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NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – Six-thousand New Orleanians may be against beloved quarterback Drew Brees. He tweeted his support Wednesday for a new sports complex to be built in a section of Audubon Park called, the Fly.

Brees said: “This is a tremendous project that fills a great need for our children & maintains perfect land use balance 4 the Fly.”

He also tweeted this link: http://supportthechildrenssportscomplex.com/

But after further investigation, it seems the Saints star doesn’t just support the idea. He is funding it too.

A $4M Sports Complex completely funded by private donations.  A nice combination of Louisiana Companies (e.g. Iberia Bank, Tabasco), New Orleans Families (e.g. Tom & Gayle Benson, Brees Family) and Philanthropic Foundations contributed to the new complex as they all care about creating a new, special place for our children to play sports.

Reads the first line on the website.

Community members opposing the sports complex are speaking Wednesday at a City Council hearing. As of Tuesday, more than 6,000 people had signed a petition on change.org against a sports complex at the Fly.

But before we form opinions, let’s understand what the sports complex will provide.

Details

Carrollton Boosters intend to build a $4-million sports complex in the open space section near the Mississippi River in Audubon Park. The city of New Orleans would own the land, and Carrollton Boosters would lease and maintain the sports complex.

The new complex would feature 4 distinct areas:

  • A new Pavilion – The “Fly” currently has no sense of arrival and the Pavilion will be the cornerstone of the new entrance.  The Pavilion will include new bathrooms, a concession stand, storage/office space and a locker room.  It will be named the “Jay Carisella Pavilion”.  We are adding additional parking as well.
  • A new Playground
  • A new tree-covered walkway that connects the new Pavilion, the Playground and the current Carrollton baseball fields.  We are investing $250,000 in landscaping around the new Sports Complex.
  • The Field – this field will be one of the few pro-turf fields in Uptown New Orleans.  The Field can be used for soccer, flag football, football, kickball, and lacrosse.

The fields will be open and accessible to all organizations for a fee.

Any fees generated by the rental of the field will be placed in the “Carrollton Sports Complex Operating & Capital Replacement Fund”.  The fund will be used to maintain the field, the bathrooms, the lights, the playground, and the landscaping.

For more information about the sports complex, click here.