A week after what was deemed a successful event to raise awareness for a multimillion-dollar sports complex, Vicksburg officials on Monday gave the two private groups charged with bringing it here a 90-day extension to return a study showing their project is feasible or pay back $250,000 in public funds.

The first Legends Golf Tournament “was a huge success and put us in a very positive direction to where we’re trying to go,” said Kristi Pantin, director of marketing for the Aquila Group, a local group headed by Good Samaritan Physical Therapy owner Tammy Davenport.

The group declined to tell how much money was raised at the tournament, which brought a gaggle of former National Football League players to the Vicksburg Country Club on Sept. 10.

Collecting funds for the project, which will depend mostly on grants, sponsorships and state tax incentives, was a small part of it, Pantin said. Sponsorships cost $100 per person, and $50 was charged for a meet-and-greet session that was part of the festivities.

South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman, who participated in the event, said the tournament was “very well run.”

“They had some good ‘legends,’ and the memorabilia was some really nice stuff. It was a fun event,” he said.

The extension allows the local group, along with USA Sports Partners Alliance, a Florida-based company, until December to return a feasibility analysis to the city that will determine whether Vicksburg can support the $40 million private complex it proposes. The group contracted with the city for the $250,000 in July and signed an agreement that promised that the money would be returned if the study proved the complex wasn’t feasible. The original deadline was Oct. 10.

Pantin said more time is needed to work though title and legal work, as well as land surveys, that will help the group acquire city-owned land at Halls Ferry Park and Bazinsky Field.

“The city owns five separate parcels of land,” she said. “It takes even more time. We’re still working through it.”

Beauman, who helped build the current fields when he was director of parks and recreation, has said the city will likely sell the land for a minimal fee to the private company that will manage the complex, which is proposed to house baseball and softball fields. The plan includes a welcome center, chapel, indoor soccer fields, retractable fencing for handicapped-accessible play and a lodge with condos and hotel rooms. While the extension will delay the group’s plans to begin work immediately, Davenport and her group still plans to have construction on the first fields begun by the spring ball season.

“We’re still trying to maintain that there will be fields in the spring,” Pantin said.

Work likely will continue on the first phase while play is going on, she added. A second phase, which could include a water park and small golf course, is planned to pick up after all the on-site work is complete. The group is exploring the purchase of additional property across Bazinsky, which runs north of the current complex.

Beauman said the group has environmental work to be done on the land, which makes up the 66 acres that the city owns.

“You can’t get it done that quick,” he said. “Before it was Halls Ferry Park, the parking lot was a landfill. So, I’m sure they have to make sure it’s safe.”

He added that the city has bought pieces of land one at a time over the years. Originally, in the late ’80s or early ’90s, he said, the city purchased the park and built three baseball fields and, later, tennis courts. In 1994, the city purchased an additional piece of land that is now home to Bazinsky Field and girls’ softball fields. After Bazinsky was built, the city purchased about 12 acres south of Halls Ferry Park to add a parking lot.

Another hangup for the group, Beauman said, could be the fact that some of the land was purchased with federal grants.

“Anytime you do federal grants, there’s a certain tie you always have to it,” he said. “There’s no problem on any of it, though. It’s typical. There’s always something when you’re dealing with government. There are a lot of little ins and outs you’ve got to do.”