Town park in Calverton can be a ‘mecca’ for sports tourism, superintendent says

Riverhead Recreation Superintendent Ray Coyne has an ambitious vision for Veterans Memorial Park, the 90-acre town park carved out of the acreage deeded to the Riverhead Community Development Agency by the U.S. Navy in 1998.

“Veterans Memorial Park has the potential to be the mecca complex of all of Long Island,” Coyne told the town board at its work session last week.

“And that’s how we intended it to be a decade ago when we envisioned it,” Coyne said. “It’s just unfortunate with the town, we just ran into some tough times. But we still are vigilant about finishing it,” he said.

“It’s eventually going to be equipped with tennis courts, basketball courts, pickle ball courts. And then on the other side we’re hoping to put in turf fields,” Coyne said.

Turf fields, with lights, along with lighting the existing baseball fields, are a core part of Coyne’s vision. Having those facilities will draw multi-sport tournaments to the park — and that will result in a significant positive economic impact to the town, he said.

Coyne, Community Development Director Dawn Thomas and various town board members have expressed the desire to develop new recreational amenities at the park by way of a public-private partnership, where a private sector entity would develop and manage facilities on the town’s property.

One such project is already making progress, Coyne told the board last week: the Peconic Hockey Foundation, a nonprofit established to bring ice hockey to the East End, is “moving along” with a plan to develop an indoor ice hockey rink at the Calverton park.

Troy Albert, founder of Peconic Hockey, told Coyne last month the organization is moving forward with a site plan for the rink .

Albert met with the town board during a work session in October to discuss a plan that had been in the discussion stages for some time and was ready to move to the next phase.

At the time he said he’d raise $800,000 for the project, which he said would cost $1.5 million to $2 million to construct. He said he had support from one of the owners of the Islanders and other major donors.

“If we had land we can raise enough money to build the rink,” Albert told the board at the time. He said the project would require five acres.

The CDA, which owns the property, would be able to enter into a license agreement with Peconic Hockey. It would have to complete a “qualified and eligible sponsor” process, because it is located in a designated urban renewal area, Thomas told the board.

Youth sports is a multi-billion dollar industry nationally, Coyne said. It was a $15.3 billion dollar industry in 2017, he said.

Youth sports travel teams — hockey, lacrosse, soccer and others — play regionally. Coyne said his son plays on a hockey travel team and his family travels all over the Northeast now for tournaments.

“Families are spending free time on travel sports,” Coyne said. They take “sports vacations,” he said.

“That’s one of the reasons we want to get those turf fields here. Lacrosse is probably the most obvious thing on Long Island. And soccer is right behind it. Followed by girls fast-pitch softball and men’s softball,” Coyne said.

The recreation superintendent presented information about a number of other sports facilities in municipalities similarly situated to Riverhead, as examples of the impacts “sports tourism” can have.

He singled out Mason Sports Park, located in Mason, Ohio, because the municipality has about the same population as Riverhead. The park has two multipurpose fields, five baseball fields, a concession building with restrooms, a shelter, playground and trails. It was opened in 2008 and cost $6 million to build, Coyne said.

Four tournaments at Mason Sports Park in 2017 brought more than 9,500 people into the community and generated $3 million in total economic impact, including more than 5,500 hotel room rentals, Coyne said, quoting figures from the visitors and convention bureau in Warren County, Ohio, where Mason is located.

Veterans Memorial Park is in a central location, easily accessible from the East End as well as from points west, Coyne noted. In addition, he said, Riverhead has other attractions that would enhance it as a destination for families visiting for tournaments: Splish Splash, Tanger Outlets, the L.I. Aquarium, golf courses and beaches.