MESA, AZ — Legacy Sports Park, the 320-acre sports complex in southeast Mesa that ran into financial trouble earlier this year, officially has a new name and new owners as of Dec. 14.
AZ Athletic Associates LLC, a company founded by San Francisco-based private equity firm Burke Operating Partners LLC and Rocky Mountain Resources, informed the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Dec. 14 that it closed its $25.8 million acquisition of the park.
The sports complex is one of the largest sporting venues in the United States, with dozens of facilities – including a 3,000-seat outdoor stadium, a 2,800-seat indoor arena, 35 soccer/lacrosse/football fields, 57 indoor volleyball courts, eight baseball and softball fields, 20 basketball courts and more. In the nearly two years the park has been open, millions of people have visited.
With the transaction complete, the park will be renamed and rebranded as Arizona Athletic Grounds at Mesa Campus, or AAG. The complex was formerly known as Bell Bank Park, but the financial institution rescinded its naming rights sponsorship in April 2023 due to the park and its owner’s financial troubles.
The seller, Legacy Cares Inc., is the nonprofit entity that built the park and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2023, a little over a year after the venue opened. When it filed Chapter 11, Legacy Cares owed more than $366.7 million to more than 200 creditors.
