Sports Pavilion Lawrence — the city’s new recreation complex at Rock Chalk Park — will celebrate its grand opening this afternoon.

This facility, near the intersection of Sixth Street and the South Lawrence Trafficway — certainly has seen its share of controversy, tied to unusual construction contracts and the decision to put spending on this project ahead of other city needs. City officials, however, are hoping that much of that criticism will melt away once the public has a chance to tour the new facility.

Those who attend today’s 2 p.m. dedication ceremony and participate in tours and activities scheduled through 4 p.m. are bound to be impressed. The 181,000-square-foot facility has something for everyone: an eighth-mile walking track, meeting rooms, areas for gymnastics and fitness classes and banks of treadmills and other fitness equipment. A market operated by Hy-Vee will include a pizza oven and other equipment that will accommodate an extensive menu. Seating and wide-screen televisions are provided for those who want to take an exercise break or maybe entertain themselves while waiting for a family member to finish a game.

A major feature of the Sports Pavilion is a huge gymnasium space that can accommodate eight full-sized basketball courts or 16 volleyball courts. Those courts, along with an indoor turf field for soccer and indoor football are part of the city’s plan to attract regional tournaments that will draw thousands of people to Lawrence to boost the local economy and help pay off the cost of the facility. Officials say they need 30 to 32 tournaments a year to meet their financial projections and they recently reported that they have events booked for 23 weekends. The Sports Pavilion reportedly also is being as the site for a future AAU Junior Olympic Games.

Lawrence residents certainly have reason to question the way the deal to build this project was negotiated and handled, but that’s probably not a good reason to shun a facility that can benefit the city and its residents in many ways. The new Sports Pavilion provides the community a great place to gather and participate in a number of individual and group activities. Today’s open house will give local residents an opportunity to see how their tax dollars have been spent and consider how they and their families might directly benefit from what the Sports Pavilion has to offer.