Purposed Amateur Sports Center

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The Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission (MASC), at its October 1, 2007 meeting, adopted the plan for statewide amateur sports centers for Minnesota. The plan calls for seven locations covering all regions of the state:

• State Headquarters - National Sports Center - Blaine
• Northwest Region - Moorhead
• Southwest Region - Marshall
• Southeast Region - Rochester
• Northeast Region Range - Cities
• Central Region - St Cloud
• Metro Region - St Paul

The MASC plan calls for concentrating the state efforts and resources in a select number of communities to maximize the economic and social benefits of amateur sports. Just as every Minnesota community cannot have a state university, there needs to be a select number of regional amateur sport centers.

 

What are the Components of a Regional Center?
As sports tourism is a competitive business, Minnesota must compete with other states in order to attract out-of-state sports visitors. First, regional sports centers must possess sports facilities that are high quality and have a significant size. A soccer family will not likely travel 200 miles to a two field complex. Second, families are attracted to good hotels and restaurants. These amenities compliment a good sport tournament. Third, access to shopping and other tourism attractions add value to the sports destination. Finally, the regional sports center must have a sports commission in place to develop and market events.

How is Sport Tourism Generated?
All sports are not created equal in their ability to be part of a sports tourism strategy. In Minnesota there are over 100 sports played. However, 10% of the sports represent 80% of the participation numbers. Therefore, regional centers need to focus on the sports with the greatest populations and that have the greatest propensity to travel. In short, team sports such as soccer, hockey, basketball, volleyball, baseball and wrestling generate the most tourism economic impact.

Origins of State Policy and Lessons
In 1987, with the creation of the MASC, there was an original goal to build a world-class facility for every sport of the Olympic movement (36 summer Olympic sports and 12 winter Olympic sports). In these early years, facilities were built for the summer Olympic sports of soccer, track and field, cycling, swimming and diving, and whitewater kayaking. Winter sports included speedskating, hockey, cross country skiing and ski jumping. However it is obvious that there is a significant difference between soccer (over 100,000 players in Minnesota) and whitewater kayaking (less than 200 Minnesota participants). Likewise, there is a major difference between ice hockey (70,000 players) and luge/bobsled (less than 50). Therefore the MASC strategy is moving towards a select number of centers that serve primarily the team sports with large constituencies.

The Role of Regional Centers
Approximately 15 million amateur sport families travel over 100 miles to a sporting event annually in the United States, according to the "Sports Travel" magazine. This travel reflects $2.7 billion in economic impact and generates nine million hotel nights annually. While a small percentage will travel 250 plus miles to a tournament, the majority will attend and participate in events that are 30, 60 or 100 miles from home. Consequently, the Minnesota Southeast Regional Center in Rochester draws sport participants from Western Wisconsin, Northern Iowa, and even Illinois and South Dakota. Likewise the Moorhead Regional Center will draw from North Dakota, South Dakota and Manitoba. Giants Ridge, located in northeastern Minnesota, attracts a large number of skiers from Manitoba, Canada every year. By placing a center in each region of Minnesota, the state will maximize its out-of-state dollar impact.

Minnesota Amateur Sports Vision
The National Sports Center in Blaine annually attracts almost four million visitors from the majority of the U.S. states, numerous Canadian provinces and up to 30 foreign countries

The National Sports Center has developed the world's largest soccer complex (52 fields) and the world's large ice arena (8 sheets) and has focused on two of these big sports - soccer and ice hockey. The National Sports Center in Blaine has proven that the team sport model can be very successful. The plan will now be to place medium sized facilities in the different regions of Minnesota.

The MASC's statewide strategic plan calls for each regional center to focus on a system of sports - including many of the big team sports. For example Moorhead's northwest regional plan calls for developing a 16 field athletic complex for soccer, lacrosse, and football. Moorhead will continue to utilize its existing four indoor ice sheets for the hosting of hockey and figure skating events. As a second example, Marshall is planning a 10-12 athletic field complex and a multi-purpose building for ice sports and basketball/volleyball. With the contiguous campuses of Southwest Minnesota State University and Marshall High School, Marshall has identified an "education and recreation corridor." This concentration of athletic amenities is an asset to hosting significant events.

When all seven regional centers have quality, large amateur sport facilities in place and have a regional amateur sports commission that will host and market the events to the surrounding states and Canadian provinces, the money will flow to Minnesota. The $70 million of economic impact from out-of-state visitors will move toward $100 million annually. The Minnesota regional amateur sports center strategy will repay the state's investment and will produce a million dollar benefit for the Minnesota economy.