Should this news come as some kind of surprise?
Sioux Falls will miss out on hosting a pair of youth sports tournaments and the millions of dollars in economic benefit that comes with them.
Other cities with newer facilities and unique fan amenities outshone Sioux Falls when the city went to bid for hosting the same softball and soccer tournaments it has held in the past. Sioux Falls even offered more cash to tournament operators than any other city, but it didn’t make a difference.
“We’re always in second place,†said Teri Schmidt, executive director of the Sioux Falls Convention and Visitor Bureau, which submitted bids on behalf of the city’s youth sports organizations.
Better not let MMM hear you say that Teri. This is San Antonio, gosh darn it, uh, I mean Sioux Falls, we should be first in everything!
There are a lot of factors why SF loses these kind of events. Bigger facilities, bigger cities, better weather, location, air travel, more lodging (remember the last time we had that soccer tournament, people had to lodge in Sioux City). A new bigger arena  isn’t going to bring BETTER and BIGGER tournaments and conventions in. There is just some things Sioux Falls cannot provide, as I mentioned above. We are what we are, and once people like Teri and MMM realize this, we can focus on what WE ARE accessible to and capable of.
There seems to be this attitude that we need to shoot high, and if we miss, make a bunch of excuses. Sioux Falls should be trying to attain ALL kinds of tournaments. Tournaments THAT WE CAN ACCOMODATE.
Any kind of tax revenue being brought to our city is a good thing, big or small, but it seems we just want to continue to ‘think big’ and hope it pays off. I say ‘think medium’ and do it often, and it will pay off.
The proposed indoor PUBLIC pool would be a nice amenity and attraction for Sioux Falls (especially on a cold day like today!)
How’s the fundraising for that 20 million dollar INDOOR pool going, Titleist?!!!
The wind don’t blow so hard in them other places.
Even payola didn’t work. “This year, Sioux Falls offered $27,000 if the city were chosen as host — almost double what any other city put up. Schmidt said the money and gifts do not typically sway the commission in charge of awarding the bids.”
I know, I saw that. Do you think the appeal of a mediocre midwestern city made them change their minds 🙂
Titleist, yeah would think with all the indoor pools we already have in SF would be enough of an appeal, but I guess not. I guess we don’t need anymore, because they ain’t helping to bring in conventioners.
When out-of-state friends ask me about Sioux Falls, I often refer to it as either the biggest small town in America, or a suburb in search of a city. This community is filled with nice (if classically Midwestern, passive aggressive) people, reasonably affordable housing, and a whole host of chain restaurants/retail. If this was a northern suburb of the Twin Cities, this community would have no problems landing these tournaments, because neighboring communities would provide the surplus housing and augment the entertainment options available.
For someone from Kadoka, or Huron, or Platte, Sioux Falls is like New York City. A trip to the mall and dinner at Chili’s is the big time. But hosts of larger events want cities that can provide enjoyable, comprehensive experiences for their participants. And this city has approximately bupkis to offer in that regard. To anyone who didn’t come here from a one-stop sign cowtown in central South Dakota, Sioux Falls is pretty darn boring.
A ten-minute stroll around Falls Park? A mediocre zoo? Thunder Road? If you’re the SFCVB, what the heck do you sell to these host committees who are getting bids from cities two or four or eight times larger than yours? What’s your draw?
Apparently you offer them cash. We’ll give you a pile of money if you’ll give your participants a B-rate experience.
You’re absolutely right to suggest that the city focus on what it can do, and what it can do is target events that primarily cater to residents of small communities, people to whom Sioux Falls IS a big deal. Pander to the SDHSAA to become the permanent home of some of their tournaments. Buddy up to the Summit League. Aim for events that don’t draw beyond neighboring states.
An indoor public pool would really attract those who are staying at hotels with a pool.
Only a small percentage of the hotels have pools. You will note that none of the recent addition hotels have them.
Or perhaps we have a complete waste-of-space type salesperson trying to close these deals.
Remember the cvb now has $1*5 million of tax dollars to spend. What’s $27 k amount friends? And 5 star trips around the country.
Teri and our man mike should have hooked up last nite at the District. The likes of Drake White and Kip Moore can do what SF needs. And in only a venue for 1500. The District is the kind of innovation SF lacks.
Sioux Falls even offered more cash to tournament operators than any other city, but it didn’t make a difference.
Taxpayers have over 10 million dollars invested in Harmodon Park alone, and millions more invested in Yankton Trails, Sherman etc…..so, it’s not the facilities that are lacking, folks!!!
Tournaments, Conventions and yes, even the Summit League like to move periodically from city to city. They rarely stay with one city for more than a few years.
After the newness of the EC wears off, it will become evident that voters were sold a bill-of-goods.
For example, remember, how MMM told everyone we had a good chance of landing the Pheasants Forever annual gathering. Anyone heard anything more about that one!!??
The lack of lodging will continue to be a major issue. All of the experts who advised the City and the taxpayers on the EC stated the same thing, you MUST have a SECOND ON-SITE hotel to make this work!!
The key words are ON-SITE, problem is there is NO land available to provide an additional on-site hotel at the EC location. When MMM and his Team were asked about this prior to the election, they consistently gave the same response, “Don’t worry, we’re going to take care of that.”
The EC opens in approximately EIGHT MONTHS, where is the second on-site hotel and where is the list of conventions that have been booked for 2014-2016!!?? To all those who voted YES for the 183 million dollar facility….remember the Convention Center is the EC’s MAJOR TENANT.
scott: “An indoor public pool would really attract those who are staying at hotels with a pool.”
That was my thought as well. If visitors want a pool, then by all means they would most likely stay at a hotel that offered such a thing. The fact that we seem to have numerous hotels that don’t offer a pool suggests perhaps demand from visitors isn’t as great as one might think.
Besides that – when people come to town for their children’s sporting events, do we really think they are going to take time out of their weekend to head to a public pool? Besides that, we are talking about softball and soccor tournaments which suggest these events take place in the warm weather season. If they want to go swimming in a public pool – it won’t need a roof over it.
On a related point – when organizations talk about these supposed “millions” in economic benefit, are they speaking about tax revenue, or just profits flowing throughout the community?
Because I know sports tourneys are great for the hotel and restraunt industries, and they are good for shopping centers as well, but the percentage of that revenue that filters through to the city in the form of sales taxes and fees is significantly smaller… probably not even enough to pay for the upgrades they say we need in order to attract the tournaments in the first place.
I know nobody wants to say it – but maybe we don’t need every tournament out there. Maybe instead of always spending millions to try to appeal to visitors we could focus our energy on improving things that benefit all citizens who live here the other 50+ weeks a year.
Craig, love your last paragraph, that is what I have tried to get at all along, make things better for US in this community. Visitors will come and go, and a small percentage of business owners in this town will make money, whatever.
BTW, it is spelled ‘Soccer’ NOT ‘soccor’ Gotcha 🙂
I think I had originally typed “succor”… it was probably a Fruedian slip type of thing.
Of course you didn’t even notice I butchered the word “restaurant”!