On August 27, the City of Greer celebrated the official groundbreaking of the Greer Sports & Events Center – an event that marked the second major groundbreaking in the ForGreer initiative.
During the ceremony, Mayor Rick Danner offered some insightful comments on the history and growth of Greer’s recreation services and the careful planning Greer City Council followed in developing this new facility for the City of Greer that will truly serve every resident. Ann Cunningham, Greer’s Director of Parks Recreation and Tourism, discussed the critical need for this new facility. The City’s only previous indoor facility, the old Victor Gym, was too small and severely outdated to accommodate the demand for sports and recreation events. Waiting lists for kids’ sports, for example, often exceeded 100.
With the project now fully underway, it is a great time to remind residents of the City of Greer of the facts about the Greer Sports & Events Center and to clear up some fictions that seem to be making their way around social media.
FACT: The new Greer Sports & Events Center will be more than 200,000 square feet (larger than a Super Walmart) and will provide nine basketball courts, 18 volleyball courts, a fitness facility, an elevated indoor track, multi-sport simulators, a dedicated wrestling room, a community room, an outdoor walking path, and a community green space.
FICTION: “The City of Greer raised property taxes by 14%.”
This is incorrect. In the 2024-2025 City Budget, the City of Greer increased City millage by 14 mills. It did not increase property taxes by 14%. The actual effect on your property taxes (including the adoption of the 2025-2026 City Budget that decreased millage by two mills) was an increase of only about 2-3% or $48 on a home with a taxable value of $100,000 ($144 on a home with a taxable value of $300,000).
The City of Greer is only one component of your overall property tax bill. The County you live in, the school system for your area, and special purpose districts – some on the Greenville County side of the City of Greer include the Library, Greenville Tech, the Art Museum, and Arena Debt Service – also assess millage. Your property tax is a function of the total millage of all these taxing entities added together, of which the City of Greer only makes up a small part.
FACT: With the new Greer Sports & Events Center, the City of Greer will become involved in Sports Tourism by trying to attract travel sports groups to rent the facility on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Youth travel volleyball and basketball groups have already expressed a tremendous amount of interest in the facility, but other sports and events groups remain targets for these Friday-Saturday-Sunday blocks throughout the year.
Early projections indicate that the City of Greer can expect to rent the Greer Sports & Events Center to travel sports groups nearly every weekend each year. This is important because the City of Greer has set up the Greer Sports & Events Center to function as an Enterprise Fund. This means that all operational expenses for the Greer Sports & Events Center are to be paid from revenue generated by the Greer Sports & Events Center. By renting the facility to travel sports groups on Friday-Saturday-Sunday, the City of Greer’s projections indicate that it will generate enough revenue to cover the costs of operation. This means that the City of Greer can offer athletic leagues, recreation programs, and events through the City’s Parks Recreation and Tourism Department to City of Greer residents Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday without subsidizing the operations of the Greer Sports & Events Center with revenue generated from City of Greer property taxes.
The estimated total capacity for the Greer Sports & Events Center is more than 5,000 people. This means that every weekend that the City of Greer rents the facility to a travel sports group, nearly 5,000 people will be visiting the City of Greer. They will all need a place to stay overnight. They will need to fill up their cars with gas. They will want to visit restaurants, shop in our shops, and make plans to return. The City of Greer’s financial projections indicate that these visitors will create yearly economic impact of more than $7 million of direct spending in Year 1, increasing to more than $15 million by Year 5.
FICTION: “Greer Residents will not be able to use the Greer Sports & Events Center.”
This is incorrect. The City of Greer Parks Recreation and Tourism team is actively working to program athletic leagues, recreation programs, and events for the new Greer Sports & Events Center. Popular programs that previously were held in the old Victor Gym will return with more space and capacity. New athletic leagues, recreation programs, and events will be created so that every age group in the City of Greer – from youth to seniors – will have opportunities to participate in recreation or athletic programs.
The Greer Sports & Events Center will be surrounded by a nearly 1-mile paved walking path and will include a nearly 2-acre green space that will be open for free play.
FACT: The Greer Sports & Events Center is a remarkable project. The second of four ForGreer projects, this facility meets a critical need for a growing City of Greer and wisely leverages dollars contributed by visitors to the City of Greer to create a state-of-the-art facility for Greer Residents.
