Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 02/08/1996

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CITIES BET ON SPORTS TO BOOST ECONOM r Some o~the finest competition in sports ~oday isn't on the playing field; it,s taking place in dry halls, chambers Of commerce and sports assoctatio ,ds across the country. Bidding M'ars between ciUes for major-leagl~e franchisez and high- profile eye, ts are. nothing new. More rece~ tty, though, there's been intense competition for sports eye'ts of all descriptions as communiti{~s realize that even ama- teur games~can have a significant impact on ii. local economy. As a result, cities nationwide are investing i~improved sports facili- ties to attra~ the kinds of events that bring i/~ tourism dollars ancL in some cas~, even spark economic . on--karo. Mi~_~ saw an imm-~ffiEf~feturn on its investment when it buil[t Caswell Park, a tour- nament-qu~lity softball comple~ From the o~tset, city officials planned to/~ake the park state-of- the-art de~i~med with players, spectators ~lnd the media in mind. Each seas~,0n since the park opened in 1588 tournaments have been sched,Hed xnrtual y every weekend fr~/n April through August. By ~e~arly March of this year, for example~all but two or three weekends h~d been booked, according to, Dave Haack. North Mankato parks superintendent. A typical tournament draws 32 tea_ms from towns within an 80- to 90- mile radius. At least one district tour- nament is played at the park each seasom there's also been at least one state tournament every other year. In additio~ the facility hosted the Amateur Softball Association's national men's fast-pitch tournament in 1990 and the ASA's national boys' 18-anctamder and 1B-anti-under fast- pitch softball tournaments on con- secutix~ weekends In 199 L The back-to-back national tourna- ments, although something of a logistical nightmare and a great deal of work, were especially rewarding fmncially, according to Maureen Gustaf. so~ executive director of the Mankato Convention and Visitors Bureau. ,She estimates that each vis- iting ptay~ spends between $95 and $I00 per day, which means a week- end tournament that attracts 15 out- of-town teams with 12 members each would, in just one day, pump almost $18,000 directly into mer- chants' hands. That's a conse, rv~tive estimate, since few tea.ms travel to tournaments without an entourage o/relatives and friends who also eat, shop and stay in motels. Frequently this spending is de- scribed in terms of total economic impact-per-day expenditures (the $18,000 mentioned above) multi- plied by the number of times each dollar will be spent be_fore leaving the community. The dollar turn- over rates varies from community to community, ranging from a mini- mum of two to a high of seven_. Using the 3.5 turnover rate estal> lished by the International Associa- tion of Co~ort/Visitors Bureaus, a one-day expmditure of $18,000 would create an economic impact of $63,1300. in Blue SprigS. Mo. city hope Hidden Valley Park, scheduled to o~ ~s ~, ~ll a~i~e simb ~ socc~. ~ fo~ sep~te s~ compl~ M one ~e ~ ~ m~ple f~t~ c~, ~ff~ ~ ~ fid~. s~ ~ i~ ~ ~ ~ adiac~ fi~&, ~n~n ~d ~ r~m fad~m. ~g ~d ~o~ ~dd~ V~ ~ ~ d~o~ to com~e for a d~de sham ~ O/pla~ fiE~, bm d~ ~d s~m I~e o~d~ ~ w~ of ~e ~'s ~t~ for m~. ~o~, Blue Sp~gs. co~'t p~de ~o~ fiE~ at one l~fion to h~t a to~L a~or~g to ~c~ ~t~. d~- tar O/~, ~on ~d b~l~ ~. b~ ~e s~e ~d ~. ~dud~ ~g on ~ so~b~ Following the Indianapolis Example To show their apprecia- tion for the revenues ge~,, er- ated by sports events, North Mankato. Minn.. b~si- ness leaders are doing everything they can to h~lp tournament organizers, r ~We realize tournamer)t organizers are doing sorhe- thing valuable for the cotn- munityf says Maureen ~ Gusta/son, executive direc- tor of the Mankato Convtha- tion and Visitors Bureau4 which recently formed a ': local sports commission ~to provide assistance to the[ city's tournament organ~- ers. The commissionloolls at the problems they fac ~ and at what others in the: community can do to solge those problems, leaving ! organizers more time to Bid and plan events. The sports commission, which is funded by hotel- mote/tax money, has already developed a master calendar to avoid schedul- ing conflicts, and a welcome packet for each visiting player that includes a city map and summary of area activities and attractions. Sports commissions ~ found in most major metro- po[itan areas, as well as in a surprising number of cities the size of Mard~ato -- are becomin~ more common as competition for athletic events intensifies. Most are patterned after the Indiana Sports Corporation, the first organization charged solely with pursuing sports events and associations to enhance economic development. When it was formed in 1979. Indianapolis was suffering. Manufacturing jobs were disappearing at a frightening rate, the dty's population center had fled to the sub- urbs and the city had absolutely no image ~ good or bad. At the time, though, few realized the economic potential of amateur and lesser-known sports events, which probably worked in the city's favor. For instance, when Indianapolis won its first bid to host what's now known as the U.S. Ol.vmpic Festival, the city lacked softball fields, a stadium for track and field events, a velodrome and a natato- rium, all of which had to be built before the festival. Since then, the city has hosted more than 200 events ranging from the NCAA Final Four and the NBA Ali-Star Game to the recent U.S. Olympic swim- ming and diving trials. The national governing bodies for three sports and several smaller sports organiza- tions have relocated to downtown indianapolis and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue has been generated. Sports has also brought the city an emotional renais- sance. Community leaders boast of civic pride and team spirit that didn't exist a decade ago. ~Fhe city has come to believe in itself through sports,' sa.ss Sports Corpora- t. ion president Sandy. Knapp. ATH,~r~uC ~USIN[C..S Jonuarv ;?~]