Pueblo’s New Courts Highlight the Community’s Vibrant Character & History

New post-tension concrete basketball courts from Renner Sports reinvigorate local sports venue

Key Takeaways: Project at City of Pueblo

• Pueblo revitalized a historic community site with four newly resurfaced post-tension concrete basketball courts from Renner Sports.
• Local artists created custom murals for each court, giving the venue a unique identity tied to Pueblo’s heritage.
• The project sparked renewed community engagement, drawing players, spectators, and media attention from across the region.
• Improved surfacing and materials replaced the aging “Slab,” delivering safer, more durable courts that support heavy, ongoing use.
• The success of the courts has inspired interest from other Colorado communities, positioning Pueblo as a model for creative recreation projects.

In Pueblo, Colorado, the home of more parks per capita than any other city in the state, four new post-tension concrete basketball courts are serving as a showcase of sports design and construction. Having already established trust through previous projects in Pueblo, Renner Sports, a Tarkett Sports company, was selected as the general contractor for the initiative that made them a reality.

A true community effort, the project also brought together local artists to give the courts their own distinct look and personality. They have already driven increased interest from local players, the media, and even neighboring communities. Check out the video for the full story:

Edited transcript of Mike Sexton, Assistant Director of Pueblo Parks & Rec, discussing the design and installation of the city’s new basketball courts:

My name is Mike Sexton. I'm the assistant director for the Pueblo Parks and Recreation Department.

The City of Pueblo is a community of about 119,000. There’s a lot of history—it’s a railroad town and a steel mill town. They're proud of their parks and they're proud of their community. We have more parks per capita than any other city in the state of Colorado.

The facility we're looking at here was a veterans’ monument back in the 1930s, and once it went south, the community put their funds together, and we built it into a park. They played tennis and basketball here. People would walk miles away just to play here. It was just that popular.

We've done a lot of projects with Renner Sports. This was kind of a no-brainer for them to be involved with this project. They do great work, and their product stands for itself.

We were getting ready to resurface this, and I said I want to do more than just resurface this facility. We went out and talked to the lottery. They jumped on board. They said, “We'll help pay for the artists”. We just went out for an RFQ and reached out to the local artists, judged them, and picked the top four, and those are the four you see right now.

When they submitted their murals, I had to send those over to Renner to get their okay on if that's something that they could provide the colors and they came back saying “We'll do it. We got it.” They mixed colors, and everything worked out well.

The court that we're standing on right now is the depiction of the steel mill. You drive by, and you see this, and you recognize it. You're from Pueblo.

In the 30s, the community poured a slab. All the players who would come down here and play would say, “I'll meet you at ‘The Slab’, let's play at ‘The Slab’,” and it just stuck, and over the last 70 years it's been known as ‘The Slab’. You played on it so much it got slippery and like ice. They've made so many improvements to the paint and materials that these courts will hold up to the wear and tear.

Renner ended up being the general contractor. They poured the concrete slab, which is post-tension concrete, across the whole length of this facility. The thickness and the length of that slab had to be just right, and it was finished in July. It was no problem for the painters, and they were out there at night to get the job done. The rest is history.

We've had more requests for more tournaments down here. We have people you've never even seen before down here playing. People would stop and come and talk to the artists. People drive by and honk, and we've had a lot of media attention, and I've been getting calls from the metro area about how we did this, and they're going to try something similar in the Denver area.

Tell them that we're happy with it and that they're great people to work with and come down and see it. Look at the colors. Look at the murals.

You're going to be astounded. It really does show.