Sports complex planned for tourism effort

Sports complex planned for tourism effort

By Amy Stansbury Friday, 01 May 2009

The City of Round Rock plans to build an approximately 60,000 sq. ft. indoor sports facility to support the Convention and Visitors Bureau’s tourism marketing effort to brand Round Rock the Sports Capital of Texas. The location of the sports complex could be on a tract of land near Cypress Semiconductor and McNeil Park.

Round Rock City Manager Jim Nuse said the city wants to buy the land and real estate negotiations are underway.

“This site provides real advantages for the special events center project,” Nuse said. “If the negotiations are successful, it can also produce significant economic development opportunities for the whole community.”

The large, indoor sports facility is estimated to cost $38 million, but the size, design and cost of the complex have not been finalized. The majority of the funding will come from the city’s hotel occupancy tax revenue, or HOT funds, but the project has not yet been approved by the city council in the HOT funds budget. The venue could host volleyball, basketball, martial arts, wrestling and horseshoe tournaments, cheer competitions and various other indoor sporting events. Round Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Nancy Yawn said the facility will help her attract more tourists.

“I have such limited space [facilities for sporting events] to sell, if you think about it,” she said. “Parks and Recreation works with us as much as they can, but they’ve got to accommodate their leagues, too. The highest priority of anything is the indoor sports complex. It would extend our year.”

Round two

The CVB was formed in 2005 after the city decided to look at tourism as a way of reducing its reliance on Dell, Inc. as the main source of sales tax revenue. The CVB recently hired Seattle, Wash.-based Destination Development, Inc., the consulting firm that created the original tagline and marketing plan five years ago, to conduct an assessment of the city’s progress and to create an updated plan, which cost $21,500 and was presented to the city council in late March.

Two action items not yet accomplished that were listed in the original plan were to build an indoor sports facility and establish way-finding signage for Old Settlers Park and decorative gateway entrances to the community from state highways and IH 35. Directional signage to key attractions such as Dell Diamond, lodging and dining locations, parks and historic downtown was also recommended.

Yawn said the city is working with the Texas Department of Transportation to secure approval on signage, and the indoor sports facility location is pending. In the first phase of the Sports Capital of Texas marketing campaign, the CVB targeted tournament directors nationwide, but in the next phase, locals will be engaged to champion the Sports Capital of Texas brand to help area residents learn what it means and why it matters to them. The tagline Game On! will be more prevalent in the second phase of the campaign, too.

“Now that Round Rock is recognized nationally by tournament directors as The Sports Capital of Texas … our goal is to continue with that success and also incorporate the Sports Capital of Texas into the lifestyle of the people who work and live here, the people we want to work and live here, and our guests,” Yawn said.

Tourists spend money

Tourism is the purest form of economic development, Yawn said. Sports tournaments bring a large number of visitors to the area. For youth sporting events, an average of one to two people accompany the players when they travel.

“Visitors who come here spend money at our stores and restaurants and pay sales tax, which goes into the general fund and into helping reduce property taxes and into the 4B fund, which builds the roads,” she said. “They are infusing money into the local economy.”

Charley Ayres, senior vice president of business retention and expansion at the Round Rock Chamber of Commerce, said that some may think the Sports Capital of Texas tagline implies just recreation. But he said it is also a big part of economic development.

“I think it’s important that people don’t equate [the Sports Capital of Texas campaign] with just fun and games,” he said. “It goes much further than recreation; it’s actually investment. The CVB is helping bring in those new dollars just like a business would be introducing a new product on the market.”

Area businesses win

When large tournaments are in town, the CVB — with the help of Parks and Recreation staff — gives out bags with dozens of fliers, menus and brochures stuffed inside from area businesses and shops to offer visitors options for shopping and dining.

The Round Rock Premium Outlets contribute to the bags, which seem to help attract tournament goers.

“The weekends that tournaments are held, we always see tons of jerseys,” said Jana Griswold, assistant general manager of Round Rock Premium Outlets. “It helps support the town and our center.”

Stores are not the only ones who benefit from an increase in business during local tournaments. The Old Settlers Association RV Park adjacent to Dell Diamond and Old Settlers Park gets a number of tournament attendees booking spaces.

Randy Michna, Old Settlers Association grounds manager, said his business might slow down in the hotter months because most of his regular RVers travel north where it is cool, but instead the park fills up.

“When baseball season starts up, I’ll get a team from the area — Georgetown, for instance,” he said. “They’ll bring a trailer here so they have somewhere for the kids to sit in the cool AC for a little while in between games. Those big youth baseball tournaments are definitely a good thing for us.”

Entertainment and downtown

The Sports Capital of Texas campaign and the city’s tourism efforts go hand-in-hand with Round Rock’s Downtown Master Plan, which aims to revitalize historic downtown and broaden its footprint, said Mayor Alan McGraw.

Revitalizing downtown and creating buzz about it will give visitors a place to go when they are in town for tournaments.

“If people in town from Houston hear that downtown Round Rock is a really cool place to go, then they’re going to go down there and they’re going to see all of their options of places to shop and eat,” he said. “That’s why the effort into revitalizing downtown is so important because then that becomes a destination.”

Adding more arts and entertainment venues, shops and restaurants downtown help support Yawn’s efforts to attract tournaments to the city, too. Players’ parents, coaches and tournament directors make the decisions on which tournaments to attend, and they often choose to go somewhere that they can have fun outside of the ballfields.

“We have great facilities and it started with Old Settlers Park,” Yawn said. “It’s larger than Zilker Park and it provides a venue for a very diverse array of sports. We’re also centrally located in Texas — within a two and a half- or three-hour drive of 90 percent of the population of the state. But I need attractions and things for people to do while they’re here.”

Some families travel from out of state and stay for a week, and it could be their only vacation for the summer, Yawn said.

“When you’ve got a family in from Michigan who comes in for seven days, they may play one or two games a day,” she said. “We want them to have a great vacation while they’re here, and we want them to stay here in town. It will help us attract more national championships.”

Old Settlers Park spans 570 acres and features the following: 12 tennis courts, 7 soccer game fields, 2 sand volleyball courts, 20 baseball fields, 5 softball fields, 1 disc golf court

The Round Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau has recruited many sports events to the city as part of the Sports Capital of Texas campaign. Following are some large events and the expected number of teams and participants.

• 3 versus 3 Live national youth soccer tour
  • Old Settlers Park • Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, 2009
  • 175 teams and 1,050 participants
  • www.3v3live.com
• Super Series baseball
  • Champion Fields at Old Settlers Park
  • April 4-5, 2009 • 166 teams1,992 participants
  • www.superseriesbaseball.com
• Texas Road Rash youth and adult inline skate marathon
  • Old Settlers Park • April 18-19, 2009
  • 188 participants • www.texasroadrash.com
• Super Series Baseball of America South Texas State youth tournament
  • Champion Fields at Old Settlers Park
  • June 5-7, 2009
  • 125 teams and 1,500 participants expected
  • www.superseriesbaseball.com/roundrock.html
• Super Series Baseball of America South Texas State youth tournament
  • Champion Fields at Old Settlers Park
  • June 12-14, 2009
  • 100 teams and 1,200 participants expected
  • www.superseriesbaseball.com/roundrock.html
• Super Series Baseball of America World Series youth tournament
  • Champion Fields at Old Settlers Park
  • July 4-11, 2009
  • 60 teams and 720 participants expected
  • www.superseriesbaseball.com
• Super Series Baseball of America World Series youth tournament
  • Champion Fields at Old Settlers Park
  • July 17-24, 2009
  • 60 teams and 720 participants expected
  • www.superseriesbaseball.com
• Amateur Athletic Union National Junior Olympic Qualifier for track and field
  • Round Rock High School’s Dragon Stadium
  • July 14-18, 2009 • 2,000 participants expected
  • www.aauathletics.org
• Spikefest 2009 youth and adult volleyball tournament
  • Old Settlers Park • July 18-19, 2009
  • 100 teams and 500 participants expected
  • www.spikefest.com
• 3 versus 3 Kick It youth soccer tournament
  • Old Settlers Park • Aug. 1-2, 2009
  • 165 teams and 990 participants expected
  • www.kickit3v3.com
• Amateur Athletic Union Martial Arts Championship
  • Clay Madsen Recreation Center
  • Aug. 21-22, 2009 • 250 participants expected
  • www.aautaekwondo.org
• McNeil High School Cross Country Meet
  • Old Settlers Park • Oct. 3, 2009
  • 3,500 runners expected
• UIL Cross Country State Meet
  • Old Settlers Park • Nov. 14, 2009
  • 1,200 runners expected
  • www.uil.utexas.edu/athletics/cross_country