Sandusky-based Cedar Fair LP is always looking to make acquisitions, but in an industry that’s become increasingly consolidated the odds of finding an amusement park for sale has become slim.

“Hersheypark is in the Hershey family trust. And Herschend — no relation — the owners of Dollywood is a family that has no interest in selling,” said Matt Ouimet, Cedar Fair’s chief executive.

Building a park has become too expensive, so Cedar Fair’s best chance for growth and increasing revenues lies in complementary development, like hotels and the new $23.5-million Sports Force Park/​Cedar Point Sports Center in Sandusky, not far from the company’s hallmark amusement park.

“Our vision is to create fun that’s larger than life. We want people to come to our parks not to ride rides, but to think of them as the place to be to have fun,” Mr. Ouimet told investors and Wall Street analysts Tuesday in New York at the UBS 44th Annual Global Media and Communications Conference.

In laying out strategic plans for the amusement chain’s 11 parks, three water parks, and five hotels, Mr. Ouimet said Cedar Fair has a fairly resilient business model. But the competition is fierce because of other forms of entertainment and the amount of leisure time people now have.

Families are committed to more activities than in the past, such as organized sports for their children. Such activities can be a “threat” to amusement parks, so Cedar Fair is considering adding sports centers near its park, so that when children’s teams travel there for tournaments, they might go to the amusement park in their down time.

Mr. Ouimet said Cedar Fair owns 1,600 undeveloped acres near its parks across the country and could use them for potential sports complexes.

The Sandusky complex, which cost Cedar Fair $5 million and Erie County $17 million, is designed to capture that travel.

“... I think you’ll continue to see us leverage that because it’s a great addition to what we do,” Mr. Ouimet said.

And it’s not just any sports teams that Cedar Fair hopes to attracts. It wants lower competitive levels of play, which allow more free time; girls teams because parents travel with their daughters, and lacrosse and soccer teams because they have the most players, the CEO said.

“It’s a real growth lever that we’re going to take advantage of,” Mr. Ouimet said.

Regarding other plans, he said, Cedar Fair will still build thrill rides like a new wooden coaster that will make its debut at Kings Island near Cincinnati this spring and will create more “techtainment” — the marriage of attractions and video-game technology.

It opened two such attractions last year — Mass Effect and Plants vs. Zombies — that are rides but let people shoot video images. “Where’s the magic of it? You get a score at the end,” Mr. Ouimet said.

But as yet, the industry still has a capacity problem with such attractions.

“How do you do it at the park to get capacity?” the CEO asked. Virtual reality works well technically, but it takes time to get people to don VR headgear and then clean it afterward, he said.

Contact Jon Chavez at: jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.

First Published December 7, 2016, 5:00 a.m.