ORLANDO -- This month, RDV Sportsplex, Orlando, celebrates its 10th anniversary. The facility blends sports, fitness and medicine.
“It’s a one-of-a-kind club,” says Matt Carlen, director of RDV Sportsplex. “This will never be duplicated.”
In February 1998, RDV Sports joined Florida Hospital to unveil its 365,000-square-foot, $60 million, fitness, wellness, sports and recreation complex.
MVP Sports Clubs, a sports-facility development and management company, owns RDV Sportsplex in Orlando as well as seven Michigan facilities, which it recently opened.
MVP Sports Clubs President Karl Droppers credits Bob Vander Weide, the CEO of MVP Sports Clubs and the president of the NBA’s Orlando Magic, as well as the DeVos family, which owns the Magic, with the vision of linking health and sports.
“They were looking for a way to connect the [Magic] with the community while providing a place for health and sports,” Droppers says. The original idea was to use the lure of sports as a way to enhance the health of residents.
Ten years later, RDV Sportsplex offers a full-service athletic club, tennis center, two ice rinks, sports performance center, pro shops, restaurants, salon and spa, and several medical offices. In addition, it houses the corporate offices and training facilities of the Orlando Magic.