June 2009

Why would Sioux Falls promote and host a National tournament if they didn’t have the space

l3wis June 29, 2009 21Comments

Need one of these while visiting Sioux Falls? Good luck.

It’s not like a couple hundred people had to stay out of town during the recent soccer tournament;

Last week’s youth soccer tourney was a gold mine for Sioux Falls, but the city also lost a sizable chunk of business because it ran out of motel rooms.

 

The U.S. Youth Soccer Midwest Regional Championship brought 12,000 players, coaches, parents and out-of-town fans to Yankton Trail Park. Most visitors stayed overnight in Sioux Falls, but about 40 percent – or 4,800 – commuted from as far away as Sioux City, Iowa, for the weeklong tournament.

This will just blow-up in our face. Why would we promote a tournament that we knew had this many people coming if we didn’t have the rooms for them? I noticed the Sioux Falls Soccer Association is not commenting either, gee, I wonder why? I’m curious why they didn’t at least try to have host families so people could stay in Sioux Falls, I guess that would have made sense and proved we are hospitable people in Sioux Falls. Maybe we are not?

Schmidt said the situation didn’t surprise her and has occurred in previous soccer tournaments. She doesn’t begrudge other cities cashing in on the overflow, though it’s her mission to fill local rooms.

If you knew there wasn’t enough room – why promote it? We have this attitude we want to be this big badass city, but at the end of the day we are still a small town on the interstate. City leaders need to come to a realization that we are not going to become Minneapolis overnight. Slow, wise growth is a better approach.

“We know most of them still ate here and filled up their cars with gas here and did outside entertainment here,” she said. “We know we still captured most of the economic impact. But we know realistically, if you get a team up in the morning, they’re not going to wait to eat until they get to Sioux Falls.”

How do you know that Terri? Give us proof. Several restaurants said they had no increase in business. No wonder, people were eating in Sioux City.

John Kaatz, vice president of Conventions, Sports & Leisure in Minneapolis, said earlier in June that too few hotel rooms could hinder efforts to lure more business to Sioux Falls.

Schmidt said the soccer tournament is a different matter.

 

“No, this does not prove his point,” she said of Kaatz. “This is a sporting event that is outside at facilities other than an arena or convention center-type of building.”

Yes, Terri, because denial will solve problems everytime, won’t it?

The $10 million from the soccer tourney represents 4 percent of a year’s work. The city had $249 million in business from visitors in 2008, in restaurant, lodging, car rentals, retail and other income. Most of that form of income is from smaller events. A three-day convention of 500 people brings in about $285,000, Schmidt said.

That is why we must continue to promote smaller events. Not piss off 4,000 visitors so they go home and tell everyone how bad Sioux Falls sucks. Hopefully we learned something from this, but I doubt it.