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RANTOUL — The Rantoul Family Sports Complex opened for the 2026 season last weekend, says village administrator Scott Eisenhauer.
And while there’s no shortage of events on the facility’s calendar, there is something else the venue is short on: ways in and out of the complex. At present, there is only one entrance/exit located along Murray Road/County Road 1500 East.
“If we have a soccer tournament, baseball and softball going on and … multiple games get out all at the same time, it is very difficult funneling everyone out of one entrance-exit,” Eisenhauer said. “So having two will help immensely.”
That’s part of the reason the village is looking to extend Broadmeadow Road southward along the west side of the facility — that and the idea that it wouldn’t hurt to have another hotel near the complex.
“It’s very exciting, and we’re very appreciative of Congresswoman (Robin) Kelly, who provided this funding for us to move forward on this project,” he said.
When asked about timing, Eisenhauer replied that the village has not seen the federal paperwork yet. Once local officials have signed the grant agreement, they can begin to accumulate costs and finish the preliminary engineering and architectural study before putting the project out to bid, he said.
Eisenhauer estimated that construction could begin “as early as this fall and as late as next spring.”
“We’re going to have to change our scope a little bit,” he said. “The original design work that we had done indicated it was a $1.25 million project. So we will go back and look at that to see if there are changes in the scope that we need to make or whether we need to identify supporting revenue to complete the construction.”
He said that the village’s main goal with this project is to support potential future development on land south of the Holiday Inn Express & Suites, as Broadmeadow Road’s current dead-end at the hotel property line has been an obstacle for potential buyers.
“We strongly believe that that is perfect land for hotel development, even sit-down restaurant development,” Eishenhauer said. “And those are the items which we most certainly need in order to support the sports complex itself.”
He also noted that if a new hotel is built in this area, visitors staying there could walk to the complex instead of driving, which would also help to alleviate parking lot traffic.
Events on the complex’s calendar this month include:
- March 7-8: Qualifiers for the U.S. Quadball Cup, plus the One Nation Adult Slowpitch Softball Tournament.
- March 14-15: St. Louis Area Soccer Association Central IL Division League Weekend No. 1.
- March 21-22: St. Louis Area Soccer Association Central IL Division League Weekend No. 2.
- March 28-29: Rantoul Rush Spring Softball Tournament and the USA Ultimate Corny Classic College Ultimate Frisbee event.
