Storyland Studios, a global experience design and strategy firm with offices and staff across the US and Europe, has revealed plans to create the biggest sports entertainment destination in the US at the 2024 IAAPA Expo 2024.
Located on over 800 acres in Pasco County, Florida, this development is set to welcome thousands of fans, teams, and families as they celebrate, compete, and create unforgettable memories.
The project, dubbed “Trinity”, will be designed and themed by Storyland Studios. It will create a sustainable lifestyle community that combines facilities and services centred around sports, entertainment, the arts, and wellness.
Holistic development
Storyland Studios envisages indoor and outdoor sports stadiums, arenas, complexes, professional fields, and recreational spaces in a mixed-use environment that includes hotels, shopping centres, an arts and theatre area, restaurants, healthcare facilities, and residential developments.
Trinity is currently in pre-development, and at six-and-a-half times the size of Orlando’s Disney Springs, will be the largest community land development project in the US.
Matt Ferguson, Storyland Studios chief innovation officer, says: “A story is waiting to be shared here by athletes, coaches, teams and the families that will gather on these acres from across the country. Professional, collegiate, amateur and community athletes will have world-class facilities in which to compete, train, work and play here in pursuit of their dreams, with all the support facilities necessary to see those dreams become everlasting personal and shared family memories.”
Trinity Development Initiative, Inc. (TDI) and Storyland Studios envision transforming the land into a city centre that supports North Tampa’s ‘Sports Coast’ identity through sports entertainment, art and cultural events, and a health-centred lifestyle community. The holistic approach will focus on shaping the body, mind, and soul of athletes and their supporters.
Johnny Scott, CEO of TDI, says: “This community loves sports and the arts, and yet, it is difficult to engage in those pursuits with most of the professional and amateur facilities and venues located well outside of our area.
“We want to give this community – one of the fastest growing in America – the very best in sports entertainment, with all the convenience of great shops, restaurants, hotels, and all the lifestyle amenities to help them live their best life here and now. Whether they are working here, competing here or finding ways to connect into the community here, this will be a destination were athletes, artists, and dreamers — and the families that support them — will always find themselves at home.”
National appeal
Teams and fans from across the nation will travel to Trinity for tournaments, events, and games all year long thanks to a range of collegiate and amateur sports venues, a professional soccer stadium, an ice arena complex with five sheets of regulation and practice ice, a 7,500-seat regulation baseball stadium and amateur multi-field training complex, a basketball arena, and more.
Furthermore, Trinity’s plans include an outdoor adventure park for trail and off-road sports, as well as a performing arts complex that will host touring and regional art events.
Mel McGowan, Storyland Studios’ chief creative officer, says: “It’s rare to find a vision that is so intentional on serving the community that it calls home and calling others from across the country to an experience.
“The opportunity that this community has through the Trinity project to impact the region, nation and world with a place that will yield unforgettable experiences is truly transforming. We know that sports, the arts and healthy lifestyles can be inspirational, but the integration of place, design and intentionality that can point people toward a change moment in their lives derived from those elements is exceptional landscape indeed.”
Responsible development
The development aims to demonstrate intentional land remediation, energy and water sustainability, and collaboration with the county to provide infrastructure solutions that benefit the community and support the wider region while minimising demand on existing resources.
Scott says: “It is important for this project to fund the necessary roads, water infrastructure, power and responsible land usage through landscaping and resource utilization design to make this development a gift to our neighbors while we attract the world to enjoy it.
“We aspire to be carbon neutral in generating our own power, freshwater protectant in managing both fresh and wastewater resources, and good stewards of the myriad resources that have long been afforded to our beautiful county and state. This place is a gift and we intend to protect that and regift it again, and again.”
Also at the IAAPA Expo, Storyland Studios revealed the winner of the $25,000 grand prize in the 2024 Storyland Design Challenge. This competition provides independent designers with an opportunity to establish themselves in the themed entertainment sector.