Medford’s two sports parks — Rogue X and Lithia Driveway & Fields — hit two home runs in 2024.

Together the two parks scored a half-million visitors and helped generate an estimated $20 million into the local economy, filling restaurants, hotels and other businesses.

Rogue X in northwest Medford opened in January 2024 with two indoor pools and a large event center.

“Overall we think about a quarter-million people came through the doors in 2024,” said Rich Rosenthal, director of Medford Parks and Recreation at a Medford City Council meeting earlier this month.

Medford’s aquatic and event center received about $1.5 million in revenues in its first year, with $200,000 of that amount coming from hosting 920 birthday parties.

“I was astonished to see that number at the end of the year,” said Rich Rosenthal, parks and recreation director.

Since its opening, Rogue X hosted 43 tournaments and sold out 1,623 swim lessons for local youth.

Swim visits alone brought in 106,442 people during the first year of operation.

Rosenthal said he anticipates Rogue X will continue to improve its programming and his department is exploring ways to expand the popular swim lesson program.

He said the estimated ripple effect from Rogue X, which cost more than $75 million to build, generated $6.7 million into the local economy.

Councilor Garrett West asked Rosenthal if the costs of swim lessons are too high.

“Are we doing anything to keep it affordable for students of lower income in west Medford,” West asked.

Rosenthal said the swim lesson costs “are the lowest we can possibly make them.”

He said they are among the lowest in the state, and the city has scholarships and other ways to remove barriers for low-income students.

In south Medford, Lithia Driveway & Fields sports park has 15 ball fields that reel in visitors, filling local hotels and restaurants.

The sports park near Interstate 5 had 240,193 visitors as well as 44 tournaments and events in 2024.

“It shattered a record with $13.4 million in economic benefit, both direct and indirect,” Rosenthal said.

Since 2008, when the fields were built with a $32.5 million investment, the total estimated economic benefit has been an estimated $171 million, he said.

Rosenthal said the city partnered with Travel Medford in 2024 to host the Cascade Collegiate Conference for men’s and women’s soccer championships. The tournament filled 600 hotel rooms in the middle of November 2024.

“We plucked this tournament from Springfield,” Rosenthal said.

The tournament, previously held in Springfield since 2015, will also be held in Medford in 2025.

Rosenthal said Medford has also benefited from the worsening fate of the Redding Sports Park, which forced teams to travel here to play.

The Redding facility is in limbo as city officials there debate who will pay for $5 million in repairs, including replacement of artificial turf, according to a Feb. 6 article in the Record Searchlight.

Rosenthal said Medford has an ongoing program to replace the artificial turf on its 15 fields.

“We spent over $5 million in the last six years,” he said. “It’s like carpet, it’s going to wear out.”

He said the turf typically lasts about 13 years.

The fields are so popular that teams are routinely being turned away, Rosenthal said.