Through support from ESPN and Nike, love.fútbol opens its tenth sports space in the US, impacting over 1,000 residents.

Memphis, TN - May 13, 2024 - love.fútbol, the pioneering non-profit dedicated to bridging the play equity gap, proudly announces the launch of its tenth sports  court in the United States, right in the heart of Memphis, Tennessee. 

The grand opening, celebrated with a community-led build day and festivities on May 11, marks a significant step in love.fútbol’s mission to empower global communities through sport. This inaugural project in Tennessee—made possible by the long-standing support of ESPN and Beyond Sport, founding partners of the Return to Play Fund—is set to enrich the lives of over 1,000 residents in the Heights neighborhood, jumpstarting a fresh new era in one of Memphis’ most historically rich and ethnically diverse yet underserved areas. Former NBA All-Star and current Memphis University head coach, Penny Hardaway, was also in attendance to celebrate the opening of this new space in his hometown.

Home to more than 30 different nationalities, the Heights (a conglomerate of neighborhoods encompassing Highland Heights, Mitchell Heights, Graham Heights, and more) serves as the backdrop for a transformative project designed to offer a variety of sports activities including basketball, soccer, and, for the first time in the area, futsal. This initiative plays a critical role in addressing the lack of recreational amenities in a neighborhood where 27.6% of children live below the poverty level and only 26% of residents have completed high school or higher education. 

“The completion of our first sports space project in Tennessee, and our tenth across the US, marks an important milestone for love.fútbol,” stated Drew Chafetz, CEO and co-founder of the organization. “Rather than simply being viewed as beneficiaries, we’re on a mission to show that communities across our country can have greater agency in driving a better future for their children, and it begins with a place to play.”

According to the University of Memphis’s 2023 Poverty Fact Sheet, poverty rates for the city of Memphis continue to be higher than anywhere else in Shelby County, with a peak of 32.7% of children living under the poverty line. Another issue plaguing large urban centers in the US is gun violence, which this school year alone has cost the lives of 22 students from the Memphis-Shelby County School District. 

The sports space is expected to serve as a foundation for community development and growth, offering a safe location not only for sports activities, but also as a platform for social programs addressing education, health, and violence prevention. This integrated approach promises to improve the quality of life for residents, particularly older youth, by equipping them with opportunities to engage in positive, constructive activities outside of the limited options offered by local schools and churches.

The project would not have been possible without funding from the founding partners of the Return to Play Fund, ESPN and Beyond Sport, and support from thinkBeyond and the Pincus Family Foundation. Their collective leadership and generous funding support have been instrumental in using sports as a means to promote youth mental health and physical well-being, tackle racial inequality, and ensure greater access to sports for Black and Brown youth—especially in the US, where racial inequality continues to be pervasive. 

“Sports has the ability to transform lives and create a lasting impact,” said Kevin Martinez, ESPN vice president of Corporate Citizenship. “We are proud that this new sports space will provide a safe space to promote play and physical wellbeing, along with greater opportunities for access to sports, for the people of the Heights neighborhood and the city of Memphis.”

The pandemic has exacerbated existing disparities with low-income families and Black and Brown communities suffering disproportionately from the direct and indirect impact of the virus. As a result, the amount of time Black children spend playing sports on average has fallen by more than it has for white youth, with an average of 3.7 hours of playing time per week versus 5.6 hours. 

A generous donation of football and basketball equipment from Nike has significantly bolstered our efforts, enabling us to empower communities through sports.

For this project, love.fútbol also teamed up with local grassroots organizations: Play Where You Stay, Memphis Shelby County School District, and the Heights CDC, to ensure that the sports facility will remain in the hands of the community. 

As we continue to expand our reach across the United States, the Memphis sports space represents yet another example of what can be achieved when communities are given the right tools to come together and create sustainable change. This project not only indicates a meaningful achievement for love.fútbol but also for the thousands of residents in the Heights, who will now have a secure, vibrant space to play, engage, and grow.

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATIONS

Return to Play Fund: Global foundation, Beyond Sport, and the world’s leading multiplatform sports entertainment brand, ESPN, co-founded the Return to Play Fund in 2021 to use sports to center health, well-being, and systemic solutions to the heart of community recovery across the United States. The Fund supports nonprofit community sports organizations that are not only dedicated to getting young people of color moving again, but also committed to providing them with guidance and opportunities to grow, succeed and be confident in their abilities. The Pincus Family Foundation is a funding partner of the Return to Play Fund supporting its infrastructure focus area.

love.fútbol: is a nonprofit organization that partners with communities worldwide to create, reclaim, and redefine sports spaces as inclusive environments for children to play, grow, and learn. Through a six-stage process, community residents lead their own sports space projects, building local ownership and momentum for generational impact. Each self-sustaining sports space becomes the home of long-term Sport for Development programs designed to address a community's unique social challenges. Since 2006, love.fútbol has worked in 74 communities across 5 continents, activating over 120,000 individuals to ensure children have a safe space to play and thrive every day.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Paco Hinojosa

paco@lovefutbol.org