, thanks to the visionary effort in 2013 by the city that produced a voter-approved financing package that included tax-exempt bonds, naming rights, parking and concession fees, and taxes paid by out-of-state visitors on lodging, auto rentals, meals and accommodations that are directed toward the project.

MWC Football Champion Air Force (12-1) is three days away from playing Southern Cal in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Football National Championship Series in Los Angeles, advancing last weekend with a thrilling, come-from-behind 27-24 win over Nebraska in Miami.

Denver is two years away from hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Colorado Springs has been chosen to host the 2022 Olympic women's ice hockey pool play games, the short-track speedskating finals and curling preliminaries at World Arena.

Much of the U.S. Olympic Team, including the figure skaters, has been in residence at the Olympic Training Center for three months in preparation for the games, aside from skiers (finishing up at the Olympic venues in Vail and Beaver Creek) and the bobsled and luge teams (in training at the 2020 Colorado Olympic Park venue in the mountains west of Denver).

The United States Olympic Committee is enjoying a decade of growth and prosperity in its new role as the nation's core agency for sport.

USA Basketball, USA Track & Field, U.S. Skiing and USA Softball relocated to the city five years ago from Phoenix, Indianapolis, Salt Lake City and Oklahoma City, respectively.

USOC sports and fitness educational programs are now part of a curriculum adopted nationally by the National Federation of State High School Associations and the NCAA, jump-started by the tremendous success of the Chicago 2016 Olympic Games.

Colorado Springs has been named one of "America's Top Ten Sports Cities" for the fifth consecutive year by Sports Illustrated.

The city is enjoying the rewards and success from its magnificent downtown sports and entertainment complex that includes the state-of-the-art Pikes Peak Convention Center and hotel, the 12,000-seat Rick "Goose" Gossage Stadium, the home of the Colorado Springs Sky Sox baseball team and the venue for the Branch B. Rickey Triple-A World Series matching the winner of the Pacific Coast League and International League playoffs, as well as the national headquarters of USA Baseball and its national team training facility.

And the multipurpose, lighted El Pomar Stadium, with an innovative retractable roof, seating 17,000, that serves as the home venue for UCCS and Colorado College football games, soccer games, and rugby and lacrosse games in a new and popular Rocky Mountain league.

The Air Force Falcons play their annual Blue & Silver football spring game at the stadium.

And the city loves the passionate football rivalry that has developed among CC, UCCS (which added football in 2010) and CSU-Pueblo fans.

During the Winter Olympics in 2022, the convention center will serve as a Main Press Center for the Springs' events, and the hotel will house journalists and broadcasters covering the events.

Next door to the convention center and sports complex is the new U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, presented by Coca-Cola USA, in its fourth year and attracting almost a million visitors annually with easy access from Interstate 25.

The city has also become the permanent host of the national State Games of America, presented by USA Today, staged every two years with the effort of the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation.

Some 15,000 athletes from 49 states send competitors to the games, and they and their families and friends fill almost every hotel and motel in the area ... and use all of the city's new sports and recreational facilities.

Memorial Park's nationally recognized skate park is now the site of USA Skateboarding's national and regional championships and Colorado club events. Some 30,000 kids use the facility annually.

Downtown Colorado Springs is basking in the success of the city's sports reputation. Thousands of fans and visitors enjoy the new shops, restaurants and the USOC's Olympic House complex and Olympic Store along the Tejon Street Mall, which is closed to automobile traffic for ten blocks, with cafes, shops, art, and the newly completed Fred Whitacre Acacia Park Complex, featuring a pavilion for jazz and performing arts events, exhibits and performances on summer evenings, including regular sports demonstrations by Olympians and Paralympians living and training at the OTC.

The Colorado Springs World Arena is flourishing after an expansion of almost 5,000 seats as part of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games funding.

The CC Tigers of the restructured WCHA (new members are Nebraska-Omaha and Air Force) are ranked No. 2 in the nation as 2020 unfolds, with Air Force at No. 6.
The two college powers and The Sports Corp. host the annual Thayer Tutt Holiday Classic at the arena, with visits by teams including Denver, Michigan, Notre Dame, Boston College, New Hampshire and Boston University.

The arena also will play host to the 2020 NCAA Men's Division I West Tourney for the third time, with the Frozen Four ticketed for the Pepsi Center in Denver. Also a part of World Arena's annual calendar are the CHSAA State High School 4A and 5A state basketball, wrestling and volleyball championships, and USA Wrestling's huge Jim Scheer International Freestyle Invitational and its popular USA Versus The World Challenge with teams from around the world.

The annual Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame Dinner and Induction Ceremonies, staged by The Sports Corp. at the convention center, attracts almost 1,500 guests and has been sold out in advance every year.

The Class of 2019 included longtime Sports Corp. Chairman Dave Palenchar, Sky Sox owner Dave Elmore, Air Force football coach Troy Calhoun (14th season), and 2014 Olympic ladies' figure skating champion Rachael Flatt.