Houston Sports Park

• 1. Introduction

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  Houston Sports Park sits in the Five Corners District of Houston, on land that was quietly assembled, acre by acre, from a stretch of undeveloped south Houston along the South Freeway. It began as a soccer team's ambition and grew into a hub for rugby, dance, rodeo medicine, and grassroots sport. How does a city go from repurposing a golf course to building a multi-sport campus on 32 additional acres of acquired land? The answer runs through a mayor, a Major League Soccer franchise, and a construction timeline that is still unfolding today.

• 2. A Team Without a Home

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  When the San Jose Earthquakes relocated to Houston in 2005 to become the Houston Dynamo, their new ownership group, Anschutz Entertainment Group, made one thing clear from the start: they wanted both a permanent stadium and a permanent training ground. The pursuit of what would become BBVA Compass Stadium occupied much of the public conversation, but the training facility search was running on a parallel track at the same time.

  The first idea involved the city-owned Gus Wortham Golf Course, tucked in Houston's East End. It seemed like a practical conversion candidate. Then Mayor Bill White and district councilwoman Carol Alvarado spoke out against it, and the idea was dropped. By late 2007, attention had shifted south, to land that was largely undeveloped. Two sites along the South Freeway were evaluated: one near Airport Boulevard and one near Almeda-Genoa Road.

• 3. Land, Money, and a Public Announcement

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  Throughout 2008, the City of Houston began buying up adjoining tracts of land next to the Houston Community College South Campus, parallel to the South Freeway at Airport Boulevard. The city then re-platted the assembled parcels under the name "Houston Amateur Sports Park" the following year.

  On the 25th of June 2008, the City of Houston and the Houston Dynamo jointly announced their plans to the public: a 100-acre, 18-field sports park. The day after the announcement, a public event drew Mayor Bill White and other city officials to the nearby Houston Community College South Campus. On the 16th of December 2009, the city awarded a contract worth $4.2 million to South Coast Construction, Inc. to build a new section of Kirby Drive connecting Airport Boulevard to Sims Bayou through the park grounds.

  On the 9th of November 2011, the city took another structural step by creating the "Houston Amateur Sports Park LGC," a municipally owned corporation charged with building, managing, and operating the facility for public and community use. Its eleven-member board is nominated by the mayor and confirmed by city council.

• 4. What Got Built

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  Phase One of the construction project, which began in 2011, is the portion currently open and in use. The campus centers on a single-story building that holds two main tenants. Athlete Training + Health occupies 18,505 square feet of the structure. The Methodist Center for Sports Medicine fills a 7,000-square-foot suite and serves as the medical home for the Houston Dynamo, Texans, Astros, Rodeo, and Ballet.

  The Methodist Center is equipped with a HydroWorx 1200 advanced underwater treadmill pool, a recovery and rehabilitation tool used across the facility. A separate 5,125-square-foot permanent training center is dedicated to the Houston Dynamo. The fields outside include Memorial Hermann Champions Field, one artificial turf field, and five additional grass fields.

  On the 28th of May 2014, the city added 32 more adjoining acres to the park's footprint. Phase Two remains in the fundraising stage and would bring seven more lighted fields, a restroom pavilion, misting stations, picnic facilities, trails, a playground, and additional parking. The estimated cost to complete the full complex stands at $12 million.

• 5. Rugby and a New Stadium

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  On the 7th of February 2018, the City of Houston committed $3.2 million toward the $15.25 million needed to build Aveva Stadium at the park for the Houston SaberCats of Major League Rugby. Construction finished in April 2019. The stadium, now called Sabercats Stadium, seats 4,000 spectators and gave the SaberCats a fixed home inside the broader Houston Sports Park complex.

  The arrival of rugby marked a shift in how the facility was used. Originally conceived as a soccer training ground and community park, Houston Sports Park now houses a professional rugby team's home field alongside the Dynamo's training operations, the Houston Dash, and their academy teams. The $3.2 million city share was a piece of a funding picture that relied on additional sources to reach the full $15.25 million construction cost.