The Fremont County Commission was still weighing Thursday whether it can donate roughly 30 acres of a Riverton alfalfa field to a nonprofit group that wants to build a $30 million hockey rink and sports complex.
A local family, the Majors, donated the 130-acre parcel to the county in 2011.
Then, in about 2022, the Wyoming Business Council assembled a group in Riverton to see what kind of progress the community wanted, Riverton City Councilman Mike Bailey told the commission during its meeting last week.
Bailey was speaking on behalf of the nonprofit River Valley Recreation group, which he told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday has taken on the “baton” of this task from the Riverton City Council.
Public meetings, a survey and eventually a city-funded study followed the original idea, Bailey told the commission. He added that the community said it wants a sports complex with a hockey rink.
“And then also they would like to see, you know, some multi-use basketball courts, wrestling spots, all that kind of stuff,” he said.
He noted that the plans include a walking track above the basketball court for locals who still want to walk when it’s minus-20 degrees outside.
An outdoor hockey rink sits on the east end of town already. But its workability depends on the outside temperature, Bailey noted.
The proposed facility might also include an indoor track with a soccer field in the middle, said Bailey. He anticipates the build will cost $30 million, plus nearly $1 million per year to operate after that.
Bailey told the commission the sports complex could make Riverton a hub for sporting events statewide.
He told Cowboy State Daily that the group hopes to raise $50 million and put the $20 million remaining post-build into an endowment fund, which would then generate the necessary $1 million per year in interest.
That fundraising is “just in the beginning stages,” said Bailey. Having a plan for the land under the build is preliminary, he said.
Then fundraising from private, federal, and state sources would follow, he said, adding that he expects $10 million would have to come from private sources to secure match-dependent government grants.
The Wyoming Business Council, which is a government-funded entity tasked with boosting economic development, “would probably be engaged” in utilities and infrastructure construction, Bailey said.
Patrick Edwards, who works for the Business Council, is also on the nonprofit group’s board. Edwards told Cowboy State Daily WBC is not directly involved at this juncture.
Bailey voiced cautious optimism.
“Of course it all depends on what the Legislature does this year,” he said. “Last time they got a little – well they had a problem with the Business Council … but that makeup has changed.”
Saying the Wyoming Business Council propagates “corporate welfare” and picks winners and losers by giving public money to certain businesses of its choice, lawmakers tried in January to eliminate it. But the full Legislature came to a compromise that removed much of WBC’s funding for the coming budget cycle while vowing to reform it.
And Your Take?
Commission Chair Larry Allen told Cowboy State Daily in a Thursday phone interview he likes the idea and believes it would be a “wonderful attribute” for Riverton. But he has not yet had a chance to talk with the Fremont County attorney’s civil deputy about the legality of it, he said.
On the other hand, the $1 million per year price tag seems “pretty prohibitive,” said Allen.
“I think we’d have to make it understood that if we made that contribution, you know, there probably wouldn’t be any financial contribution from the county,” he said.
A farmer currently rents that field from the county, added Allen, who said he’s in talks with the farmer about the land features.
Groundwater and other feasibility issues remain unknown, he said.
Commissioner Jennifer Wilson told Cowboy State Daily she likes the idea.
Commissioners Clarence Thomas and Mike Jones did not immediately respond to phone-message requests for comment.
Nor did Commissioner Ron Fabrizius, who questioned the cost of the project during the meeting last week.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
