Big plans are ahead for the former Big League Dreams sports park on Viking Way as its owner, the city of Redding, has new partnerships in place that will reopen a year-round restaurant at the complex with a brand-new look.
Redding Director of Community Services Travis Menne said his office has partnered with leaders of the California Soccer Park to upgrade the existing eatery at the renamed Redding Sports Park baseball complex and reopen the dining spot in January or February.
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Menne said the soccer park’s owner, the nonprofit Shasta Regional Soccer Association, will operate food and beverage services for both parks. He said any profit will be shared between the two facilities, which are located near each other in southeast Redding.
Community Services Director Travis Menne addresses the City Council during the Monday, July 29, 2024, special meeting on Big League Dreams.
The restaurant at the Redding baseball park has been closed since July.
The soccer park’s restaurant, Striker’s Pub, is typically open during the season. It’s now closed through March.
“This approach keeps revenue within the parks rather than sending it to a third-party vendor and it also allows us to reinvest more heavily into both sites,” said Menne. While there is no revenue estimate for the restaurant yet, Menne added that “we anticipate it to be an overall net benefit to both parks.”
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The new restaurant is to be called The Black Sheep, said Kenny Breedlove, executive director of the California Soccer Park.
The name reflects a planned “English-Irish-American-style” pub that fits the baseball community vibe and will draw both families and people out on a date night, said Breedlove, who has also started several other restaurants in Redding over the years.
In addition to full service sit-down, Breedlove said, restaurant patrons will also be able to order and pay online to speed pickup if they want to take their food back to the stands and not miss too much of a game.
The eatery’s menu is still being finalized, but from-scratch pizza and burgers will likely be served, plus fish and chips, Shepherd’s Pie and ahi tuna poki nachos, said Breedlove.
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The 4,000-square-foot dining room will seat about 130 to 150 people, Breedlove said. There will be a full bar.
“Like, I’m not just running it for the baseball folks, I’m running it for the community. I kind of see it as we just happen to have baseball parks around us, is our ideology,” said Breedlove.
He said the eatery will serve food even when the baseball park is not open and will fill a restaurant void in east Redding. Breedlove said he’s hoping people from as far away as Palo Cedro “would venture our way.”
Breedlove said he has been behind four other Redding restaurants — Market Street Steakhouse, Shameless O’Leary’s, Bombay’s and Capones.
The Redding City Council chamber was packed for the special meeting on Big League Dreams on Monday, July 29, 2024.
Menne said the city’s larger goal at Redding Sports Park “is not only to support sports programming, but also to draw people to the park simply for great food and fun, even if they’re not participating in organized sports. We want to create a facility where families can play together on their own schedule, enjoy a great meal and share the same space as a community.”
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More: Reopen Big League Dreams ASAP, crowd implores at Redding City Council special meeting
In addition to baseball, he said “alternative recreation options” including sand volleyball, laser tag and yard games are being planned, along with other activities that don’t require long-term team commitments.
“We know our residents need places to play, but not everyone wants to join a league. While we’ll continue supporting traditional team sports, we see huge potential in filling that in-between space,” according to Menne.
The city has made a number of improvements at the park with local sponsorships, said Menne. Those include replacing field house lighting, rehabilitating the sand volleyball courts, repairing major portions of the irrigation system, replacing flooring, remodeling the locker room, fixing plumbing and doors, removing broken seating and repairing lights.Since the city reopened the baseball complex in October 2024, nearly 50,000 people have come through the gates and recent uses of the facility include baseball, softball, basketball, roller hockey, roller derby and soccer, said Menne.
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History, troubles of the Redding Sports Park
In 2001, the city entered into a 35-year contract for Big League Dreams to build and operate a sports complex that included five softball fields, a multi-use indoor building that could accommodate roller hockey, basketball activities and a number of other amenities, such as volleyball courts, batting cages and a sports bar and restaurant.
In 2022, TC Sports Group took over operations and ownership of the Redding Big League Dreams complex after buying out the original operators and all other locations from Big League Dreams USA.
The sports complex was hailed as a public-private partnership before it fell on hard times over the last decade, in need of maintenance, repairs and upgrades.
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Then, in July 2024, TC Sports Group abruptly closed the Redding complex. After that, Redding took over the park’s operations, gave it a new name and reopened it in October 2024.
In November, an Oregon sports coach filed a negligence lawsuit against Big League Dreams USA, LLC, two years after a restaurant ceiling at the baseball complex collapsed on his head, knocked him unconscious and caused a traumatic brain injury.
The lawsuit also names TC Sports Group LLC, which ran the iconic Redding sports park at the time.
The former owners of Big League Dreams also face a lawsuit filed by the city of Redding.
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The city sued the former operator of the sports park, claiming the company owes the city millions of dollars for back rent, repairs to the facility and for capital improvements.
Michele Chandler covers dining, food, public safety and whatever else comes up for the Redding Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. Accepts story tips at 530-338-7753 and at mrchandler@gannett.com. Please support our entire newsroom’s commitment to public service journalism by subscribing today.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Redding Sports Park reopening restaurant with soccer park’s help
