Long gone are the days when staffers at Grand Park worked around the clock to maintain 18 grass diamonds in addition to their eight turf playing surfaces. Sponging fields and juggling schedules are a thing of the past, as the sports campus in Westfield continues to host millions of visitors each year across 26 diamonds and 31 multi-purpose fields. Also in Westfield, Roundtripper Academy has taken its proud tradition in America’s pastime and found a way to give back in the emerging sport of adaptive baseball. Diamond sports continue to thrive in Hamilton County.
At Grand Park you will almost certainly find Michael Tucker of Bullpen Ventures, who has worked at the campus for nine years. A college All-American baseball player at nearby Anderson University, “Tuck” says since the fields went to all turf in 2018, participation at the facility has skyrocketed.
“I don’t think anyone would still work here if we had 18 natural fields anymore,” Tucker said. “But Grand Park has become the engine that runs the county. When I came here, I believed what Grand Park could be and wanted to be involved.”
Without question, it became what Tucker thought it would be. The facility is among the nation’s top sports hosts, ranking as the #1 visited sports campus in 2023 with 5.5 million total visits and 1.1 million unique visitors passing through. Related directly to the traffic generated by the sports campus, hotels and restaurants in the area remain buzzing. The Culver’s location in Westfield is the top-selling franchise in the country and the McDonald’s and Chipotle nearby are top sellers in the area.
When Tucker came to Grand Park in 2015, the goal was to host 1,200 teams. The upgrades to the facility and the burgeoning reputation of the area and facility have now put that number at 5,200 teams. Between Grand Park and Championship Park in nearby Kokomo, Indiana, 12,500 baseball and softball games will take place during the 2024 season. Recently, the Midwest Prospect League played its 13U through 17U baseball events in Westfield, which brought teams from 15 states and Canada to the area. Those were in addition to a pair of 8U through 12U championships.
The turf upgrades done in 2018 are just one factor in the area’s growth and hosting success. With the help of the City of Westfield and Hamilton County Sports Authority, Grand Park was able to install lights into four more diamonds, which Tucker says helps them accommodate 250-300 more teams.
“It comes down to our facilities, the great relationships we have with the sports authority and the way we run the events,” Tucker said. “Our communication and our scheduling are second to none, and it’s not all about quantity, it’s about the quality of the teams we have, too.”
