Mark Greenberg’s vision to develop a premium sports and entertainment complex in Windsor could get a major boost from a new venture hoping to popularize team cycling in the United States.
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Mark Greenberg’s vision to develop a premium sports and entertainment complex in Windsor could get a major boost from a new venture hoping to popularize team cycling in the United States.
World Cycling Limited is a startup led by sports, entertainment, media and technology executives who are trying to launch a TeamTrak Cycling League. They want to establish their headquarters and build an arena in Windsor, on land owned by Greenberg.
David Chauner — who competed as a member of the U.S. Olympic cycling team in 1968 and 1972 — is working with Guilford financier Rick Mayer and others to launch the league.
The sport involves teams of four men and four women racing at high speeds on steep-banked oval tracks in arenas called velodromes. Currently, there are just over two dozen velodromes in the United States, only a few of which are enclosed.
Chauner and Mayer aim to line up public and private financing for a 3,000-seat, 100,000-square-foot velodrome in Windsor, with an attached 40,000-square-foot field house.
The plan is to incorporate the facility into a sports and entertainment development Greenberg is assembling on 150 acres he owns off Day Hill Road in Windsor. The area is already home to Fastpitch Nation’s 11 softball fields. An 82-foot-tall sports dome with an indoor artificial soccer turf field is expected to debut on-site in mid-November.
The cycling facility would serve as league offices and a racing site. The field house would be available for rent for basketball, volleyball and other sports.
The velodrome could double as a concert and entertainment venue. Chauner estimates a price tag of between $25 million to $80 million, depending on the level of finishes and materials.
The goal is to have the facility built by 2026.
World Cycling Limited hopes to get its league off the ground next year, with the first exhibitions scheduled for September 2024 in Las Vegas.
Chauner and Mayer said they have begun to line up investors in the league, including Greenberg.
“I just think there’s an incredible amount of momentum in that area, and the investors are looking for new opportunities,” Mayer said. “I don’t think we are going to have much of a big hurdle raising the funds needed to launch this.”
