Tourism Board Proposes MontCo Multi-Use Sports Facility
by Jim Melwert
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A tourism advocacy group says a $40 million multi-use sports facility in Montgomery County could have a $100 million economic impact for the county over a five-year span.
The announcement came at Center Ice in Oaks, about to host the MyHockey tournament this weekend, with 1,000 players and 3,000 travelers.
"It brings in over 11,000 room nights, annually, every year, this one event," said Mike Bowman, President and CEO of the Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board.
He says more than half of all group bookings in Montgomery County hotels are through sporting events.
He points to a study that says the average family will spend $900 attending a single youth tournament, that study also says sports tourism is recession proof, as parents will scrap leisure vacations, rather than trips for kids' sports.
But, he says, the county is losing out on some big tournaments because they don't have the facilities to compete.
Armed with a new Sports Facilities Advisory study, Bowman describes a multi-use sports facility with a dozen outdoor fields and 108,000 square feet of indoor court space.
"And we're ready to sit down and talk through how to get the financing and how to get the support," Bowman said.
He says those talks have yet to begin, but could be public, private, or even a mix of the two
