Who’ll Win the Battle Over a New Bike Park in Fort Collins?

Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins existed for nearly 50 years on the west side of Fort Collins. The 164-acre site will become something else, unrelated to football. Will it include a bike park?

Battle Over Bringing a Bike Park to Former Hughes Stadium Site

Where once there were battles in the gridiron, there's now a "battle" over whether a bike park might be added to the former Hughes Stadium site. Fort Collins is an active town, with many cyclists, but will a bike park fit into the plans?

In its 48-year span, Hughes Stadium hosted thousands of games, a few concerts, and saw hundreds of thousands of people fill the stands. It's hard to believe that the stadium and parking lots are all gone new; the place was legendary.

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In 2021, Fort Collins citizens voted to have the former Hughes site rezoned as Public Lands and have the city purchased the land. The city paid $12.5 million for the site in 2023. So then, the question became, "Now what?"

In August of 2024, the City of Fort Collins decided that a rarely used Civic Assembly would help determine future plans for the site. They sent out 15,000 invitations to random households; 20 respondents became the assembly.

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The assembly's final recommendations will go to the City Council for it to review, along with other inputs about what's next, but it definitely has to be a park, open space, or for wildlife restoration. When it comes to being a park, "recreation" is included in the wording.

Is a Bike Park 'Recreation?'

Some, like the Fort Collins Bike Park Collective, are saying that a bike park would fit into that terminology. Others, most notably the grass roots action group 'PATHS," are saying "recreation" refers to light use, whereas a bike park would be more than that, according to CBS4 Colorado.

According to the posted timeline, by the end of August 2025, the City Council will consider which direction to take.