OCEAN CITY — As yet another byproduct of the ongoing COVID-19 situation, it could be back to the drawing board for a recently completed, but yet unveiled, sports marketing study for the resort area.
Throughout much of the last two years, resort officials have expressed a desire to pursue the growing youth sports market to expand tourism throughout the year and possibly rebrand the town’s image. To that end, the Mayor and Council in March 2019 commissioned a study to explore the feasibility of developing a potential sports complex, either indoor or outdoor, or a combination of both, to attract more youth sports events.
Ocean City partnered with the Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) on the $49,000 study and commissioned the private sector consulting firm Crossroads to conduct the research and prepare a report on the feasibility of developing a sports complex in or around the resort area. The study was completed last year, and the results first went to the MSA before town officials got a look at it earlier this year.
City Manager Doug Miller said this week there have discussions about the MSA and Crossroads presenting the results of the study during an upcoming council meeting or work session, but the release has been delayed.
“That has it a snag,” he said. “The council had the report back in January and needed to clear it for release and presentation. Then COVID hit and we concentrated on other agenda topics, so this clearance was deferred. All the while, the Maryland Stadium Authority asked when the study would again be up for discussion.”
Miller said the council recently approved the release of the sports marketing study for the resort area and informed the MSA with a request the state agency and the consultant appear at a council meeting to present it. However, because of the current sports and entertainment landscape under the ongoing COVID-19 situation, the consultant has reservations whether the findings in the study are still valid.
“We recently okayed the study for release and informed the MSA with the request that they and the consultant present it at a council meeting,” he said. “They informed the consultant of this, to which the consultant responded they were not comfortable with all of their assumptions now that we were post-COVID.”
As a result, the Mayor and Council have a decision to make regarding the validity of the study and its eventual presentation.
“We are looking at two options which have not been decided on,” said Miller. “One is release the study with the qualifier that assumptions may have changed. Two is have the consultant go back and retest their assumptions. The council has to decide between the two.”
It’s no secret the youth sports market, including tournaments, camps and clinics, has become a multi-billion-dollar industry growing seemingly every day and Ocean City has been exploring ways to tap into it. Some analysis has shown youth sports is now taking a major bite out of the tourism and travel market and Ocean City, with its vast lodging and hospitality resources, could become an even bigger destination outside of its peak summer season.
There has been considerable debate about maximizing the resources the town already has at its disposal and an even larger debate about developing a sports complex either on the island or out in the county somewhere to further exploit the growing market.
