As the eastward migration over the last 20 years of people and businesses from the coast to the Inland Empire drives economic growth in San Bernardino County, officials are banking on a new sports complex and pro baseball team to open a new era of local sports tourism.
The rise of fast-growing communities in the 20,000-square-mile county with 2.2 million residents produced one of the largest concentrations of industrial warehouses in the nation, a swiftly expanding workforce in a variety of sectors and now, a market poised to further thrive from a larger number of tourists.
“Exhibit A is ONT Field, the new ballpark of the Ontario Tower Buzzers, the Single-A minor league affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers,” according to the county.
The state-of-the-art, $120 million, 6,500-seat baseball stadium opened in the spring as part of the $850 million Ontario Sports Empire complex at 3150 S. Home Run Way, near East Riverside Drive and Vineyard Avenue just south of the 60 Freeway.
Branded with the code name of the Ontario International Airport, ONT Field pays homage to the community’s aviation heritage, county officials said. The Tower Buzzers follow suit by celebrating the history of naval aviators who have trained for decades at nearby air bases as well as the famous Top Gun school originally based at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego. Naturally, the Tower Buzzers’ mascot Maverick taps into the iconic imagery of Tom Cruise’s portrayal of Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the blockbuster “Top Gun” movies.
Jennifer McLain Hiramoto, executive director of economic development for the city of Ontario, said ONT Field and the sports complex create a destination for year-round entertainment, tourism, visitor spending and an elevated quality of life.
“About three years ago, we called our neighbors in Rancho Cucamonga, which had the minor league Quakes owned by Bobby Brett,” Hiramoto said in a statement. “We asked, ‘If we were to recruit a minor league baseball team, how would we do it?’ At the same time, Major League Baseball was implementing upgrades to the minor league system.
“So, we asked the question: ‘If the city could build a new Minor League Baseball (MiLB) stadium, could we do this?,” Hiramoto continued.
“The city of Ontario had just approved a new sales tax to drive another $65 million in revenue,” she added. The city purchased “200 acres of land that had been used as an old dairy farm, and then we built the infrastructure supporting the stadium.”
It was a calculated gamble, Hiramoto admitted, but it quickly turned into a home run.
“Not all stadiums are successful, but the big play here was about all the youth sports events it could bring,” she said. “Youth sports fields will be delivered this October. Another win for the community came when Brett Sports sold the Quakes and its other teams to Diamond Baseball Holdings, which now owns about 50 MiLB teams across the country. We ended up with an entirely new operator, and it has turned out to be a very powerful ownership group. We are now on the top list of the California League.”
Sweetening the deal are the Dodgers, the three-peat-seeking defending World Series champs.
“This was a major deal point for us,” Hiramoto said. “When you go to ONT Field, there are nods to the Dodgers throughout the ballpark — on the scoreboard, on the diamond, everywhere. They match the Dodger colors and pay homage to the best team in baseball. Given the success of the Dodgers, there could not be a better time for us to open a new stadium. We are part of Dodger Nation.”
Baseball, however, is only a part of the increasingly nuanced equation.
“For us, the economic impact is for the whole Ontario Sports Empire,” Hiramoto said. “The stadium takes up just 15 acres, but another 120 acres will have football, soccer and baseball fields that will draw an estimated 1.5 million visitors a year. We expect to host 250,000 fans at the ballpark, attract $62 million in net new spending and generate net new tax revenue of $1.5 million. When we develop adjacent pads, we expect those numbers to be even higher.”
Additional amenities in the region contribute to the mix. Ontario Ranch in South Ontario is a new 182-acre community that officials expect will double the city’s current population of 187,000 when it is completed in 20 years.
“We have three major assets to draw visitors: ONT Field, the 11,000-seat Toyota Arena and the 250,000-square-foot Ontario Convention Center,” according to Hiramoto. “The convention center is active daily and is across the street from ONT — one of the top 10 cargo airports in the nation. Those three assets create a hub of tourism and regional economic development. We are a tourism and economic development powerhouse, and we just built the best minor league baseball stadium in the country.”
County officials noted that “on July 9, community members got to see the wildest baseball game of the decade when the Tower Buzzers outlasted the Inland Empire 66ers in a 22-21 slugfest at ONT Field — the highest-scoring game in MiLB since 2011.”
Hockey Reigns at Toyota Arena
Michael Krouse, president and CEO of the Ontario Convention and Visitors Bureau, known as GOCAL, said that tourism and hospitality combine for a $5.5 billion industry sector in San Bernardino County, contributing roughly $120 million annually to the city’s economy.
“Since GOCAL was formed in 2013, we have seen $1.5 billion in economic impact in Ontario. For a city of less than 200,000 people, that is pretty impressive,” Krouse said in a statement.
An estimated 4 million visitors each year fuel the local tourism economy.
“Once we took over local control of ONT, we were able to grow Ontario as a destination,” Krouse said. “We added 15 flights weekly to Mexico and Taiwan. We added China Airlines last year and continue to grow ONT as a global shipping hub.”
By 2050, the baseball stadium expects to draw 36 million people through the airport each year.
“We are seeing growth of passenger counts in double digits to over 8 million a year,” said Krouse, adding that baseball is now at the center of that regional attraction. “This venue is the largest in-use sports complex west of the Rockies at over 190 acres and will generate 1.2 million visitors per year just for the facility. We expect to see 1.5 million new out-of-town visitors per year to this area because of this project, and we are very excited about that.”
Nearby Toyota Arena, 4000 E. Ontario Center Parkway north of the 10 Freeway between Haven and Milliken avenues, draws another 1 million visitors each year. Officials said the arena will soon attract even larger numbers.
“The city of Ontario is building a new arena entertainment district around this venue,” Krouse said. “The first phase will open this year. It is called Capital City — a brand-new entertainment district that will offer shopping, dining, a performing arts center and lots of public space.”
The arena hosts the Ontario Reign of the American Hockey League, a minor league affiliate of the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. Live events are held there more than 300 days each year, according to the county.
Also coming to Ontario is 400-acre Grand Park, which at 3.7 miles it will be as long as Central Park in New York City, in addition to more developments planned for the Ontario Sports Empire.
“This will set aside additional land for indoor athletic facilities, indoor volleyball, etc. That next phase of 300,000 square feet of new indoor athletic space is coming,” Krouse said. “A new soccer stadium is coming as well.”
Twice the meeting space
A convention center that officials said is already booming is expected to see more growth in the years to come.
“Our convention center expansion will double the size of our facility at the start of next year,” Krouse reported. “We should know the source of funding for that in November, when voters will weigh in on a sales tax to help service debt on that project. All the approvals otherwise are done.”
Officials said all of these projects will help prepare the Inland Empire region for the future, including the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
“We are less than an hour from downtown LA, and there will be so many opportunities for early arrivals to come and stay here, practice and enjoy life here,” Krouse said. “For example, we annually host World Table Tennis at an event called U.S. Smash. We host 2,500 spectators, fill up 4,000 hotel rooms, and occupy 90,000 square feet in the convention center to host this event, which pays out $1.5 million in prize winnings.”
One study forecast $10 million in total economic impact for Ontario from pre-Olympic events.
“Between athletes and families, we expect 37,000 people will stay in our region because of the work we have done in advance to host them,” according to Krouse. “When we hosted a free viewing party for the FIFA 2026 World Cup Final on July 19, more than 5,500 people showed up.”
Other large events, such as Creepie Con, robotics conventions and Road to California, bring in thousands of visitors each year.
“I am very proud of having unanimous community support,” Krouse said. “We have two cities and a county that are 150 percent supportive of tourism and hospitality. I can go to all of our elected leaders and ask for anything I need. They will always be there for us. Our connections to the economic development departments in these cities are important. If you want to be in the next big growth area, this is the place.”