BUDA — Boasting eight softball fields, four soccer fields and 20 batting cages, the athletic facility previously known as the Buda Sportsplex saw its name changed at Buda City Council’s April 21 meeting. After deliberation and approval from council, Buda Championship Park was created.
At the council meeting, Buda Parks & Recreation director Tony Host and director of Community Relations Lysa Gonzalez gave a joint presentation to city council focused on the sportsplex’s rebrand.
Host opened the conversation by speaking on ongoing onsite renovations. DCS Engineering has been making improvements to the sportsplex with city oversight since the council authorized construction to begin last year. The expansion project includes four new softball fields, more than 800 extra parking spaces, batting cages, a concession stand and improvements to existing fields.
Council member Evan Ture noted that there has been “phenomenal progress” on the renovations, adding that, “On the city side, we’re trying to support quick development.”
The project is expected to see completion late this summer, according to the city’s website. The improvements will double the team capacity of the sportsplex, which Gonzalez expects will serve as an economic driver for the city.
The community relations director pointed to the high field revenue and tourism impact of the expanded sportsplex. The cost to rent a field is $500 per day, which adds up across the eight softball fields.
A two-day tournament at the facility can host 56 teams, whose players, coaches and supporters will expectedly spend money at Buda’s hotels, restaurants and stores. With that in mind, Ture calculated that it would bring in $10,000 of tax revenue.
Gonzalez acknowledged that the impact “could be less. It could be more, but, that is the goal we are trying to bring to our community each time there’s a tournament.”
The focus of the expansion is to book three to five multi-day tournaments and build a pipeline of 20-50 tournament organizers in year one. By year two, Gonzalez hopes for a curated tournament experience and sees the sportsplex becoming a “plug and play” host that achieves 50% or more repeat bookings.
Gonzalez described the positive impact of the expansion as “why Buda wins.” She stated that the updated facility would “position Buda as a go-to Central Texas tournament destination,” one that is high-quality, easy to use and locally supported.
According to the presentation, the target market for the expansion is broad: the southern half of the United States. Gonzalez and Host highlighted the focus on baseball/softball, soccer, flag football and lacrosse, as these are the sports that the facility currently supports.
Gonzalez added that people coming for tournaments can explore Buda while they’re in town and staff is working to partner with local businesses to devise deals for attendees. They are also working to include city brochures at concession stands and hotel front desks.
As the presentation wound down, Host clicked to one final slide showcasing a new name and logo for the sportsplex. The new design read, “Buda Championship Park” and depicted the words alongside a soccer ball, baseball, football and Texas flag in front of a red home plate.
Host and Gonzalez both pointed to the difficulty in finding a name. Host said he ran previous iterations through ChatGPT, but ultimately decided that the word “championship” positions the facility as one with premier, tournament-level competition.
Gonzalez said that people are “looking for athleticism, looking for challenge, [and] looking for competition.” She stated that it was a hard balance to find a name that reflected this and also spoke to the Buda brand as a relaxed, friendly community.
Among the council, most were supportive of the new name. Council member Monica Davidson spoke positively of the changes, but showed concern regarding the logo, asking, “Why do we have a baseball, but not a softball?” pointing to the popular use of the sportsplex for the latter sport.
Conversely, council member LaVonia Horne-Williams was on board with the logo, but felt the name fell short of capturing ambitions for the facility.
“I think what you are about to accomplish is bigger than that name. I don’t think ‘Championship Park’ speaks to what you’re doing there,” said Horne-Williams.
Council member Greg Bowles was “concerned about people not pronouncing Buda right,” but otherwise in favor of the name.
Continuing the same sentiment of Buda’s identity, council member Kimberly Goodman was worried that the logo lacks something city-specific. Though, she joked, “I don’t know what that would be. You can’t just put a wiener dog on there.”
Ture noted that before its renovations, the sportsplex reminded him of the ‘90s and felt out of date. He described moving away from that feeling as “interesting” and was “tending toward yes” on the name.
Host and Gonzalez were open to reconsidering the name or taking specific suggestions from council to address their concerns. However, Davidson pointed to the urgency of moving forward from a marketing standpoint.
“Going back to the drawing board and trying to envision what we’re all trying to say is going to make us lose more time,” said Davidson.
Because of this, she was willing to settle with the softball-absent logo for time’s sake and put forth a motion to approve the name and logo as presented.
“I love it. Let’s go for it,” concluded Mayor Lee Urbanovsky.
The motion passed 6-0 — council member Matt Smith was absent.
Buda City Council will meet next Tuesday, May 5.
