Deaconess Sports Park Preparing for a Robust 2021 Season

Deaconess Sports Park Preparing For A Robust 2021 Season

by James T. Wood, FCDME

President & CEO at Visit Evansville

Last year we were extremely fortunate to open Deaconess Sports Park even though it was to a greatly reduced number of tournament events due to the COVID-19 virus. With all the CDC guidelines in place, Deaconess Sports Park hosted 19 tournaments that attracted 829 teams with an estimated economic impact of $8,973,190 in 2020. Deaconess Sports Park also saw a decline of nearly 40% of those family members who would normally travel with their team to cheer on their favorite players, primarily due to the COVID-19 virus.

This year things should begin to normalize as the COVID vaccine reaches the masses. “2021 is shaping up to be a banner year for the Deaconess Sports Park as things begin to return to normal,” said Tim Fulton, Evansville Sports Complex Director of Facilities. “We are very excited to get Deaconess Sports Park open for a full season,” said Fulton. “Last year was a challenging season as we didn’t know from one week to the next what exactly to expect, but we managed through the crisis while still providing a great experience for the tournaments and teams,” said Fulton. 

Tournament bookings are returning and there is a high level of excitement as teams are preparing for an exciting 2021 season.  “Currently, we have 40 tournaments scheduled for this year which will attract an estimated 2,035 teams to Evansville from late March through early November,” said Cate Simon, Evansville Sports Complex Program & Events Manager.  “After a fall off from last year, we are also anticipating fan attendance to return to near-normal levels this year, barring another unexpected COVID-19 outbreak,” said Simon. Visit Evansville is projecting that over 20,000 hotel rooms will be used during the 2021 season, providing a much-needed boost to our area hotels as the hotel and lodging industry slowly rebounds from a very difficult past year and a half. In 2021 the Deaconess Sports Park will have an overall estimated economic impact for Evansville’s local economy of approximately $27.4 Million. 

Following the end of the 2021 tournament season, Deaconess Sports Park plans to replace its clay infields with new synthetic infields from its’ bond refinancing. These new infields will provide more opportunities to host additional tournaments, including boys U-12 and U-13 baseball tournaments. In addition, the new infields will greatly diminish rainout weekends while quickening the turnaround time of getting games back in action following a rainstorm.  

Since the Deaconess Sports Park opened, the facility has generated over $85 Million to Evansville’s local economy. Add in the 2021 projected economic impact, and Deaconess Sports Park will have generated over $112 Million to our local economy since its opening in 2015.