Organizers for the proposed indoor sports complex in Janesville are asking the city to set aside the project until 2021 because of the ongoing public health emergency.
The Friends of the Indoor Sports Complex group sent a letter to city leaders on Friday, asking to delay the project roughly a year as the COVID-19 outbreak rages on.
The private group is working to find sponsors and raise millions of dollars for the project, but Janesville Jets owner Bill McCoshen said the pandemic has made fundraising difficult.
“Local and regional businesses are understandably more cautious about committing significant resources to the ISC project right now,” McCoshen wrote. “In the past few weeks, more businesses have told us, ‘Come back in the fall when we have a better idea of what the full impact of COVID-19 will be on our businesses and our employees.'”
The city was preparing to conduct advanced design work for the proposal, which was working with the Janesville Mall as a potential location.
Janesville has not committed public funding for the project, waiting to see how much private funding could be raised by the Friends of the Indoor Sports Complex group.
