Eldridge's connections helped lead to selection

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Athletic events are big business; bringing those events to Springfield is Brad Eldridge's business.|ret||ret||tab|

Eldridge was named executive director of the Greater Springfield Area Sports Commission & Foundation in February and is in charge of bringing sporting events and dollars to the area.|ret||ret||tab|

With the ball now in his court, Eldridge's main duty is to attract new events to the area.|ret||ret||tab|

"That's the No. 1 focus, to try and create an economic impact," said Eldridge, former Springfield-Ozark Mountain Ducks general manager. |ret||ret||tab|

"Bring some people to town and spend money bottom line," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

Eldridge replaced Lance T. Brown, who resigned after seven months on the job. Brown was the commission's first paid employee since its inception in August 1999.|ret||ret||tab|

Eldridge plans to bring in new events by first working with existing entities and facilities such as the Springfield Family Y, area parks departments, The Courts, Lake Country Soccer, AAU basketball and Jordan Valley Ice Park to maximize their resources.|ret||ret||tab|

"I hopefully can be a consultant to these existing entities and help them build," he said. "That way, they can become bigger and stronger, and look at bringing new or bigger events down the road."|ret||ret||tab|

Jordan Valley Park's new athletic venues the multipurpose arena and baseball stadium will help to bring the larger money-producing tournaments to Springfield, Eldridge said.|ret||ret||tab|

According to Mary Mannix, director of finance for the city, the multipurpose arena is expected to generate $1.82 million in annual revenue, while the baseball park should bring in $5.25 million per year. Mannix said these figures are conservative estimates and include ticket and concession sales.|ret||ret||tab|

"It will be a key asset to have all of that downtown," added Larry Krauck, sports and group sales manager for the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau. "Each (venue) will lend itself to being able to be used for multiple sports," he added.|ret||ret||tab|

Small events, big dollars|ret||ret||tab|

The large events, like last June's week-long Snickers Region II Championship soccer tournament at Lake Country Soccer, tend to grab the headlines for economic impact. There were 196 teams and 2,940 participants in the tournament.|ret||ret||tab|

But smaller tournaments have an impact, too. Smaller sports that may be coming to Springfield include karate, a boat race, horseshoes and a triathlon, Eldridge said. The newest event youth hockey held its first tournament at the ice park in April. Springfield already plays host to basketball, volleyball, baseball, soccer, softball, bowling and gymnastics events.|ret||ret||tab|

The Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau has no estimates of how much athletic events bring to the city because a specific impact study has not been conducted, according to CVB public relations manager Susan Wade.|ret||ret||tab|

Eldridge has his own formula for revenues he believes sporting events bring in.|ret||ret||tab|

"Some cities pull out outrageous numbers, like $200 per person," Eldridge said. "That's unrealistic. I think a realistic number is anything from $75 and $125 per person (per day). I always want to be conservative because I never want to over promise something because you lose your credibility."|ret||ret||tab|

For youth events, he multiplies the number of participants by two to determine the number of people who will be in Springfield. |ret||ret||tab|

That amount is multiplied by $100 for each day of the tournament.|ret||ret||tab|

For adult events, he multiplies the number of participants by one-and-a-half, and then follows the same formula.|ret||ret||tab|

It is an educated guess about what visitors will be doing and spending, Eldridge said. |ret||ret||tab|

"We've got a small karate tournament coming up and there are 100 youths and adults participating. We know that number," Eldridge said of the one-day tournament. |ret||ret||tab|

"About half of those people are coming in from out of town, and about half are from Springfield, Ozark and Nixa. That is where I might use the $75 (figure). Not all of them are going to stay in a hotel; some of them will just stay for one night. They'll still probably eat in town and they will run to the mall while they're here need supplies and things like that," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

Using Eldridge's numbers, a one-day karate tournament with 100 participants would generate $11,250 spent in Springfield.|ret||ret||tab|

Eldridge says revenue generated differs by the type of tournament.|ret||ret||tab|

"A horseshoe tournament where we only have 10 local people out of 1,000, those people are going to be spending $100 to $125 per person in the area," Eldridge said. "The horseshoes (tournament) probably would have 600 to 1,000 (participants). |ret||ret||tab|

"I don't want to jinx ourselves, but we have an 80 percent chance right now of getting it."|ret||ret||tab|

In addition to money generated from visitors, Eldridge says there is a trickle-down effect.|ret||ret||tab|

"In fact, look at a small tournament like (karate), and you're probably looking at $3,000 to $5,000 in expenses to run the tournament," Eldridge said. |ret||ret||tab|

"You have gym rental, labor, awards, trophies, banners, the janitor or people to run the concession stand. If the club is running the concession stand, they'll have to go to Sam's to buy their candy or pop. There is a huge trickle-down effect with literally every sporting event we have," he added.|ret||ret||tab|

Regardless of size, Eldridge is happy to take all comers. He said he'd be happy if he could get three or four events out of every 10 proposals. |ret||ret||tab|

"It's like that batting average," he said, "If I could hit .300 or .400, that'd be awesome. The more events we could look at" the better chance of bringing them in, he said.|ret||ret||tab|

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Commission revenue|ret||ret||tab|

The last piece of the puzzle is the creation of both corporate and individual memberships in the sports commission. |ret||ret||tab|

Eldridge said in the first few months, he has already signed up nine members, generating roughly $3,250. Member-ships range between $250 and $5,000, Eldridge said.|ret||ret||tab|

Members are acknowledged on promotional material or advertising at select events. They also may get some tickets or special recognition.|ret||ret||tab|

Memberships are crucial to the livelihood of the sports commission, he said, because half of its $100,000 operating budget comes from membership and event revenue. The other half is produced by the hotel/motel tax.|ret||ret||tab|

It was the 1999 passage of the hotel/motel tax increase that allowed the creation of Springfield's sports commission, said Krauck, who works with Eldridge in recruiting sports events.|ret||ret||tab|

"What we do at the CVB is try to get tournaments that bring in the overnight stay," Krauck said. "The convention bureau's efforts and the sports commission's efforts go hand in hand. We're both out there seeking groups that would want to come to Springfield."|ret||ret||tab|

Mannix said the sports commission receives 3 percent of hotel/motel tax funds, and there is an annual cap of about $40,000. |ret||ret||tab|

"As we grow our budget, it's going to have to come from those outside sources," Eldridge said. |ret||ret||tab|

"It's like running a small business with each event. We've got to come up with profitable events."|ret||ret||tab|

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