On average, kids are spending more than 16 hours each week in sports. Practices, games, and tournaments are eating up a large portion of a family’s time together. And when stressed and overbooked families are looking at their weekly schedules, it is often Sunday worship and midweek church activities that don’t make the cut.

Hamilton County, situated just north of Indianapolis, has been home to a sports megaplex for the past decade that fundamentally changed not only a tiny rural town but also a cultural mindset in the region.

Our family was living in the area when the Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield, Indiana, was in its infancy stages with developers. The locals called it a Field of Dreams. If you build it, they will come. Who would come? Travel sports families. And these families would bring all of their needs with them. Shops, restaurants, microbreweries, cafes, hotels, doctors, and hospitals. Just imagine what an economic boon it would be for the region!

Developers and city planners put all the positive spin they could muster into this great achievement. Many were skeptical. Some were hopeful.

Our local pastor, however, felt a sense of impending doom. He knew that travel sports would mean families being pulled away to participate in games and tournaments on the weekend. Travel sports would leave no room in a family’s schedule for Sunday worship.

Ten years later, the Grand Park Sports Campus has grown into a 400-acre complex that features 26 ball diamonds, 31 multi-purpose fields, and a nearly 400,000-square-foot event center with three full indoor synthetic fields for year-round play. It is now home to the Indianapolis Colts training center and the Pacers Athletic Center, along with offices and a full-service restaurant.

And the town of Westfield that once had one traffic light? It has exploded with growth. Just try booking a hotel in that region on a weekend. If you are lucky to snag a reservation, it will cost you. A lot.

We continue to travel to Hamilton County frequently, and our stays are the same each time. Hotel lobbies crammed with kids in uniforms, dads in sports jerseys hauling duffel bags and equipment, and moms wearing Lululemon tights and clutching Stanley cups. Traveling sports families from all over the Midwest descend upon this area for 52 weekends each year.

Changed Churches

Was it an economic boon for this region? Undoubtedly. Towns became cities. Fields became subdivisions. Roads became highways. But the impact of the Grand Park Sports Campus had a ripple effect. Not only did it change the little town of Westfield forever, but it affected every church in the Midwest who lost families to the new religion of sports.

Travel sports has grown into a $39 billion industry, with projections expecting that total to reach $72 billion by 2029. As youth sports continue to increase, churches are seeing a decrease in members and Sunday worshippers.

Lifeway Research recently conducted a survey that examined travel sports while collecting data from families as well as pastors. They found that 36 percent of pastors felt it was never acceptable to miss church for kids’ sports, while 29 percent said it was okay once or twice a year, and 26 percent said that it was acceptable a few times a year.

Read More