The Seymour Parks and Recreation Department plans to offer free Wi-Fi accessibility at Kasting Park to make the west side facility more attractive to teams and families participating in sports tournaments.

It also will serve as a test site to determine whether the city should make other parks and public areas Wi-Fi hotspots in the future, said parks and recreation director Bob Tabeling.

The cost of the service, $110 per month, is being paid for through money generated by team entry fees from the three youth softball and baseball tournaments the parks and recreation department runs each year.

“Proceeds from the previous years’ tournaments are covering the initial expense, as well as the monthly payments,” Tabeling said.

Other tournaments conducted at Seymour parks throughout the year are run by outside organizations that rent the fields.

Funds generated from all of the tournaments are used to update the parks, Tabeling said.

Last year, the three tournaments run by Seymour Parks and Recreation had nearly 80 participating teams and combined with other tournaments boasted nearly 300 teams.

“Our plan is for this number to be even higher this year,” Tabeling said.

The city has chosen MetroNet, a local business, as its wireless internet provider. MetroNet already provides the city’s Internet service and will add a receiver/transmitter at Kasting Park.

The Wi-Fi service will be limited in signal strength and times of availability, Tabeling said.

“The passwords will be changed as we progress through the tournament schedule,” he said. “These factors will limit the availability of the Wi-Fi signal for both our recreational leagues throughout the week and the tournament schedule during the weekends.”

Kasting Park, located at 800 Kasting Road, was chosen because of the number of teams, both recreational and travel, that are playing there.

“As we move forward in the youth softball and baseball tournament structure, we are looking at things that separate our facility from others,” Tabeling said.

By having access to Wi-Fi service, siblings and other family members attending the games have something to do during downtimes.

“The Wi-Fi availability is a simple, unique way for all family members to enjoy their time at the park,” Tabeling said.

Having Wi-Fi at the park also will help the coaches and teams.

“Several teams have scoring systems that can utilize Wi-Fi to send out live scoring updates or even transmit a live video feed for people to watch the game online as it is actually being played,” Tabeling said.

Kasting is serving as a pilot location for Wi-Fi to see if it’s worth expanding to other areas, Tabeling said.

“This test will determine if this is a useful tool, and we will make future decisions based on the feedback we get from our community and the tournament directors that are bringing their teams to Seymour,” he said.