SALISBURY – Officials in Wicomico County will once again continue its partnership with Worcester County and the Town of Ocean City in the Mid-Atlantic Amateur Sports Alliance (MAASA).
In a legislative session Tuesday, Recreation, Parks and Tourism Director Steve Miller approached the county council to approve the continuing agreement between the three jurisdictions. This request comes weeks after Ocean City renewed their agreement with MAASA.
The mission of the alliance is to link and leverage Ocean City, Wicomico County and Worcester County’s assets to attract amateur athletic events.
“When this effort started a couple of years ago, it was primarily based around the (U.S. Specialty Sports Association Eastern) World Series,” Miller said. “In recent years, that has started to expand.”
Though the agreement will essentially be the same, Miller said some language has been clarified.
“We made a couple of minor adjustments because of that growth to define what is a MAASA event, what would qualify as an event, and also to establish some protocols to determine what role each party is going to play when we recruit those types of events,” he said.
Councilman John Hall asked Miller if there was any measurable economic impact from MAASA.
Miller replied that the World Series event brings the area between $17 million and $20 million.
He added that the alliance’s annual operating budget is $18,000. After a three-way split, Wicomico County’s financial obligation is $6,000. Miller said this money goes toward trade shows, advertising, promoting and the like.
The county council unanimously approved the MAASA agreement for the FY2018 fiscal year.
The agreement will begin July 1 and ends June 30 or next year.
