OCEAN CITY – The Dew Tour has officially announced its return to Ocean City this summer as the Mayor and City Council approved the dates of the event this week.
According to Private Events Coordinator Lisa Mitchell, city staff reviewed the application and has no concerns supporting the event. Last year’s cost to the town for supporting the Dew Tour was almost $49,000 plus lost revenue in the Inlet parking lot of about $41,000. The cost to the town this year will run the same since the proposed request and lay out is identical to last summer’s event.
Chris Prybylo of Alli Sports confirmed at this week’s meeting Ocean City’s event was the highest attended Dew Tour in history.
The Dew Tour Pantech Open brought Ocean City a national and worldwide audience through an extensive media and marketing platform. Ocean City was integrated into four hours of live NBC broadcasts and two hours of original USA broadcasts, totaling six hours of original programming nationally.
“Everything we broadcast is not only shown on NBC and USA, it is shown all over the world,” Prybylo said. “The media PR is phenomenal.”
All together the Dew Tour in Ocean City drew in almost a million impressions through print, online and broadcasting.
“It is exposure that you really can’t buy,” Prybylo said. “To give you a little bit of scope, about two years ago we were half of this when we came out for the Dew Tour, so the popularity has continued to grow.”
Besides national and worldwide coverage, the Dew Tour received plenty of attention from within Ocean City.
“We were really proud to work with about 300 local businesses on a variety of levels to really integrate the community into the event and we will continue to do that,” Prybylo said.
The City Council approved the request to host the return of the Dew Tour Aug. 16-19, 2012. The dates couldn’t be any more perfect for Ocean City as it fills in a space between the White Marlin Open and Labor Day.
Last year, the event was held July 21-24, and Ocean City was the first of a four-stop series. Although the other host sites have not been announced, it’s known the 2012 Dew Tour will not begin in Ocean City.
The Dew Tour features skateboard bowl and vert, BMX bowl and vert, and surfing competitions. The competition is based on a cumulative points system and there is more than $2 million in event and bonus purses which is awarded at the year’s end based on overall tour standings.
“We have been looking forward to tonight so that we can officially announce the Dew Tour returning to Ocean City,” Mayor Rick Meehan said. “I think it was a marquee event last year and certainly becoming one of the signature events we host … and look forward to a successful 2012 and continuing this relationship for a long time.”