If you build it, will they come?

It’s centrally located, family friendly and there’s plenty of hotel space. These are the reasons a group of insurance and finance professionals from Chicago are anxious to open the first phase of their $24 million Ballparks of America complex this summer in Branson.

City officials say the plans for replica stadiums, such as Busch Stadium and Wrigley Field, for the youth baseball-tournament market align well with a targeted effort to tap into the sports tourism market.

The Ballparks of America development group – Hamilton Chang, Bradley Snider and brothers Michael and Dennis Chookaszian – is building its fields of dreams on city-owned land formerly occupied by Factory Merchants Mall, aka the Red Roof Mall. CEO Chang said construction should begin in February and wrap up by the start of summer in time to welcome families from across the Midwest and South.

“One-third of the U.S. population is within a one-day’s minivan drive,” Chang said of Branson.

From Chicago to Atlanta to Dallas, Chang considers Branson ideal for the new venture because families will have plenty to do when their sons or daughters lay down their baseball bats.

“If little Jimmy plays at 9 in the morning, and then doesn’t play again until the next day, there is a full day to spend in the Branson-Springfield area,” Chang said. “We settled on Branson because of the infrastructure: 18,000 hotel rooms, restaurants, a waterpark literally next door, two go-kart tracks on either side of our driveway, Silver Dollar City and all the family shows.”

City officials say the move into Branson by outside businessmen comes at the right time.

“It fits in exactly with our desire to increase sports tourism,” said Cindy Shook, Branson Parks and Recreation director, of the Ballparks of America project.

“We’ve kind of reached our limits.”

A year ago, though, a nearly $40,000 sports-tourism feasibility study by Chicago-based Johnson Consulting questioned whether current demands warranted new facility development.

“The depth of the market in immediate proximity to Branson is marginal,” the study concluded. “The existing Branson Rec Plex is adequate to accommodate the demand.”

The year prior to commissioning the study, 300,000 fewer tourists visited Branson, partly due to the Leap Day tornado that swept through downtown and damaged dozens of hotels, theaters and attractions.

Recognizing a robust but fragile tourism market, Branson officials responded by researching new potential revenue streams. What tourism officials knew – from 2012 data compiled by H2R Marketing – was that over half of the youth sports visitors traveled more than 100 miles, the average family stayed three nights and over two-thirds shopped during their visit. At the time, sporting events accounted for roughly $9 million in city revenue, and the defunct Red Roof Mall now owned by the city was identified as a redevelopment site to potentially boost those dollars.

Now, officials say sporting event demands are stretching venue supplies, particularly at the $13 million Branson Rec Plex built in 2005.

Last year, the Branson Rec Plex hosted a record 51,489 event attendees, a 17 percent increase compared to 2013, for its baseball, softball, basketball and volleyball tournaments.

The estimated economic impact of sports visitors in 2014 was $13.3 million, according to Shook, who cited the Branson/Lakes Area Convention & Visitors Bureau tourism formula. Last year, the Rec Plex held four junior world baseball and softball tournaments, and she said the five series booked this year are pushing the limits.

Chang and his crew see the opportunity.  

Their initial plan is to open five ballparks, but Chang said total build-out comprises 10-16 fields.

The Busch Stadium replica would serve as the largest field, holding between 2,500 and 3,000 spectators.

He declined to disclose expected revenues, but said he projects 10 fields to be open in 2017 and 80 teams – with 12 to 14 kids per team, plus coaches – to participate in 13 weeklong summer tournaments. Bookending the summer tournaments would be smaller weekend tournaments in the spring and fall. Chang estimates the weeklong summer tourneys would charge $750 per player, and he compared the level of play to that of Amateur Athletic Union basketball.

The concept is inspired by Dreams Park in Cooperstown, N.Y., home of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Chang said its weeklong tournaments garner $895 per player.  

“Cooperstown, although it has the baseball hall of fame, there’s not as much to do there,” Chang said.

Terra Alphonso, assistant director of sports marketing and development for the Branson CVB, said the city recently invested in sports flooring that can be laid down in the Branson Convention Center, and that effort attracted a futsal tournament in January. Over 400 players participated bringing an estimated 1,300 people to Branson and generating some $320,000 in economic impact, based on the CVB tourism formula for conventions and special events.

“The Branson CVB has dedicated a little over $250,000 toward sports marketing efforts for 2015. Approximately $25,000 of these dollars will go toward advertising in national publications,” she said via email.

Alphonso cited Sports Events Magazine, with a circulation over 16,500 that includes athletic competition planners, and Sports Destination Management, with over 18,000 readers, including event managers and tournament directors.

Branson Economic Development Director Garrett Anderson said catering to the sports market enhances current business services.

“We already have the infrastructure of the hotels, the network of roads. We already have the restaurants and attractions and the things people would do with the rest of their family vacation,” Anderson said. “Families are taking these tournament events and turning the summer travel into a family vacation.

“If we can offer them the rest of a family vacation to go along with a tournament, that really puts us in a good position competitively.”

At the Red Roof property, Anderson said Ballparks of America signed a 35-year lease for $2,000 per acre, plus 5 percent of gross receipts in Phase I. The first payment is due in 2016.[[In-content Ad]]