Archive for category: River City Sportsplex

River City Sportsplex will be home to the Shooting Star Field Hockey Tournament through 2022, thanks to recently signed contracts that extended the Thanksgiving weekend event from a three-year to a six-year agreement. This agreement will make the Shooting Star Field Hockey Tournament the largest multi-year contract signed in the facility’s history.

Shooting Star is a competitive youth field hockey tournament showcase, featuring club teams, travel teams and individual player “house” teams in age groups U12 through U19. Teams come from coast to coast to play in this three-day event for top-level competition and excellent visibility to the 170+ NCAA collegiate coaches in attendance.  Though entering its third year at River City Sportsplex, 2017 will be the first College Connection Shooting Star tournament under Chesterfield County operation.

“College Connection is excited to join Chesterfield County and River City Sportsplex for the long term,” said Pam Hixon, president of College Connection. “We are impressed with the facility and chose to extend our commitment with Chesterfield due to the county’s vision and attention to detail at the facility. River City Sportsplex will continue to provide Shooting Star teams, families and college coaches from across the U.S., and internationally, with great experiences.”

College Connection joins an ever-growing group of local, regional and national tournament organizers who have recently signed future tournament contracts with River City Sportsplex.

“We are thrilled to extend our partnership and continue hosting the Shooting Star Field Hockey Tournament in Chesterfield through 2022,” said Dr. James Worsley, parks and recreation director.  “River City Sportsplex is a perfect fit for this event, and we’re excited to welcome the many athletes, parents and coaches for many years to come.”

The Shooting Star tournament holds the title as the largest field hockey tournament in Chesterfield County with 174 teams competing in the tournament in 2016. For the 2017 event, Shooting Star is expected to have a full tournament slate of 186 teams.

“The Shooting Star Field Hockey Tournament has provided a significant economic impact boost for the Richmond Region – particularly for our hotel community – over Thanksgiving weekend, which has historically been a low weekend for hotel occupancy,” said Danielle Vincenti, senior sports development manager for Richmond Region Tourism. “Extending this event through 2022 means the region will reap those economic benefits for years to come.”

The Shooting Star Tournament returns to River City Sportsplex November 24-26, 2017.

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About College Connection – College Connection provides quality field hockey programming for athletes who have a desire to learn, enjoy and excel in their sport! Whether participants are beginners, elite, recreational or college bound prospects; we have a program to help you take your game to the next level.

River City Sportsplex will play host to the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association’s Champions Cup and Capital Cup through 2020, thanks to recently signed contracts with Corrigan Sports Enterprises, Inc. These two events are the largest lacrosse tournaments in the Richmond region. They are the first contracts signed with River City Sportsplex since Chesterfield County purchased the facility in December 2016. Corrigan previously was contracted through 2018.

 

Lee Corrigan, president of Corrigan Sports Enterprises, said, “Chesterfield County, and its world-class facilities, have played an integral part in the expansion of the IWLCA’s recruiting tournaments. River City Sportsplex remains the premiere public venue of its kind in the Mid-Atlantic, so we look forward to hosting many more successful tournaments in Chesterfield County for years to come.”

 

 

Both events will bring more than 14,000 visitors to the region, including 350+ NCAA women’s lacrosse coaches to recruit top talent. Teams will travel from across the U.S. and Canada for each of these two events, with 95 percent traveling from out of the Richmond region. Richmond Region Tourism reports that approximately 10,000 room nights in hotels throughout Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico counties and the city of Richmond are filled for just one of these events.

 

 

Chesterfield County is the only location in the U.S. to host two IWLCA National College recruiting events. Other IWLCA events have been held in such places as the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Disney World and Dicks Sporting Goods Park in Denver.

 

 

County Administrator Dr. Joe Casey said, “Our goal is to keep sports tourism thriving and to attract events that best fit our facilities. We are so pleased that our relationship with Corrigan Sports continues to grow. We want to showcase Chesterfield County as a sports tourism destination … not a place you drive through, but a place to come to.”

 

 

From a regional perspective, sports tourism is making a major economic impact according to Richmond Region Tourism.

“Corrigan events are a boon to our tax base and quality of life, and extending this partnership through 2020 is a major win for the Richmond region,” said Jack Berry, president and CEO, Richmond Region Tourism. “It used to be that the summer months were a ‘need period’ for our hotels. Today, sports events, like Corrigan’s Capital Cup and Champions Cup, drive hotel room nights throughout the year.”

 

 

According to Berry, previously July had been a down time for hotels in the area, but now, due to the increase in sports tourism, it is a peak month for hotel occupancy. The economic impact is bigger than just the hotel rooms the athletes stay in since they travel with their families, eat in restaurants, shop and visit regional attractions.

 

 

In fiscal 2016, sports tourism had an economic impact of $37.7 million in the county and brought in $1.4 million from tax revenue.

 

About Corrigan Sports Enterprises, Inc.

Corrigan Sports Enterprises, CSE, was established in 1991 with the goal of creating, managing and implementing sports and event marketing opportunities for the corporate community From Conception to Fruition. In that time, CSE grew into one of the strongest marketing organizations in the Baltimore/Washington area. In 2010, the addition of the Oakland (Ca.) Running Festival and the partnership with the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association enabled CSE to expand nationally.

Contact Person: Danny Bonifas
Contact Email: BonifasD@chesterfield.gov
Contact Phone: 804-796-7045

Community Open House to be Held to View Property

Today at Chesterfield County’s Board of Supervisors work session an announcement was made about the county’s intent to purchase the 115 acre River City Sportsplex, formerly known as Sports Quest and currently owned and operated by Sports Complex Holdings LLC.

“This is a huge opportunity for the county residents to get more use of this facility and increase sports tourism,” said Dr. Joe Casey, county administrator. “With sports tourism being a growing business in Chesterfield, the upcoming community open house will give residents a chance to view the property and ask questions about the purchase and the future potential of the complex.”

A community open house for residents to ask questions about the planned purchase of the River City Sportsplex is scheduled for Nov. 2 at Clover Hill High School, in the Student Commons. Residents may come at any time to the school and the sports complex between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. to ask questions and tour the facilities.

The county is offering Sports Complex Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary of Shaw Industries Group, Inc., $5.5 million to purchase the property. This is below the 2012 property’s appraised value of $17.2 million. Funds currently allocated for recreational development sports tourism will be used for the purchase.

The Board of Supervisors will vote whether to purchase the property at its Nov. 16 work session scheduled at 3 p.m. in the Public Meeting Room.

Local sports organizations and school teams use the facility heavily all year and are at capacity. With tournaments being held for field hockey, lacrosse and soccer throughout the year, Chesterfield County’s economic impact from sports tourism was $37.7 million in fiscal year 2016. This was a $12.9 million increase from the past fiscal year, with $7.1 million of that total a result of new sport tourism events. In tax revenue alone, the county received $1.4 million during that same time period.

“Shaw is pleased that the River City Sportsplex will continue to grow and benefit the community as the centerpiece of local sports tourism under the Chesterfield County’s ownership,” said Susan Farris, Director of Corporate Communications with Shaw Industries Group, Inc. “In the wake of the project as initially envisioned not coming to fruition, Shaw improved the complex and worked closely with the community to attract significant sports events and millions of dollars of economic impact to the greater Richmond area. We are pleased that the availability of a dozen Shaw Sports Turf fields in one location is – and will continue to be – a draw for large regional and national youth sports tournaments.”

The property is centrally located and there is easy access from the Interstate and major highway systems. Management and operations of the River City Sports Complex, if purchased, will be by the county’s Department of Parks and Recreation. Revenue from rental fees and tournament charges will be used to pay for the operating costs. The undeveloped portions of the property will allow for the expansion of the sports fields to meet future growth in the county along with the possibility of developing other compatible recreational facilities on the site.

In 2010, the county originally invested $4.3 million to assist in development of the complex and lease the use of eight lighted all-weather synthetic turf fields Monday thru Thursday. Currently, Chesterfield is in its sixth year of the 20 year lease. Purchasing River City Complex would provide the county seven day a week access providing the opportunity to increase resident’s use and grow sports tourism.

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