A magnet for team tournaments, O’Fallon Sports Park is impacting local economy

Rebounding from the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic, the O’Fallon Family Sports Park has hosted team tournaments this spring and summer that have benefited the local economy by an estimated $2 million.

That figure is not direct revenue but calculated based on people who stay overnight for tournaments. They typically spend $60 a day for lodging and meals, and if they only visit O’Fallon for the day, $10 each.

This is exactly what the city hoped for when the Destination O’Fallon incentive was approved in 2016, when officials took a more sophisticated approach to economic development. Destination O’Fallon used hotel/motel tax revenue to add soccer and ball fields to the Family Sports Park, hoping to attract regional and national tournaments, and for a pavilion and improvements downtown, hoping to spur growth.

Hotels, restaurants, and businesses are generating revenue based on the influx of people in town for soccer, baseball, and softball tournaments — often attracting players from other states.

For instance, the Greater Midwest Baseball Cowboy Classic from June 10-12 included 69 teams from six states, and 26 of those teams stayed overnight. That impact was estimated at $131,340, with $102,960 attributed to the out-of-towners.

Andrew Dallner, director of parks and recreation, shared an annual report on the economic outcome of the spring/summer baseball and softball season at the sports park.

“Teams that come to town for sports tournaments have an impact to our community,” Dallner said. “This spending drives the local economy and generates income for the city.”

Dallner said, for every team that comes into town, they associate a value to that group.

“For example, if you are a local baseball team and travel into town we take the number of players, plus coaches, plus parents and multiply them all by $10 per person per day,” he said.

The Family Sports Park has a soccer complex that includes eight lighted, all-weather synthetic turf soccer fields — one that is a championship soccer arena — and four premium grass fields and two convertible all-weather soccer fields that were added in spring 2018.

More about sports park

The 200-acre sports and recreation complex features eight lighted baseball fields, Splash Pad, pavilions, concessions, and a 2.1-mile walking trail. In 2018, two all-weather synthetic softball and baseball fields were added. A playground was added this year.

The state-of-the-art soccer complex cost $4.58 million and was funded by a 4% increase in the city’s hotel/motel tax, which was at 5% five years ago.

Dallner shared the baseball/softball report with the O’Fallon City Council’s parks and environment committee this month.

Youth and adult leagues use the park for regular season play, too, but this report concentrates on the tournaments.

Between April through July, a total of $1,215,780 was calculated for financial impact on the area. There were 19 baseball and softball tournaments on the fields, 13 by the Greater Midwest Baseball events, the largest youth tournament provider in St. Louis.

GMB covers a seven-state region including Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. Established in 2010, GMB had over 5,000 teams play during the 2021 spring/summer season.

The highest impact was the GMB Blue Bi-State from June 26-28, with 71 teams from six states competing — 41 of them stayed overnight. That contributed an estimated $182,160 to the local economy, with 2,706 in attendance from out of town, and 1,980 from the local area.

Additional activity at the sports park

USSSA, The United States Specialty Sports Association, had three slow-pitch softball tournaments there, with the June 3-5 event drawing 130 teams from five states, including 34 from out of town. That impact was estimated at $122,400.

The Southwestern Illinois Baseball League drew 143 teams for the July 6-10 event, with an estimated $94,380 brought into the area.

GMB Stars and Stripes from July 1-3 brought 47 teams, with 16 staying overnight, for a total of $83,820 estimated. GMB Father’s Day Classic from June 17-19 featured 39 teams from four states, 12 overnight, for $65,340 estimated.

Dallner shared the economic impact of soccer tournaments from January through May at the July meeting at $888,820. September, October, November, February, March, and April are typically when soccer tournaments take place, so the fall dates aren’t figured in yet.

The soccer tournaments included $476,560 for a St. Louis Scott Gallagher tournament, $213,440 for Gateway Rush and $126,040 for Metro Alliance tournament.

Other tournaments included TruXposure Football at $62,640 and $9,600 for a new event from Washington University for Ultimate Frisbee.

The Family Sports Park Turf Improvements

The council approved Destination O’Fallon in November 2016 and improvements have been steadily made since then. Last year, new turf infields were installed because top tournament organizers were demanding them to guarantee play.

The fields needed rehabilitation because they couldn’t recover from rain as quickly as when they were newer. Over the years, the material and percentage mixture of infield mix had eroded. During rainy days, the fields become saturated, and the city was unable to recover them with drying agents.

To that end, the parks department was having trouble attracting out-of-town teams to register for tournaments, especially when Edwardsville had turf fields for rent.

In 2021, 610 teams came for baseball/softball tournaments.

“Many of these players, and parents/guardians/etc. stay in O’Fallon hotels, eat at O’Fallon businesses, and potentially shop in O’Fallon’s stores,” said City Administrator Walter Denton in discussing 2021 plans.

Far fewer rainouts

Nearly 20% of the games, though, scheduled to be played on the dirt fields were rained out.

“When tournament games get rained out, many of the teams travel home, or don’t come to O’Fallon in the first place,” Denton explained, so that planned upgrade nearly eliminated cancellations.

Patrick Christensen, director of recreation, reported in July that for the 2022 Adult Slow Pitch Softball season, “The turf fields have saved us from having to cancel any games for this league so far.”

Also helping the tournament/league process was the city set up an easy-to-use interface site for club members to register for all programs last year. The registration hub also included office hours for club members to stop in, register and pay fees.

Destination O’Fallon

In 2021, the hotel/motel revenue was up 262% compared to that same time in 2020.

Destination O’Fallon has generated additional revenue that has been used for current economic development projects, like the O’Fallon Station/Vine Street Market, hanging lights in downtown, signage, and marketing.

In three years, O’Fallon Station and Vine Street Market has grown into an integral city hub, spurred revitalization of the Downtown District and attracted attention because of its success.

The $1.5 million pavilion opened late in 2018 in time for the holiday season, but officially was ready in spring 2019. The all-season plaza was designed to create a central gathering place in the heart of the community, with the idea of small festivals, gatherings, a farmers’ market, and other events to be held there

After years of little attention and investment in downtown, the city, chamber, and downtown businesses banded together to create a coordinated strategy to make the district attractive to residents, visitors, and businesses, and it has become both a magnet for community activity and commerce.

The city’s Parks and Recreation Department oversees O’Fallon Station and its rentals.

This story was originally published August 24, 2022 at 5:00 AM.