Bo Jackson Teams Up With Hilliard

Bo Jackson’s Success Continues On – Hilliard’s Elite Sports Training Center

Is there anything that Bo Jackson cannot do? Apparently not! Success seems to follow the guy around so we knew that it was just a matter of time before the success of the Elite Sports Training Facility warranted a repeat. Bo’s brand new training centre is coming to Hilliard, and a Farley dome is once again helping to bring his vision to life.

When we covered the Lockport Elite Sports facility, we touched on how amazing Bo’s success has been, but here’s a recap for those that missed it.

Bo Jackson is one of only a handful of athletes to be named an All-Star in two major sports—baseball and football. The fact that these two sports are the two most popular sports in the U.S. cemented Bo at the forefront of American culture during his career.

Bo played Major League Baseball for the Kansas City Royals from ’86 to ’90, then the Chicago White Sox in ’91 and ’93, then with the California Angels in ’94. His pro football career spanned ’87 to ’90 when he played for the LA Raiders. An injury in ‘91 forced his football retirement and a break from pro sports altogether, but Bo took the time to focus on baseball, his education, and other efforts.

Bo completed his Bachelor of Science degree at Auburn University in Family and Child Development. His many successful business and investment endeavours included the Bo Jackson Elite Sports Complex in Lockport, a facility that allows young athletes a place to train and realize their potential. The success of the facility made such an impact that a second facility was proposed and is now, thanks to a partnership with the city of Hilliard, being made a reality.

At 88,000 square feet, the Lockport Elite Sports dome is huge. It houses two baseball diamonds, batting cages, a soccer field, and a sports training area.

The new Hilliard Elite Sports facility (featured here on ABC6 News) is going even bigger. At 460’ long by 230’ wide and 70’ high, this dome will cover over 100,000 square feet of space. Altogether, the facility is a massive 114,000 square feet. The dome will be similar to the Lockport facility for amenities, but the proposed layout for the new facility will be quite different. This dome will have two multi use fields, a baseball diamond, batting cages, and a training area. The multiuse fields are designed for football or soccer, but can be used for any field sport like lacrosse or field hockey.

Like the Lockport dome, this bubble is permanent and will be used year round. Illinois gets warm (85°F) in the summer and cold (13°F) in the winter so this dome is equipped with air conditioning to help keep conditions cool in the summer.

The dome will also sport a state-of-the-art LED lighting system to keep the playing and training surfaces well lit, while also keeping energy expenditure low.

If you’re looking to see it for yourself, you don’t have too long to wait. As of right now, construction of the grade beam and other site work is underway. The dome itself, is slated for inflation in early to mid-October. We’ll announce on our blog and our social media channels when it’s time to unveil the finished project, so keep an eye out for all the latest news on this exciting dome project!