On the Right Track | Sports tourism investments paying dividends



Beach visitors looking more athletic than usual this week? Tuesday’s editorial explains why:

Lace up your sneakers. It’s Youth Track and Field Championship Week in Myrtle Beach, or so proclaims the resolution signed by Mayor John Rhodes. He signed the document in April, but its origin stretches back years and has its roots in the city’s strategic decision to go after the lucrative sports tourism market.

Starting today, the city plays host to the 2011 USA Youth Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Up to 6,000 athletes and their families are expected in town for the next few days, and the city estimates it will generate up to $10 million in visitor spending. The event will be followed by the National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships in December, and are the result of a strong commitment by city leaders years in the making to reach a new visitor market.

“I think it’s going to be a huge economic impact,” Assistant City Manager John Pedersen said of this week’s event when it was announced in December 2009. “That’s exactly the type of event that [Myrtle Beach City] Council had in mind when they renovated Doug Shaw Stadium. This is just making a return on that investment.”

City Councilman Wayne Gray, who was an early and vocal supporter of the $3.2 million stadium renovation completed in 2008, echoed that statement last month when speaking about the event. “Without Doug Shaw we don’t get the opportunity to host that.”

The city’s success has hardly gone unnoticed, and now North Myrtle Beach is looking to get into the same market. The town closed just last week on 140 acres on which it plans to build a new sports park and recreation facility, at least in part to attract sports events of its own. The plan is not without controversy, coming as it does with a property tax increase attached.

We’re not insensible to the complaints of residents, particularly senior citizens, who say they have no need for a new sports facility and their taxes are being raised for a project that will do them no good. The success of the facility will depend on its marketing and its ability to garner large competitions such as the ones that Myrtle Beach is able to boast of this year. The city’s potential to bring in large groups of people, particularly in the off-season, will be the barometer of its worth. A partnership between Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach to pool their best sports resources for even larger events could also be a valuable result of this new construction.

The competition this week is powerful validation of the city’s outlay on Doug Shaw (the school district shared some of the renovation costs) and a strong indicator that the region’s recent focus on sports tourism can pay off. A real bonus will be the December cross country event, which will bring thousands of athletes to the area in a traditionally slow season.

“To have 3,000 kids and their families here in December I think will certainly have a significant impact on the community,” said Roy Edmondson, sports sales manager for the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, in 2009.

Breaking the region’s traditional boom-bust cycle would do much to stabilize our region’s roller coaster unemployment numbers, and if Myrtle Beach – and soon perhaps North Myrtle Beach – can use sports tourism to help accomplish that goal, we hope that more events will follow soon.

 

“I think it’s going to be a huge economic impact,” Assistant City Manager John Pedersen said of this week’s event when it was announced in December 2009. “That’s exactly the type of event that [Myrtle Beach City] Council had in mind when they renovated Doug Shaw Stadium. This is just making a return on that investment.”

City Councilman Wayne Gray, who was an early and vocal supporter of the $3.2 million stadium renovation completed in 2008, echoed that statement last month when speaking about the event. “Without Doug Shaw we don’t get the opportunity to host that.”

The city’s success has hardly gone unnoticed, and now North Myrtle Beach is looking to get into the same market. The town closed just last week on 140 acres on which it plans to build a new sports park and recreation facility, at least in part to attract sports events of its own. The plan is not without controversy, coming as it does with a property tax increase attached.

We’re not insensible to the complaints of residents, particularly senior citizens, who say they have no need for a new sports facility and their taxes are being raised for a project that will do them no good. The success of the facility will depend on its marketing and its ability to garner large competitions such as the ones that Myrtle Beach is able to boast of this year. The city’s potential to bring in large groups of people, particularly in the off-season, will be the barometer of its worth. A partnership between Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach to pool their best sports resources for even larger events could also be a valuable result of this new construction.

The competition this week is powerful validation of the city’s outlay on Doug Shaw (the school district shared some of the renovation costs) and a strong indicator that the region’s recent focus on sports tourism can pay off. A real bonus will be the December cross country event, which will bring thousands of athletes to the area in a traditionally slow season.

“To have 3,000 kids and their families here in December I think will certainly have a significant impact on the community,” said Roy Edmondson, sports sales manager for the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, in 2009.

Breaking the region’s traditional boom-bust cycle would do much to stabilize our region’s roller coaster unemployment numbers, and if Myrtle Beach – and soon perhaps North Myrtle Beach – can use sports tourism to help accomplish that goal, we hope that more events will follow soon.