Matteson making pitch to be base for Little League
Organization looking to obtain
20 acres for regional headquarters
Matteson wants to be considered among the communities vying to be the new home of Little League International's Central Region headquarters.
The Chicago Southland Convention & Visitors Bureau is working to meet a Feb. 3 deadline to file a proposal with Matteson to Pennsylvania-based Little League, which last fall announced it would relocate from its current site in Indianapolis, and invited towns to submit proposals. It anticipates announcing the new headquarters site this fall.
The organization is looking to purchase, or, preferably, have donated, 20 acres of land near interstate highways as well as near clusters of hotels and restaurants, according to the visitors bureau.
The Great Lakes and Midwest regional championships are played each August at the Indianapolis location, according to Little League's website, with the winners advancing to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
The Central Region covers a 13-state area.
Jim Garrett, the visitors bureau's president and chief executive, said that the application process is “very complicated, very demanding,” and that four staff people at the Lansing-based bureau are working with Matteson officials on gathering the needed information. Garrett said he was not aware of any other Illinois communities that were sending proposals to Little League.
He said that notice of the Little League's relocation plans was sent by his bureau to 62 south and southwest suburbs that are part of the tourism agency.
“Do you have the capacity to step up to the plate to comply” with the site criteria laid out by Little League, Garrett said of what was asked of member towns.
While there were “numerous” calls from several area suburbs asking additional questions about the criteria they needed to meet, “they (Matteson officials) felt they had a very strong position” as far as land, proximity to Interstates 57 and 80 and nearby hotels and restaurants, Garrett said.
The tourism bureau, as part of the application to Little League, is requesting letters of support from communities surrounding Matteson as well as from local legislators, the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association, Southwest Conference of Mayors and several other regional organizations, Garrett said.
Considering the number of people who would descend on the area should the Matteson location be selected, the economic impact would spill beyond Matteson, as hotels, restaurants and other businesses in nearby suburbs also would benefit, Garrett said.
The Southland already has a connection with Little League tournament play, with the tourism bureau working with the organization to bring the Junior League softball Central Region tournament to Veterans Memorial Park in South Holland. Under a three-year agreement, the first games were played there in 2015, and the bureau hopes to extend that after this year, Garrett said.
It is unclear how many towns might be competing with Matteson for the headquarters prize.
Media in and around Indianapolis have said that suburbs of that city, including Westfield and Zionsville, also are making pitches to the Little League. Westfield, just north of Indianapolis, is home to the 400-acre Grand Park sports complex.
Apart from the Great Lakes and Midwest Region championships held in Indianapolis, other Little League-related events are held at the facility at other times throughout the year, according to the Little League website. The Central Region headquarters coordinates operations for approximately 26,000 teams and 375,000 players participating in all levels of Little League baseball and softball, according to the website.
