Northern Colorado town looks to build baseball fields after Future Legends appears to shutter complex

One Colorado town is exploring options to build its own sporting fields after pulling out of its partnership with nearby Future Legends Sports Complex. The Town of Windsor used the complex's facilities for years, allowing local youth and adult leagues to host baseball, softball, and even football games at the location. However, that relationship appears to have fallen through after the town pulled critical occupancy permits for much of the Future Legends Complex.

While the town revoked occupancy permits for the complex's sports bubble and stadium projects due to allegations of insufficient amenities, the town did not revoke the complex's permits to operate sports leagues on the baseball fields in the northwest corner of the expansive complex.

However, shortly after the town made its decisions about the bubble and stadiums, Town Manager Shane Hale said the company stopped maintaining the fields, which the community relied upon for their use.

"I think it is a huge loss. We programmed those fields a lot," Hale said. "The town stopped programming at that site a couple weeks ago because of our concerns with the state of the fields."

When CBS News Colorado visited the complex on Monday, nearly the entire property was surrounded by fencing. Construction on the hotel, stadiums, and bubble appeared to have been non-existent in the moment, and many of the baseball fields were peppered with weeds and tall grass. There was at least one sprinkler watering one portion of one field running during the visit, and that section of the grass was noticeably better maintained and green compared to the rest.

"The owners of Future Legends have stopped maintaining those fields," Hale said.

Hale said that was a major problem for the town, especially with how much the community relied upon the fields for both youth and adult sports leagues.

"We have a really active community, so the loss of space is a big deal for us," Hale said. "Our team has been scrambling trying to figure out where to play these games."

Hale confirmed the town is working to find nearby fields to host sporting events at while also scrambling to find a long-term resolution.

"We have a lot of neighborhood green spaces where you will see kids practicing," Hale said.

Some of those include grassy areas at the corners of neighborhoods, which are otherwise intended to be retention areas during storms.

The town is also continuing its partnership with Weld RE-4 Schools to utilize some of their school fields after school hours. Another resource has been found in neighboring communities like Severance, where Windsor has found a way to split time on their fields with that community.

"We partnered with the town of Severance to help pay for lighting some of their fields so we can program them at night," Hale said, noting that lighting helps extend the hours the fields can be used.

Hale said Windsor has long had a problem of having to cut off the number of recreational sports teams it can accommodate. However, he said that is the result of not having enough space for the games in demand, not as a result of not having enough demand for the sports.

That is why, especially following the fallout with Future Legends, the town is now considering constructing its own baseball and softball fields.

"We are looking at building three new baseball fields, either at our north campus by the police station or at (a future) park off of Crossroads (Boulevard)," Hale said. "Our approach will be: the town will fund it, we will build it, and we will operate it."

Hale said the town is working as quickly as it can to make a proper, economical, and sufficient decision for the community. However, he said it likely would not be until the Fall of 2026 before any town-operated fields were available for communal use.

CBS News Colorado reached out to Future Legends seeking comment or an interview for this report, but has not heard back.