Key Takeaways
- Disney Cruise Line expands The Play Project across three Bahamian islands, adding ESPN and the Buddy Hield Foundation as new collaborators for 2026.
- The initiative’s first year generated more than 32,000 hours of annual play across six primary schools in South and Central Eleuthera.
- ESPN joins through its Take Back Sports initiative, which targets cost and access barriers keeping kids out of organized youth sports.
- Refurbished baseball fields, basketball courts, and track and field facilities are targeted for completion across the Bahamas by August 2026.
- More than 230 Disney VoluntEARS contributed to the first wave of builds alongside Bahamian officials, teachers, and students.
From Eleuthera Pilot to Three-Island Footprint
The Play Project launched in 2024 alongside the opening of Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point, Disney Cruise Line’s private destination on Eleuthera. The community-led initiative paired Disney with global nonprofit love.fútbol and local residents to design new play spaces for Bahamian youth.
Year one focused entirely on South and Central Eleuthera. Six primary schools, P.A. Gibson, Deep Creek, Tarpum Bay, Rock Sound, Wemyss Bight, and Green Castle, received revitalized play spaces. The cruise line reports the work created more than 32,000 hours of annual play for local children.
The expansion announced this week extends the program to Nassau and Abaco, with new builds adding refurbished baseball fields, basketball courts, and track and field grounds. Each location aligns with Disney’s operational footprint in the Bahamas. Nassau is where Disney Cruise Line ships are registered, and the Abaco islands sit adjacent to Castaway Cay, the company’s longstanding private island.
ESPN’s Take Back Sports Joins as Programmatic Partner
The most notable structural change is the addition of ESPN through its Take Back Sports initiative. Take Back Sports is designed to address rising costs and limited access that have pushed children out of organized youth sports, providing free programming and resources to athletes, parents, and coaches.
For The Play Project, ESPN’s involvement layers programmatic support on top of the physical infrastructure work Disney and love.fútbol are leading on the ground. The combination connects facility upgrades to a broader resource network intended to support the young athletes who will use them.
“The Walt Disney Company and ESPN are working to make youth sports more accessible,” said Kevin Martinez, vice president of ESPN corporate citizenship.
NBA Connection Anchors Nassau Builds
In Nassau, Disney Cruise Line is partnering with the Buddy Hield Foundation to revitalize sports spaces at Woodcock Primary School. The build will culminate in a community basketball tournament hosted by Bahamian NBA player Buddy Hield, tying the local infrastructure work to a recognizable athlete with direct ties to the country.
Community build days led by Disney Cruise Line and love.fútbol are scheduled in Abaco and Nassau through the summer.
“Through The Play Project, our teams are working with community leaders in Eleuthera, Nassau and Abaco to provide youth with safe places to play, learn and connect,” said Joey Gaskins, regional public affairs director for Disney Cruise Line. “This next phase builds on the magic and momentum of our first year by expanding to more communities while introducing new sports and strengthening bonds between Disney and our port communities.”
What an August 2026 Completion Means for the Region
By August 2026, Disney Cruise Line says students across the Bahamas will have access to the expanded play environments. The timeline gives the program a single, multi-island delivery window rather than a phased rollout, which is unusual for community-led infrastructure work of this scope.
For the broader youth sports industry, the expansion represents a corporate model that pairs facility capital with destination strategy. Disney’s Bahamian footprint, Lookout Cay on Eleuthera, ship registration in Nassau, port adventures near Abaco, gives the company a direct operational reason to invest in the same communities its guests visit. The ESPN layer adds a programmatic dimension that pure facility funders typically lack.
Hon. Clay Sweeting, Minister of Works and Family Island Affairs and Member of Parliament for Central and South Eleuthera, called the work “an important part of the incredible economic development Eleuthera is now experiencing.”
Source: Disney Cruise Line Expanding Youth Sports Initiative in The Bahamas, WDW News Today, May 5, 2026
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