Not your daddy's sports arena

This is so god-awful cool.

Some years ago my wife-to-be and I were passing an empty big box store (anyone remember HQ?) with quick on-off access to the freeway and wondering what we could do with it. We came up with the idea of an extreme sports complex complete with mountain bike trail, running trail, climbing and rappelling walls, a kayaking chute, and even a two-level driving range in the covered outside gardening section.

Seeing the same concept on a much grander scale, I'm betting that this is the shape of sports entertainment to come. It's not just plush stadiums hosting football and baseball, it's sprawling areas offering sports that would otherwise require travel outside your locality or state. The concept has gone off the deep end in Dubai (desert skiing anyone?), but what better way to revitalize otherwise empty city centers with activities that draw the young, action-loving, and affluent among us? Ubiquitous and diverse athletic centers could spring up all around us; many, like climbing facilities, anywhere there's a wide, tall face of brick. Others, anywhere water can be diverted and pumped to the top of a sluice for a kayaking run customizable to the skill of the users. Excellent.