Springfield plays hardball with sports

When 15,000 people converge on Springfield in a single week, as they did for a youth state soccer tournament last year, they bring their wallets. It’s a captive audience for local businesses.

Using Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau methods, that Missouri State Cup soccer tournament netted Springfield’s economy an estimated $7.5 million.

It was the largest amateur sporting event held in Springfield, said Tracy Kimberlin, executive director of Springfield’s CVB. The best part is that it’s returning next summer.

The lucrative soccer tournament is an example of Springfield’s powerful and changing sports scene.

Twenty-five years ago, softball was the dominant force; now youth and amateur athletics include tennis, soccer, basketball, hockey, figure skating, volleyball and weightlifting.

Professional teams have emerged with the Springfield Lasers tennis team and Springfield Cardinals minor league baseball.

While the CVB does not have statistics on annual economic impact from sporting events, Kimberlin said it’s vast.

“It’s millions, millions and millions,” he said. “The restaurants, hotels, retail, attractions and city sales tax budget would certainly notice a hit if sporting events were to go away.”

But athletics here is not going anywhere but up – just ask Sports Illustrated. In 2003, the reputable sports magazine named Springfield a Sportstown USA, one of 50 in the country. Later that year, Springfield was named a Community Olympic Development Program site.

But to fully understand the scope of sports in Springfield, Springfield-Greene County Park Board Director Dan Kinney immediately goes back to the late 1960s. Softball laid the foundation when the city began holding national softball tournaments.

“They would come from other states to play on our teams here,” Kinney said, recalling a time he counted automobile license plates from 33 states in the parking lot.

Then, in 1978, a major fast-pitch tournament really branded Springfield as a softball city. More than 10,000 people were in the bleachers for a Springfield vs. Pennsylvania game that featured one of the country’s top pitchers. That pitcher was later featured on “The Tonight Show” and in Sports Illustrated, where he talked about playing in Springfield.

“The word began getting out,” Kinney said. “Then we started to get the facilities to go with it. Now we can host any softball, soccer or tennis tournament that there is. And we are doing that.”

Facilities play a key role in attracting tournaments because Springfield bids against such cities as Orlando, Cincinnati and Detroit, said Larry Krauck, CVB’s sports sales manager.

Organizers say the combination of private and public facilites, such as Cooper Sports Complex, Killian Sports Complex, Jordan Valley Ice Park, Lake Country Soccer and Hammons Field gives Springfield an edge.

Of course, the Springfield Cardinals would not be here without John Q. Hammons’ $32 million ballpark that opened in 2004.

The team has created a professional sports buzz that’s been missed here for the last half century.

The fanfare surrounding the Cardinals’ minor league club is understandable; people in this city have worked for years to bring minor league baseball back.

Hammons did it, luring Cardinals’ brass with his new park, and the city has responded. The team is among the top draws in the minor leagues, averaging more than 7,000 fans per game.

The next item on athletic officials’ checklist is a downtown arena.

“That will be one of the last parts of the puzzle,” Kimberlin said, because it will allow for arena football and higher levels of hockey and basketball.

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