The world-famous Children’s Museum in Indianapolis is taking its exhibits outside with plans, announced last week, to build a 10-acre attraction on the parking lot north of its building called the "Sports Legend Experience." 

The site, according to the Indianapolis Star, will feature an 18-hole mini golf course, tennis, street hockey, basketball courts and two pedal cart race tracks, one an oval and the other a drag race track. According to the plans the museum filed with the city, the site also will include a soccer field, as well as track and family fitness loops, along with football and baseball fields and an event/tent space.

Children’s Museum spokeswoman Leslie Olsen said in an email that the project will cost considerably more than $10 million.

The city’s Metropolitan Development Commission staff recommended approving the plans, saying the exhibit will “provide both parents and children an outdoor sports experience in a noncompetitive environment within the Children’s Museum’s campus.

It also would bring another space for children in the area to engage in physical activity. Studies have found that as many as one-third of children in Marion County (where Indianapolis is located) are overweight or obese.

The Indianapolis Children’s Museum averages about 1.2 million visitors a year, with the museum itself covering nearly 29 acres. The new sports experience would be built on an existing parking lot north of the museum. The Children’s Museum is putting into action what we’ve known for some time---sports is a big draw and is big business. Expect the Museum’s new sports facility to bring in even more visitors and perhaps introduce kids to a new activity they can enjoy for years to come.