Seth Johnson
West End Golf Course is on track to become a key part of the 2025 World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships, an international event expected to draw 10,000 people to Alachua County in March 2025.
Stakeholders have coalesced into the Alachua County Local Organizing Committee (LOC) to coordinate all of the moving parts for the event. Committee members include Alachua County, the Gainesville Sports Commission, Viking Companies—which owns Celebration Pointe—and RADDSports.
West End Golf Course, closed since 2019, could play a pivotal role as the owner of Viking Companies has a contract to purchase the property. The paperwork isn’t final, but a use for the site could be settled in the coming months—potentially hosting the outdoor portion of the championships.
Stephen Rodriguez serves as senior vice president of RADDSports, the company hired to manage operations at the Alachua County Sports and Events Center at Celebration Pointe. He’ll also head the LOC as executive director.
“One of the things that is exciting but also a challenge with this event is that we have a one-year timeline to put this on,” Rodriguez said in a phone interview. “Typically, this event’s planned out a lot further, more of a four-year ramp up time. So there’s a lot of things to get done before next year.”
He said it’s too early to say anything on the West End property. No matter where the outdoor events go, the LOC will need planning, engineering and construction. He said a final location will also need to go to the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) for approval.
The championships will include eight days of competition, but Rodriguez said athletes could arrive around two days early and staff will be needed the day after as well, making it more of an 11-day event.
He said the LOC will mobilize 300 to 400 volunteers plus the staff used by the key partners in the event.
This will be the first time the event is held in the United States, and Rodriguez said the championships will boost Alachua County’s résumé in the sports event world, potentially opening doors for other events.
Following the World Masters Athletics announcement, USA Track & Field announced that it would host the American 2025 Masters Indoor Championships in Alachua County, too. That domestic event is scheduled for a few weeks before the World Masters Athletics event, and Rodriquez said some athletes could compete in both.
In a press release, Svein Dyrkolbotn, who developed Celebration Pointe as head of Viking Companies, said the business is excited to host both championships.
“We look forward to the many more events in the future and continuing to place Alachua County, Florida on the national and international sports stage,” Dyrkolbotn said.
While called the “indoor” championships, Rodriguez said there are plenty of outdoor events as well. Alachua County will need sites for cross country, javelin, discus and the hammer throw.
The BOCC discussed the potential need for new infrastructure last year and signaled a willingness to provide the needed amenities to host the championships.
“This is a perfect example of what our community can accomplish when it comes together in partnership,” BOCC Chair Mary Alford said in a statement.
The state of Florida might also contribute. State Rep. Chuck Clemons, R-Newberry, has filed a request for $2.75 million to support the event. The majority of those funds, $1.75 million, are earmarked for the creation of an outdoor venue. Those funds could pay for planning, engineering and construction.
The request still needs approval by the Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis, but Rodriquez said the state has signaled its support for the event and noted Florida’s history in sports events.
“Florida has always been a leader in that area of sports tourism in our country,” Rodriguez said. “There are so many different communities that embrace the benefits of sport tourism.”
Rodriguez said several locations have been considered with nothing finalized.
Alachua County spokesperson Mark Sexton said the county has not been involved in putting West End under contract. He said the property would need to be bought before coming to the BOCC.
“Once you know that’s done, then it would be a very deliberate process to go back to the county commission with the details of what’s needed on the property, and they would make the decision on whether or not to spend those dollars,” Sexton said in a phone interview.
That purchase could come through Dyrkolbotn. He’s pushed local and state support for the tournament, speaking to the Alachua County legislative delegation about the matter in October 2023.
At that meeting, then-BOCC Chair Anna Prizzia said Celebration Pointe has committed $6 million for the championships, with Alachua County offering $1 million in matching funds.
West End Golf Course has been through a series of development possibilities since closing. Development plans in 2020 showed 487 residential homes and a hotel.
Other iterations of the plans scaled back the intensity of development until a final proposal went before the BOCC in October 2022. The commission voted 4-1 to not approve a land use and zoning change, which kept the property recreational.
The vote came after coordinated opposition from surrounding neighbors, many of whom joined a group called WECARE— West End Community Alliance for Recreation and Education. Since the BOCC denied the application, the property has remained dormant.