Sketch by Goodwyn, Mills & Cawood
Hoover sports complex
The city of Hoover's $80 million sports complex will include a 155,000-square-foot indoor event center, five NCAA regulation-size soccer/football/lacrosse fields, five NCAA regulation-size baseball (or softball) fields, 16 tennis courts with a pro shop, a 2-mile walking track, playground, splash pad and large event lawn.
Hoover officials received more than 550 suggestions for naming the sports complex at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium and have narrowed that list down for a public vote.
A committee overseeing the naming process is asking the public to vote on five finalist names for the overall facility, which includes Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, the Hoover RV Park, a new 155,000-square foot indoor event center, five NCAA regulation-size soccer/football/lacrosse fields, five NCAA regulation-size baseball (or softball) fields, 16 tennis courts with a pro shop, a 2-mile walking track, playground, splash pad and large event lawn.
Those five names are:
- Hoover Metplex
- Hoover Met Complex
- Hoover Metropolitan Complex
- Hoover Sports and Events Complex
- Robert O. Finley Complex
The committee also is asking people to vote on a name for the indoor event center, which is being built to accommodate 11 regulation-size basketball courts or 17 regulation-size volleyball courts, trade shows with 300 booths, 2,400-seat banquets and theater-style seating for 5,000 people. The facility also will include a walking track, performance center, food court, convenience store, locker rooms, meeting space and a climbing attraction.
Officials are asking the public to vote on the following four names for the indoor facility:
- Hoover Sports & Event Center
- Hoover Sports & Convention Center
- The Finley Center
- The Finley Sports & Event Center
Voting is taking place on a survey link from the city of Hoover's website, and people can vote through 5 p.m. Sunday.
The Finley name options are designed to honor the late Berry High School coach Robert Finley, who died of a heart attack while doing maintenance on the school’s football field in 1994.
The stadium at the now-vacant school is named after Finley, but it’s no longer in the Hoover city limits. The Hoover City Council deannexed the Berry school campus in May to allow the Hoover Board of Education to sell the campus to the Vestavia Hills Board of Education. The Hoover school district has character education awards named after Finley, and the football field at Spain Park High School also is named after Finley.
Most of the other names recommended by the public for the new sports complex at the Hoover Met began with the words Hoover, Alabama, Birmingham, Metropolitan, Multi-Sport or Mega-Sport, with a wide variety of combinations of other words to complete the name.
Other suggestions included Tournament Park of Alabama, Adrenaline Center, Full Throttle, Monster Plex, The Zone at Hoover, The Sports Garden and Miracle Park.
This article was updated at 2:04 p.m. on Oct. 25 to correct one of the name choices for the overall facility to Hoover Sports and Events Complex and at 3:26 p.m. to include the link to the survey for voting.
