Arizona Athletic Grounds (formerly known as Bell Bank Park, Legacy Park) is an American multi-purpose sports complex in
Mesa, Arizona
Mesa ( ) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The population was 504,258 at the 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Arizona, third-most populous city in Arizona, after Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, T ...
. It opened on January 7, 2022, before its Grand Opening on 4 February 2022, headlined by musician
Lindsey Stirling
Lindsey Stirling (born September 21, 1986) is an American violinist, songwriter and dancer. She presents choreographed violin performances, in live and music videos found on her official YouTube channel, which she created in 2007.
Stirling per ...
.
History
Bell Bank Park is situated on the site of a former
General Motors
General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
testing facility. In 2018, Mesa voters voted against a bond request for a state owned sports facility nearby and that paved the way for this facility.
Ground was broken on the project in October, 2020. The facility is the vision of Legacy Sports, and was known as Legacy Sports Park before a 10-year naming rights deal was struck with
Bell Bank. The facility was estimated to have cost $280million.
Prior to completion, events were booked including the Jam On It amateur
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
tournaments, who committed to hosting events at the facility until 2032.
Bell Bank Park opened with a
pickleball
Pickleball is a racket or paddle sport in which two or four players use a smooth-faced paddle to hit a perforated, hollow plastic ball over a net until one side is unable to return the ball or commits a rule infraction. Pickleball is played i ...
event hosted by the
Association of Pickleball Players Tour on 4 January 2022.
In February 2022, it was announced that the Gilbert, Arizona, campus of
Park University
Park University is a private university in Parkville, Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1875.
In the fall of 2023, Park had an enrollment of 6,389 students.
History
The school which was originally called Park College was founded in ...
would make Bell Bank Park the home for their athletic events.
From 2022, the stadium is the home of
Valley United FC and
FC Arizona
FC Arizona is an American soccer team based in the Phoenix area that plays in the National Premier Soccer League.
History
FC Arizona announced its formation on July 19, 2016, with a press release. The team held a launch party on August 5, 2016, ...
.
Financial troubles began to emerge almost immediately after opening. Bell Bank ended their naming rights partnership on 14 April 2023 and the park was renamed Legacy Park. On 1 May 2023 just 16 months after opening the park filed for bankruptcy. At the time of the bankruptcy filing the owners of the park Legacy Cares reported $366.7 million in liabilities and $242.3 million in assets. In July 2023 the U.S. trustee monitoring Legacy Park’s bankruptcy case issued a 23-page filing asking the judge to assign a federal trustee to take over the park’s management and business affairs from owner Legacy Cares. The filing accused Legacy Cares of failing to disclose conflicts of interest, improperly diverting assets, failing to justify a budgeted $708,000 management fee to Elite Sports Group, overpaying executives and employing multiple family members of people connected with Legacy.
Facilities
The facility spans and includes:
* 5,000 seat outdoor stadium
* 2,800 seat indoor stadium
* 35
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
/
lacrosse
Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...
fields
* 57
indoor volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
courts
* 8
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
/
softball
Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...
fields
* 20
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
courts
* 41
pickleball
Pickleball is a racket or paddle sport in which two or four players use a smooth-faced paddle to hit a perforated, hollow plastic ball over a net until one side is unable to return the ball or commits a rule infraction. Pickleball is played i ...
courts
* 12
beach volleyball
Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...
courts
* 6
futsal
Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...
courts
* Gymnastics center
* Dance studio
* Cheer center
* Sports performance center
Commercial partnerships
The facility has commercial partnerships facilitated through Elite Sports. These include:
*
Phoenix Children's
*Valley
Toyota
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...
Venue names
References
{{Reflist
Music venues in Arizona
Sports in Mesa, Arizona
2022 establishments in Arizona
Sports venues completed in 2022
Soccer venues in Arizona
National Independent Soccer Association stadiums
National Premier Soccer League stadiums
Park–Gilbert Buccaneers
Basketball venues in Arizona
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023
College basketball venues in Arizona
College soccer venues in the United States
College volleyball venues in the United States
College beach volleyball venues in the United States
College softball venues in the United States