SPOKANE, Wash. -- Spokane County Commissioners approved a $25 million bond to help build a sports complex near Downtown.
The land next to the Spokane Arena could become Spokane's biggest sports hub. A 180,000 square feet Sportsplex was just approved to house basketball and volleyball courts, wrestling mats, a full indoor track and indoor ice rink. Only steps away could be the home of a new football and soccer stadium, one that will potentially replace Joe Albi Stadium.
“It's currently a 30,000 feet stadium we only fill it to about 7,000 feet on a typical Friday night. We don't really that large of a facility,” said Kevin Morrison with Spokane Public Schools.
With two huge sports facilities being neighbors, Morrison said their number one goal is now to figure out parking.
“Make sure it's free parking for our students and staff on those Friday night games,” Morrison said.
He said the district has a close relationship with the Spokane Sports Commission and Public Facilities District, which are building the Sportsplex.
“I think it augments the Sportsplex that was already in the works. What it does is just adds to it. We have this great feature in the middle of downtown Spokane the waterfall and the river running through it. Why not just augment it,” he said.
The reality is, Spokane needs to build more schools and part of that solution could be the smaller stadium. The Spokane Public School board is in the middle a study to see if this could even work. Before any more decisions, the public will have plenty of opportunities to get involved.