New name unveiled for $80 million Hoover sports complex

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The new $80 million sports complex being built next to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium now has a name.

It will officially be called the Alabama Sports and Event Center and will go by the nickname “The Bam,” according to the company hired to manage the facility.

The Bam and the Hoover Met together will be a part of the Hoover Met Sports District, said Ashley Whittaker, marketing director for Sports Facilities Management.

The new name was announced at tonight’s Hoover City Council meeting.

A team that considered names for the complex decided to put “Alabama” in the name to help elevate the facility and make it easier to identify at the national level for people who may not be familiar with Hoover, Whittaker said.

They also wanted to develop a shorter nickname that people — including kids — would be able to remember easier, she said. It’s much like Hoover Metropolitan Stadium often is called just “The Met,” she said.

Hoover Council President Jack Wright said he thinks the name will work. “I think it’s catchy, and I think it’ll be The Bam,” Wright said.

Mike Shaw, who will join the City Council on Nov. 7, said he thinks it’s a cool name and that city officials will get a lot of feedback on it.

“To me, it’s exciting to see it moving forward and to think about the positive impact it will have on the community,” Shaw said.

Sports Facilities Management brought a dozen or so youth into the council chambers to show off T-shirts that said the facility is “BAM-AZING." The company also gave City Council members hats with “The BAM” on them. Official logos are still in development, Whittaker said.

The sports complex will include a 155,000-square-foot indoor event center, five NCAA regulation-size soccer/football/lacrosse fields, five NCAA regulation-size baseball (or softball) fields, about 16 tennis courts with a pro shop, a 2-mile walking track, playground, splash pad and large event lawn, according to current plans.

The indoor event center is scheduled to open by May 2017, and the athletic fields are slated to open by February 2018.

The City Council tonight approved spending $1.2 million to get the sports complex up and running between now and May of next year.

The council also approved a five-year operating budget that anticipates the complex losing roughly $746,000 in its first year of operation, $600,000 in the second year, $417,000 in the third year, $264,000 in the fourth year and $169,000 in year five.

However, with lots of out-of-town guests expected for sports tournaments and other events, the complex is expected to have a direct economic impact of $14 million its first year, $24.4 million its second year, $27.7 million the third year, $31.8 million the fourth year and $33.4 million the fifth year.

The city will reap sales and lodging taxes off visitors coming to the facility, Councilman Joe Rives noted.

The economic impact numbers only include direct spending on things such as hotel stays and restaurants and do not include indirect spending, such as additional economic activity generated as a result of tourism, like increased sales in linen supplies due to greater use of hotel rooms.

See the complete five-year operating budget and economic impact projections by Sports Facilities Management here.

Steve Goris, a vice president with Sports Facilities Management, said his company is well into the process of hiring a general manager for the Hoover Met Sports District. The final three candidates will be brought in for interviews the week of Oct. 17, and then SFM will recommend someone as general manager to the city of Hoover probably in early November, Goris said.

That person then will focus his or her efforts on business development, hiring staff and developing operating procedures, he said. Other SFM staff will handle coordination of construction efforts, he said.

SFM also has launched a website for The Bam called bamsports.com.