Sports entertainment attraction coming to Branson

A Meriden, Kansas-based company is behind a planned nearly $40 million sports and dining attraction that aims to begin construction next year in Branson.

Mammoth Fieldhouse is part of the first phase of projects expected to comprise a $400 million mixed-use development by Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Philcrest Properties Inc. Jason Farrant, president of Mammoth Fieldhouse Inc., a division of Mammoth Sports Construction, said the roughly $38.5 million attraction in Branson is one of several similar projects the company is developing in multiple states. He said a Mammoth Fieldhouse project in Wichita, Kansas, will likely be the first of its venues to open next year.

“It is a social competitive entertainment venue with a strong focus on food and beverage,” Farrant said. “What we’re doing is taking multiple activities and bringing them under one roof, which is where the Fieldhouse name comes from as well. That literally means multiple sports under one roof.”

Farrant said Mammoth Fieldhouse has similarities to ventures such as BigShots Golf, an entertainment attraction with a sports focus, which opened a location in Springfield in 2021, and Kansas City-based Chicken N Pickle LLC, an indoor and outdoor entertainment complex that features pickleball.

Mammoth Fieldhouse will include golf and pickleball among its gaming options for visitors, Farrant said, adding it includes a full-service restaurant and bar.

“We also have a baseball and a basketball component, which don’t have much market presence right now, but they’re really dynamic, compelling offerings in each one of those that we’re excited about as well,” he said, noting the baseball games will include a home run derby. “They’re indoor, so it’s a bay experience.”

Grant Wilkins, director of real estate for Philcrest Properties, previously told Springfield Business Journal that Mammoth Sports Construction signed a letter of intent to build the attraction as part of Phase I of the Branson development. The first phase also includes Bible Encounter, a roughly $41 million, 85,000-square-foot religious-themed tourist attraction, approximately 150 multifamily residential units and a roughly 200-room hotel.

An additional 110 apartments, approximately 31 tourist cabins, two restaurants, a sporting goods store, a convenience store and a retail development comprise Phase II. The third phase, estimated at $100 million, involves the development and construction of an indoor sports facility for the city of Branson.

Wilkins said Philcrest Properties also has a letter of intent with O’Reilly Hospitality Management LLC to build the hotel, according to past reporting. Phase I site work should start by either fourth quarter of this year or first quarter of 2026, he said.

“We’re taking their lead as far as timelines,” Farrant said of Philcrest on plans to start construction. “We’re working with them to get a definitive date.”

The Branson Board of Aldermen earlier this month approved a tax increment financing plan and developer’s agreement for the mixed-use development project, which spans around 136 acres across 17 parcels of land in the Branson Meadows area around Gretna Road and Town and Country Drive.

Mammoth began construction in July on a roughly 50,000-square-foot entertainment facility in Marion, Illinois, and Farrant said a recently announced 30,000-square-foot, two-story location in Oklahoma City should break ground before year’s end. The Branson venue, which will occupy 10 acres, should be roughly 40,000 square feet, he said. In Wichita, the company is retrofitting a driving range and adding a golf putting course to it as well, along with the food and beverage component.

Farrant said the Wichita location is on target to open first, with a third quarter 2026 estimated launch. A Branson opening date is dependent on when construction starts. Mammoth Sports Construction and another of the company’s divisions, Mammoth Sports Design, will serve as the project’s general contractor and architect, respectively.

“It would be optimistic, but I guess I can’t say it’s impossible at this point,” Farrant said of a 2026 opening in Branson.

The combination of sports and entertainment paired with a full-service restaurant isn’t a new concept in Branson. Andy B’s Bowl Social, which includes bowling, an arcade, escape rooms and table games, along with a restaurant and bar, opened in Branson Landing in 2018.

It was followed by entertainment venue The Social Birdy, which launched last year at 1250 Branson Hills Parkway, just west of several big-box retailers, such as Target and Home Depot. The $5 million, 18,000-square-foot venture incorporates a full-service restaurant and bar, an 18-hole putting course, pickleball courts, golf simulator bays and a full-service golf and pickleball shop, according to past reporting.

Officials with Andy B’s and The Social Birdy didn’t return messages seeking comment by press time.

Landing in Branson
Farrant is the cousin of Jake Farrant, who started Kansas Turf in 2008. The full-service design-build firm rebranded to Mammoth Sports Construction in 2020, and Jason Farrant said he joined the following year to lead Mammoth Fieldhouse. He said the company employs around 400, and aside from its headquarters in Meriden – just north of Topeka – it also has offices in Kansas City, Sioux Falls, Iowa, and in 2026 plans to open another office in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Mammoth Sports Construction has a professional connection with Rob Phillips, owner of Philcrest Properties, which led the two companies to start a conversation about the Branson development, Farrant said.

“We just introduced the idea of what we were doing with Mammoth Fieldhouse, and he showed us the property that he had,” Farrant said. “We decided to take a look and ultimately decided to join the development.”

Farrant said Branson’s reputation as a tourist draw was an attractor for the company, noting this fieldhouse location will be a standout among its other venues in development.

“If you look to the west, it just has unbelievable views that we don’t have on any other site that we’re looking at or working on,” he said. “The unique thing about Branson is just embracing the natural landscape.”

The company’s goal is to be a valued addition to the community, Farrant said.

“Branson just naturally already brings in groups and families, and that’s what we’ve set on to do with our concept,” he said.