Hiring tourism coordinator is next step in O’Fallon Sports Park expansion

As a competitive soccer player, Allie Ryan Maddray traveled the country and played at the Family Sports Park in O’Fallon. Now the city’s tourism and community engagement coordinator, she is eager to show visitors and residents what O’Fallon has to offer.

At work since March 17, Maddray is concentrating on building relationships with local businesses, hotels and partners and helping connect visitors, especially those coming for events at the sports park, with local restaurants, retailers and experiences.

“I’m looking forward to share why O’Fallon is so special,” she said.

Maddray said her work spans tourism strategy, economic development and public engagement, with the goal of making sure tourism benefits the entire community.

“I believe great cities don’t just attract visitors – they build belonging,” she said.

That means ensuring people who come to O’Fallon, “whether they’re here for a tournament, visiting family, or just passing through, they feel welcomed and connected to the community,” she said.

City Administrator Grant Litteken said she is ideally suited to help position O’Fallon as a premier regional destination.

“Allie is a graduate of McKendree University, where she played soccer and received a degree in Sport Management and Marketing. Most recently, she worked with St. Louis City SC and helped create the marketing splash for them,” Litteken said.

“She is very familiar with local and regional sports organizers and will hit the ground running growing O’Fallon’s ability to attract and retain sports tourism and community engagement,” he said.

While attending McKendree and living in Lebanon, she said she “quickly fell in love with the O’Fallon community and what it had to offer.”

Years earlier, she played soccer at the O’Fallon Family Sports Park when it first opened.

“There were only two fields, so it’s been really exciting to see how much it has grown since then,” she said.

Maddray said playing soccer through college gave her perspective as both an athlete and a visitor.

“I know what it’s like to travel for games, spend weekends at complexes, and how those experiences shape how people view a destination,” she said.

Noting that her family traveled the country, she said her father was adamant about eating at local places, not chain restaurants.

Looking back, at age 27, she said she fondly recalls how they “created memories. My parents made sure they had experiences.”

Working in digital marketing with the St. Louis Sports Commission as marketing and sponsorship coordinator and St. Louis City SC as a social media specialist gave her another perspective. She said she understands how sports tourism works from an organizational and economic standpoint, and how major events can bring visitors into a community.

“Because of those experiences, I understand both what athletes and families are looking for when they travel for sports and how communities can make the most of those opportunities,” she said.

City’s push for sports tourism

For several years, teams coming to town for tournaments at the Family Sports Park have made a significant impact, spending more than $9 million.

The park includes eight lighted all-weather synthetic turf soccer fields and three premium grass soccer fields, two all-turf baseball/softball fields, and eight turf infield/grass outfield baseball/softball fields.

Two more mixed-use soccer and baseball fields are under construction.

Andrew Dallner, director of O’Fallon Parks and Recreation, said the addition will help accommodate weekend requests for practices and games and expand programming.

All soccer fields are booked Monday through Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., from August through May, he said.

Additional field space is needed to accommodate local soccer clubs for practices, provide game space for the St. Louis Youth Soccer Association and support the city’s in-house recreational programs, which primarily serve children from O’Fallon and Shiloh.

The city’s economic impact study determined that individuals who stay overnight for tournaments typically spend about $60 per day and $10 per day if they only visit O’Fallon for the day.

The most recent economic impact report for Sports Park tournaments, August to December 2025, reported that $9.25 million was collected.

Major 2025 contributors were:

• Greater Midwest Baseball $1,732,000
• USSSA Softball $2,310,000
• Metro Alliance Soccer $790,080
• Gateway Rush Soccer $860,000
• St. Louis Scott Gallagher $1,500,000

The grand opening of the Vine Street Market will be May 9, but micro-markets are on Saturdays until then. District Nights will return downtown monthly this summer, and Music at the Park (Community) will be scheduled later in the summer. Maddray is working with Samantha Sorrick, the city’s special events manager.

“We’ll be rolling out more things,” she said.

Maddray’s background

Raised in Granite City, Maddray grew up playing soccer through college. Weekends were spent at the local roller rink her family owned.

After graduating from McKendree in May 2020 during COVID, she earned a master’s degree at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2022. That is where she met her husband, Ian Maddray, who is in the National Guard. They moved here in 2023.

“I missed the hometown/smalltown feeling and community here in the Midwest. I’m a big pickleball player and love playing all over the metro east,” she said.

Maddray said her first impression of O’Fallon was that it was a growing community, but also welcoming.

“My goal is to help showcase those things so visitors and even residents can discover just how much O’Fallon has to offer,” she said.