DUBLIN, Va. – Pulaski County is on a growth streak, and a massive new sports facility expected to open this fall could be its biggest move yet.
The Pulaski County Sportsplex — a 165,000-square-foot indoor complex — is currently under construction and on track to open in late 2026. County Administrator Jonathan Sweet said the project has been 15 years in the making.
“The Pulaski County Sportsplex is underway right now. It’s under construction,” Sweet said. “We’re targeting mid-September, October to be wrapped up with the renovations and hopes to get it open shortly thereafter.”
The facility will feature dozens of courts for a wide range of sports, what officials describe as the largest indoor playground in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and numerous other amenities. It sits less than a half mile from Pulaski County High School.
A $10 million investment with a five-times return
County officials say the $10 million investment is expected to produce a facility valued at more than five times that amount.
Sweet said the scale of the Sportsplex is what makes it financially viable.
“It’s something for everyone to enjoy. And the scale of it, the sheer scale of it allows us to commercialize it at a level that should generate the revenues we need to cover its overhead,” Sweet said.
Filling a regional gap in indoor sports
Sweet says the Sportsplex addresses a void that has long existed across Southwest Virginia — one that neighboring communities have not been able to fill.
“Salem has their own niche in the space. We think Christiansburg is doing a pretty good job with aquatic centers and outdoor turf. The indoor capacity, for sports entertainment just didn’t exist in Southwest Virginia,” Sweet said. “This fills that gap and really creates a larger sports entertainment region with our partners in Salem, in Christiansburg, and elsewhere.”
Sweet added that no comparable facility exists anywhere else in Virginia.
“Really no one in the Commonwealth has anything like this,” he said.
Broader economic impact for the county
The Sportsplex is part of a broader economic momentum building in Pulaski County. In the past month, Great Wilderness Brewing Company opened its doors in Downtown Pulaski, and racing returned to the Pulaski County Motorsports Park.
Sweet says the Sportsplex will have ripple effects well beyond the facility itself.
“It’s going to increase our hospitality industry and our tourism industry or small business community. It’s really exciting, moreover, for our citizens to be able to have access to enjoy these types of world class professional venues right here in our community,” Sweet said.