Sports project aims to collect lost sports money

ASHEVILLE – Youth baseball and softball teams in the Asheville area routinely pack up their gear and head out of town to play a few games — and add money to the economy somewhere else.

Travel sports are big business for the cities that host softball and baseball tournaments, something Asheville has missed out on for lack of enough fields and facilities.

The Enka Youth Sports Organization wants to fill the void and make Buncombe County a major player in the game. The group has plans to erect a $5.4 million sports complex that will attract travel teams — and their families, who often blend sports trips into family vacations.

"Whether you're a hiker, shopper, a foodie or a beer drinker, whatever you want, it's here," said Martin Lewis, of the Enka sports organization. "Momma's happy, daddy's happy and the kids are happy."

The sports complex, with seven fields for baseball and softball, is expected to generate about $4 million in the first year, $6 million in the second year and nearly $6.7 million in the third year, according to estimates from the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce. Those figures are based on an economic impact of about $334,000 per tournament and also assumes a family spends roughly $375 a weekend.

Buncombe County commissioners recently allocated $1.3 million to the project, which calls for putting fields between the Buncombe County Sports Complex and the Enka campus of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.

Lewis said the complex intends to play host to 12 tournaments the first year, 18 the following year and at least 20 in the third year.

"The most important thing is it would be self-sustaining and all the money would go back into the facilities," Lewis said.

The complex would be open in 2016 if everything goes according to plan.

Other successes

The Enka Youth Sports Organization bills its project as a home run for Buncombe County.

Nationwide, youth sports tourism last year generated $8.7 billion in direct spending, said Don Schumacher, executive director of the National Association of Sports Commissions, a trade association for the sports tourism industry.

Others in the Southeast agree that the travel ball business is good for local economies.

The City of Morganton, about 65 miles northeast of Asheville, constructed 210-acre Catawba Meadows Park, opening a baseball complex in 2006 and a softball complex the following year.

The park features five Little League baseball fields and four lighted fields for youth and adult softball and baseball, plus batting cages, a field house with concessions and an eating area. A greenway runs along the Catawba River near the park, which also has picnic areas, volleyball, festival space and even a zip line.

Area residents also use the fields for recreational leagues during the week.

"It is an awesome facility for us," Morganton City Manager Sally Sandy said. "It has definitely created a tremendous amount of tourism for this community."

Gary Leonhardt, Morganton director of parks and recreation, said a team can easily spend $5,000-$7,000 in a weekend when taking into account entry fees, food and lodging. Restaurants and hotels ask him when the next tournament is coming to town, he said.

Lewis said one of his goals is to have a college softball tournament at the complex.

The National Softball Association National Championship tournament was held in Spartanburg's Tyger River Park in 2012. The economic impact on Spartanburg County was $4.66 million with a further $1.5 million impact in Greenville County.

Craig Collins, president of the Western Carolina Angels, said there is a "huge" need for a sport complex in the Asheville area that caters to travel baseball teams.

His organization fields eight baseball teams of varying age groups. Those teams travel throughout the Southeast, including Charlotte, Johnson City, Tenn., Spartanburg, S.C., Fort Myers, Fla., and the Atlanta area.

His teams play in the highest classification, so traveling is a necessity, Collins said. If the Enka sports complex becomes a preferred destination, then the competition comes to him and gives his players more exposure without leaving the area.

"We have the quality of kids that could really benefit from a quality venue," Collins said.

Lewis envisions usage similar to Catawba Meadows for the Enka sports complex: local people will use the facilities during the week and mountain-based travel teams will compete in travel ball tournaments with out-of-area teams on weekends.

"There's a huge need for local families during the week to use those facilities," Lewis said.

Family influenced project

Lewis' personal life has contributed to his vision for the sports complex. He and his wife have four children: two girls ages 16 and 10, and two boys ages 13 and 6. Lewis' older son has played a limited amount of travel ball.

For Lewis and countless other parents, a child's sporting event becomes the family vacation. Lewis said parks in Simpsonville and Myrtle Beach stand out because they had things to do at the sites for the children that did not involve watching the game.

Renderings for the Enka site show two play areas for children, multipurpose shelters and more than two miles of greenway trails. Planners say the complex will create a new tourism niche and strengthen the Asheville brand.

The business of luring teams to a city for tournaments is competitive.

Morganton charges whichever is greater between $150 per day for a field — $190 if lights are used — or 50 percent of gate receipts, Leonhardt said. The city also offers incentives for attracting more teams.

"We're not the only game in town," Leonhardt said.

Travel play lasts from March through mid-November in Morganton. Leonhardt said he limits tournaments to about 50 teams, because, beyond that number, hotels become sold out and teams have to stay too far away from the site of the games.

That may not be much of a problem in the Asheville area.

Lewis said there are nearly 1,100 rooms on Smoky Park Highway off Interstate 40 and on Brevard Road off I-26.

"And that's just at those two exits," Lewis said. "That's not all of Buncombe County."

Getting the ball rolling

The Enka Youth Sports Organization, which is in the process of becoming a nonprofit, would own and operate the sports complex facilities. The group raised about $750,000 in 50 days Lewis said recently, but still needs to raise $1 million.

The organization made a presentation Tuesday to the Tourism Product Development Fund, which makes recommendations to the Tourism Development Authority. The group is seeking $2.4 million and will learn about the grant in October. Lewis said a bank is prepared to loan the Enka Youth Sports Organization $1 million if it receives the TDA funding.

"We need help," he said.