MEMORANDUM
To: Roberts Stadium Task Force
City of Evansville, IN.
From: Bob Warren, Executive Director
Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau
Date: February 23, 2012
Re: Sports Facilities
It is the intent of this correspondence to provide you with my professional opinion regarding sports, sports facilities and the impact this market has on our community and our industry. Having served the tourism industry for twenty five years, I’ve seen the benefits of the sports market. The impact to a community serves not only our quality of life issues but it also makes a tremendous impact on our economy.
Take Panama City Beach, for instance. As the former Executive Director of the Bay County Florida Tourist Development Council and President /CEO of the Panama City Beach Florida Convention and Visitors Bureau in 2000, I worked with local sports organizations in the development of a 9-plex Softball/Baseball Complex at Frank Brown Park. This $6 million dollar investment has become one of the most used softball/baseball complexes in the country. In 2011, this complex hosted 24 softball and baseball tournaments that generated 58,616 booked room nights and more than $30.8 million to the local economy. As an additional advantage, complexes like Frank Brown Park are used primarily by local youth and adult leagues and teams during their seasons. This becomes the gold standard for building such a facility – that it be a facility enjoyed by local residents.
In our review of the local impact of baseball and softball on Evansville and Vanderburgh County, we immediately identified the need for a new complex. According to the information reported from the Evansville Park and Recreation Department, there are an estimated 275 youth teams (ages 8-13), 250-300 girls’ fast-pitch teams (ages 8-18) along with approximately 500 adult teams. This number represents a staggering 16,125 community youth and adults that actively participate in baseball and softball. This information combined with the opportunity for economic development through the sports market play is compelling.
In 2010, the ECVB presented a plan for the development of a comprehensive Sport Complex at the Roberts Stadium site. The design of the plan was exceptional with every feature imaginable built into the plan including a maintenance plan. The cost of the completed project was estimated at eighteen million dollars ($18,000,000.00) and would have committed all of the funds from the ECVB Tourism Capital Development Fund for the next twenty five (25) years. Approval by governing bodies was not given, mostly due to the belief that the project was too expensive.
We have reviewed the previous plans and we strongly believe we can accomplish the same objective to develop a softball/baseball complex with 8-9 fields for an estimated cost of eight to ten million dollars ($8,000,000 – $10,000,000). The design would be altered to eliminate much of what was included in the previous plan but this complex would satisfy four key considerations –
• First, to offer a quality park environment for local teams to play that will benefit our citizens and the youth of our community.
• Second, enhance the value of the real estate in the area surrounding the park by providing a pleasing, attractive addition to the neighborhood.
• Third, allow Evansville to participate in the direct and positive financial impact of traveling tournaments so we can compete with our regional neighbors who are already “in the game,†so to speak. Witness the development of softball/baseball complexes in Westfield and Jasper, IN., Owensboro and Henderson, KY., Clarksville, TN, and other communities much smaller than Evansville. We must consider how far we want to fall behind before we react to this type of development.
• Four, the cost of the complex would be paid for with the money from the Tourism Capital Development Fund. The TCDF fund is a committed percentage (3.5%) from the 8% Innkeepers’ Tax collected BY hotels/motels FROM VISITORS OR OTHERS WHO STAY IN HOTELS AND MOTELS. Unless you as a resident stay in a hotel or motel in Vanderburgh County, you will not contribute one cent to this project. There will be no local tax dollars spent to build this complex.
As you review the suggestions proposed for the future of Roberts Stadium, I encourage strong consideration for a project of this type. The studies have been done and the time for action is now, not in the future. I would gladly offer my experience in the industry of sports marketing to anyone that can assist in our moving forward.
Sincerely,
Bob Warren