Monday, representatives from The Sports Force, the Georgia-based sports and recreation consulting firm, hired by the city will be in Vicksburg to meet with city and recreation officials and study the area around the city to see if such a complex is a viable proposal for the city using Halls Ferry Park and the Fisher Ferry property.

And the results of the company’s study could be the final word on whether Vicksburg should have a sports complex.

Halls Ferry Park is an established recreation area with baseball and softball fields and a tennis court complex that is being expanded. The Fisher Ferry property off Fisher Ferry Road was bought by the city in 2003 for a sports complex called “Champion Hill,” but has never been developed despite a $2.7 million investment by the city for dirt work and wetlands permits.

We have continuously gone on record as supporting a sports complex for the city, but opposed locating it at Fisher Ferry. We have asked the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to look for a better site to locate a complex, but as North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield has pointed out, there are no other places in the city, or just outside the city limits, where a sports complex can be located without spending several million dollars in site preparation.

Mayfield also points out the one drawback to Fisher Ferry, saying to make that site viable, the city will have build an access road to U.S. 61 South — a projected estimated at about $3 million.

But Monday the experts will be here, and it could be we’ll find out whether Fisher Ferry is feasible as a sports complex site and whether a combination of Fisher Ferry and the facilities at Halls Ferry Park will be sufficient to serve as a sports complex that will draw baseball, softball and possibly soccer tournaments to the area.

Or, the consultants from The Sports Force may recommend scrapping building anything at Fisher Ferry and upgrading and expanding the facilities at Halls Ferry and Bazinsky ball field just east of Halls Ferry.

The consultants’ survey could take several days as they interview not only local officials but representatives from the area’s baseball, softball and soccer leagues, look at our facilities and determine whether a sports complex in Vicksburg can successfully compete with the Southparks, Ridgelands and other mega parks that dot the state for tournaments that mean tourism dollars for the city.

The city is paying The Sports Force $50,000 to perform its study, submit its reports and make its recommendations. If the consultants believe the city serves a market area and Halls Ferry Park and Fisher Ferry are viable sites, the board should move forward.

And if they are not ready to make a total commitment immediately, they should drop the project and move on.