SALISBURY — Hoping to further grow what is considered a “niche” market, Wicomico County is seeking the donation or lease of about 35 acres of Salisbury-owned land to expand the Henry S. Parker Sports Complex.
The expansion, which could have a major impact on Ocean City commerce, would mean the addition of new fields and could increase high-profile athletic tournament participation in Wicomico, something that has the potential to represent around $10 million in increased economic activity.
Gary Mackes, director of Wicomico County Recreation, Parks and Tourism, briefed the Salisbury City Council this week on the plan to bring more sports tournaments to the area. Wicomico is already on the map as one of the sites of the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) Eastern World Series for softball. The same organizer would like to develop the partnership further and add other sports, like soccer and baseball, to the mix. However, doing so would require the addition of more fields.
“One of the things that they need us to do is to build a facility that has eight soccer/lacrosse fields and eight or nine softball fields in one place …,” said Mackes. “They want a bigger facility to house the hub of the championship final games and with that comes to mind Henry Parker Sports Complex.”
Mackes requested that the city donate roughly 35 acres near the complex to the county to serve as the base for the new fields and improvements. Securing funding for the project has gone well up to this point, Mackes continued, with a goal of having the fields operational by spring 2016.
“With this, we have secured $1 million from the state depending on elections, of course, if incumbents come back, to get the balance of another $500,000, which we need to match as a county,” he said. “The county has come up with its match already of $1 million so we’re ready to go with $2 million to do two-thirds of the facility. And then hopefully the other $1 million, half from the county and half from the state, will be forthcoming to finish the project.”
The overall investment is extensive, but the rewards are worth reaping, according to Mackes. The USSSA World Series typically attracts around 400 teams, meaning hundreds of players and thousands of spectators. The last tournament resulted in about 12,000 hotel bookings and a similar showing of approximately 400 teams is expected for the next event. The county hosts a number of other smaller events as well which are responsible for bringing revenue to much of the shore.
“Wicomico County has established a regional brand encompassing 12 Mid-Atlantic states as a venue to hold amateur sports tournaments. Last year, Wicomico hosted 13 tournaments attracting 860 teams,” read a report provided by Mackes. “These events required over 18,000 hotel room nights infusing over $11,400,000 into the local economy and an additional $4,500,000 into the regional economy primarily in Ocean City.”
Adding more fields should increase those numbers and spread things out over a larger timeline, according to Mackes.
“We’re expecting, in round numbers, another $10 million in economic activity, 12 new tournaments over the next four years after that facility is built,” he said.
On top of the obvious economic bump, a bigger sports facility would have the added benefit of being available for use by residents when not being used for tournaments, which would be a quality of life improvement.
Council President Jake Day was curious as to whether there was any unmet demand from the hospitality sector. Many hotels are actually very reliant on the money coming in through the softball events, Mackes said, to the point where it could be argued that the revenue stream from sports is keeping some businesses outside of insolvency.
“So there’s more of a need for more businesses than there is currently unmet demand in hotel rooms?” Day asked.
Mackes informed him that was correct.
The council was positive about the impact amateur sports have on the area but did raise some questions about the nuts and bolts of donating a large slice of land. Such an action would most likely require the implementation of some easements. The possible development of the area also made Councilwoman Terry Cohen wonder how traffic patterns might change.
“Do we have any potential issues with residential areas nearby?” she asked. “When we talk about traffic, typically a lot of traffic is good for businesses but depending on what happens with that … who is going to be responsible for dealing with those traffic issues?”
Even how the watershed might be affected by the park expansion should be looked into, added Councilman Tim Spies. Instead of a donation, the council might consider a long-term lease, which could be offered at only a token cost to the county. Mackes said that his department is happy with whatever Salisbury can do to make an expanded sports complex a reality, but did mention that a lease can be a bit different than a donation when talking about making a major investment in the area.
Further discussion will be held in the coming months on the matter.