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Great Rivers and Routes Tourism Bureau President and CEO Cory Jobe came before the Edwardsville City Council last week to talk about Plummer Family Park, which opened in 2020 and covers 83 acres. 

Great Rivers and Routes Tourism Bureau President and CEO Cory Jobe came before the Edwardsville City Council last week to exhort the alderpersons and mayor into proceeding with the next phases of Plummer Family Park.

Plummer Park officially opened in 2020 covering 83 acres with four 12-U baseball/softball diamonds and six multi-purpose fields (three synthetic and three natural grass) for soccer, lacrosse, flag football, field hockey and more. There are also 12 pickleball courts.

Phase two would add four more 12-U baseball/softball diamonds immediately west of the current quartet with additional parking, four adult baseball/softball diamonds in the northeast corner and more parking, a future extension of Sports Park Drive, which will extend north to Route 143 and become the park's main gateway, a field house and a second entrance/exit off of Goshen Road.

On Tuesday, Jobe gave a presentation on the state of the sports tourism industry and cited a 2021 report created by Tourism Economics and the Sports Events and Tourism Association. The mayor and aldermen did not discuss Jobe's comments after his presentation. 

"Tonight I'm here to talk about the sports tourism industry and what we're seeing in terms of economic growth and sustainability in the industry, not only here in the Midwest but across the country," he began.

"The report focused on adult and youth amateur events and collegiate tournaments in the United States," he said. It excluded professional sports such as the St. Louis Cardinals, the St. Louis Blues, NASCAR, the NFL, the NBA and others. Regular season collegiate competitions were also excluded, he noted.

Total direct spending in this sector amounted to almost $40 billion last year, leading to $91.8 billion in total economic impact. Jobe said this generated more than 635,000 jobs, full- and part-time, and made almost $13 billion in state and local tax revenues all with no March Madness or college bowl games included.

He said sports travelers (175 million) rebounded quickly last year, even with the pandemic still occurring; it nearly eclipsed 2019 levels. That amount was 2.6 percent less than 2019, which was itself a record.

Sports travelers who stayed overnight increased to 94.7 million last year, just 1.7 million shy of the 2019 record. Fifty-four percent of all sports travelers spent the night at their event destination, which generated 66.5 million room nights in 2021.

He said $3.3 billion in local tax revenue was collected plus $2.9 billion in state taxes in 2021. Per the report, sports tourism supports more jobs than highway, street and bridge construction, pharmaceuticals, credit unions and oil and gas extraction.

Jobe said he thinks sports tourism is important because it's a regional economic play for Edwardsville and the region.

"We're centrally located; we have a great location. We can compete on price, we can compete with facilities if we have the right facilities; it's highly visible to residents," he said. "It yields significant economic impact for a community. It also helps keep our kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews closer to home if we have the facilities here."

Jobe has been in his position for 18 months and he said when he was hired, there was no sports tourism marketing manager. Jason Troop now has that position at Great Rivers and Routes. He previously managed a major facility in West Virginia.

"When I was hired, I said to my board [of directors] 'We need to get in the sports tourism game or get out of it,'" Jobe said. 

Jobe said he and Troop visited Plummer Park Tuesday but not before going to O'Fallon's Family Sports Park first. O'Fallon was Edwardsville's benchmark when discussing and planning Plummer Park a few years ago. Family Sports Park opened in 2007. It covers 200 acres and features eight, lighted all-weather synthetic turf soccer fields, three premium grass soccer fields and eight lighted baseball fields. The facility now has 10 championship all-weather synthetic turf softball and baseball fields. The park also provides other amenities such as a splash pad, pavilions, concessions and a 2.1-mile walking trail.

"You have great facilities; what you have at Plummer Park today is amazing but the expansion of Plummer Park [phases] two and three is vitally important, not only for Edwardsville but for the region," Jobe told the council. He wants to elevate the conversation and see how the tourism bureau can help bring dollars and economic activities through sports.

Besides O'Fallon, Jobe reminded the council that Edwardsville is not the only one developing or maintaining a sports park. He said Springfield is planning a groundbreaking for its Scheels Sports Park later this summer.

It will rest on 95 acres on the city's south side, near Interstate 72 and MacArthur Boulevard. The Springfield City Council approved it almost a year ago. It will have configurable synthetic turf multi-purpose fields that can be 14 baseball/softball diamonds or eight soccer or lacrosse fields.

The $65 million park will have a 160,000-square-foot indoor dome to house six basketball courts or 12 volleyball courts plus a multi-purpose turf field. The city anticipates the indoor elements can be used by the fall of 2023 while the outdoor aspects should be open for spring 2024.

He listed some of the other cities in the sports tourism industry such as Bedford Park, a Chicago suburb; Paducah, Kentucky; St. Charles, Missouri; and Overland Park, Kansas along with the Illinois towns of Normal, Marion and Crete, which he said are exploring new or additional sports complexes. He also said that Great Rivers and Routes is having the same discussions with Collinsville.

He said Plummer Park and the District 7 sports complex are a great start but the one thing Edwardsville lacks is additional facilities. Jobe said the overflow from many Edwardsville tournaments goes to O'Fallon.

Jobe quoted a recent survey of baseball/softball tournament directors that revealed that they need a minimum of eight ball diamonds but prefer 12 or 16 to host regional tournaments. Plummer has four; O'Fallon has eight. 

For phases two and three, they suggest full-size turf fields.

Between March 1 and Aug. 31, Plummer will play host to 24 sporting events, with an estimated economic impact of $4.3 million and 24,000 attendees and participants generating almost 2,000 peak room nights. This data excludes any events hosted by District 7 and SIUE.

He closed with some observations.

"Between just two baseball tournaments this year run by Greater Midwest Baseball, the March Opener and the Memorial Day Classic, our office estimated that more than $728,000 of economic impact was lost to the city of O'Fallon with Edwardsville as the overflow location for any regional tournaments with the four 12-U diamonds limiting usability," he said.

Charles Bolinger covers Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Edwardsville Township and the Collinsville School District for The Edwardsville Intelligencer. A graduate of Webster University in St. Louis, he has been writing for the paper since 2018.