City of Casa Grande

Grande Sports World has helped solve the recreational needs of the community, while providing the local economy with a much needed boost. Located on 50 acres of land adjacent to Francisco Grande, Grande Sports World is a state-of-the-art multi-disciplined facility whose scope of operations and activities stretch 365 days a year. Grande Sports World currently includes eight football and soccer fields, and a 59,000 square foot training facility that houses a weight-training exercise area, therapy centers, classrooms, locker rooms, meeting rooms, and laundry facilities that can accommodate up to four full-sized professional teams. The public-private partnership allowed the city to build the facility while turning the day-to-day operations and maintenance over to the Francisco Grande Hotel & Resort. The city also aligned with other groups to help make Grande Sports World a hub for training, fitness, and recovery activities. Additional partnerships were formed to market Grande Sports to the world, and drive professional and aspiring athletes to the Performance Institute. Furthermore, Casa Grande has partnered with Major League Soccer teams and US Soccer to house their player development program at the site. Ultimately, the Grande Sports Academy will provide world-class instructional programs in soccer, tennis, football, golf, and physical and mental conditioning for children from 7 to 18 years old. Grande Sports World has hosted multiple tournaments, and many more are scheduled over the course of the next year. Despite the many things that occur at Grande Sports World, one of the most important aspects of the facility is that it is also used as a venue for local recreational activities.  Youth and adult leagues in Casa Grande also have opportunities to schedule dates, reserve the fields, and otherwise enjoy the facility.

The CGPI is the first complex of its kind in Arizona, and is destined to become one of the nation’s leading sports training facilities. Its creation represents a truly unique and out-of-the box example of obtaining funding for public parks.  Had the city relied on conventional methods of park funding, it could have taken many years before a complex like CGPI could have been created.  However, because of its partnership with Francisco Grande, which includes a guaranteed revenue stream to the city, the Casa Grande Performance Institute was able to be built in an astonishing 97 days.  This quick construction timeline provided Casa Grande residents with an almost immediate solution to their demands for additional athletic facilities.