Lithia & Driveway Fields Brings Over $11.7 Million to City's Economy

Published on January 31, 2024

Sparked by record-setting youth baseball and fastpitch tournament participation, Lithia & Driveway Fields generated over $11.7 million for Medford's economy last year. This was the fourth-best year for economic stimulus in the sports park’s 15-year history.

Lithia & Driveway Fields, managed and main­tained by the City of Med­ford, surpassed the three million mark for park atten­dance dating back to May 6, 2008 – when the five-five softball/base­ball complex opened to the public. Since then, the park has generated over $160 mil­lion in estimated economic impact, roughly five times the $32.5 million facility construction cost.

The park’s signature events -- youth baseball tournaments -- remain prominent in terms of de­mand and popularity. The 10 annual tourneys attracted an all-time-record 361 teams, with dozens more turned away due to capacity and a shortage of umpires.

After years of decline regionally and nationally, youth fastpitch soft­ball tournament team counts surged past the 200-team mark (241) for the second straight year because of the City’s partnership with north­ern California tournament power­house Legacy Sports, which resulted in 142 teams coming to four annu­al tournaments, including 48 in the February “Bring It On” event.

Participation in adult slowpitch soft­ball tournaments was strong except in the senior division. A grand total of 394 teams played in men’s, women’s, co-ed, and senior tournaments.

The largest tournament was the annual Rogue Me­morial Challenge youth soccer tour­nament coordinated by the Rogue Valley Timbers over Memorial Day weekend, which, combined with the City’s annual baseball tournament, produced a $1.5 million weekend of economic impact, approximately 10 percent of the year’s total. Overall team count was 1,716 with 54 percent of teams being from Medford or the Rogue Valley.

Background: Originally named “U.S. Cellular Community Park”, the sports park is the larg­est municipal installation of FieldTurf in the United States with nearly 1.5 million square-feet of synthetic grass.