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The Muscle Shoals, Ala., recreation complex cost $1.2 million to build. It includes four baseball fields which are also used for flag football and other sports in the fall and winter.
For one town, recreation is more than a field of dreams
Published Sunday, October 25, 2009
NATCHEZ — If you take just a cursory glance at Muscle Shoals, Ala., you’ll see a small town of approximately 12,000 people tucked away in the northwest corner of Alabama on the banks of the Tennessee River.
But what you see when you take a closer look might surprise you. Muscle Shoals has turned into a youth sports Mecca thanks to an aggressive mayor, city council and parks and recreation department and quality recreation facilities built in the past 12 years.
“Recreation has been a huge investment for us,” Muscle Shoals Parks and Recreation Department Director Rusty Wheeles said. “We’ve got right at 900 kids in our baseball and softball programs combined. We’re fortunate of a town our size to have as many kids and parks as we do. The mayor and council are very good to us.”
The city also offers flag and tackle football, soccer, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, aerobics, baton and karate programs for the youth, operating on a annual recreation budget of over $1.2 million.
“The mayor and council have made a commitment to recreation,” Muscle Shoals City Clerk Ricky Williams said. “We’ve put a fair amount of money over the years in recreation facilities.”
And one of the reasons the city is able to put so much money into recreation and offer so many different programs is the amount of money they bring in from hosting tournaments at their main facility, the Muscle Shoals Sportsplex.
The Sportsplex, is four 300-foot baseball fields in a wheel shape with a press box in the middle. In addition to baseball games played there in the summer, the fields are also used for flag football and soccer games during the fall and winter.
The Sportsplex was built in 1997 at a cost of $1.4 million using a half-cent sales tax the city uses for what they call capital projects.
Williams said the capital projects sales tax wasn’t originally for building recreation facilities, but for storm drainage projects.
“What was really driving that half cent was storm drainage needs,” Williams said. “We began in the early 90s fixing problems we had with storm drainage. But once we got past those problems, we used the money in other areas.”
And one of those areas was upgrading the city’s recreation by building quality facilities, including the Sportsplex.
“Initially, we were just attempting to upgrade our facilities and have a first class (recreation) program,” Williams said. “Then we were introduced to the idea of what kind of impact those facilities could have on the local economy.”
And the impact has been tremendous. Wheeles said the Sportsplex will usually host 10-15 tournaments per year, with two of them usually being large tournaments.
This year, Muscle Shoals hosted the Dixie Youth State Tournament as well as the Super NIT for the USSSA travel team league, which featured 120 teams in town over a weekend. The city will be hosting that particular tournament for the next five years.
One reason the city has been so successful hosting multiple tournaments is because of the aggressive way they bid on them as well as the fine facilities.
“For any Dixie Youth tournament, you have to bid a year in advance, and for the World Series you have to bid two years in advance,” Wheeles said. “For travel ball, you’ve just got to get your name in the hat and start talking to people. I’ve got a packet done up and a video that shows the park, the area, everything. They’ll send an inspection committee to inspect your city. We’ve been doing this since 1999, so we’ve gotten to know them pretty well. They’re pleased with what we do.”
The city does have to pay what amounts to $75 per game to host the Dixie Youth tournaments as well as a fee to host the USSSA tournament, but the city also rents out the Sportsplex for a weekend to other travel leagues for tournaments.
“We rent the fields for $200 per day, per field,” Wheeles said. “If they want to get every field for a three-day tournament, it will cost them $800 per day. We get to keep the concession money, and they keep the gate money.”
Wheeles said the city estimated this year’s Dixie Youth State Tournament brought in between $2 and $3 million into the city.
“The thing about the Dixie Youth tournament, is that they play Saturday through Thursday, so they’ll be staying in town almost a week,” Wheeles said. “For the state tournament, I had 165 hotel rooms I had to book for the teams, parents, Dixie Youth officials and umpires. They’re booked for Saturday, Sunday and Monday at a minimum.”
A complex like — or even close to — the one in Muscle Shoals is something Natchez Dixie Youth President Porky Smith and others in recreation have wanted to see in Natchez for years.
And the issue of a recreation complex is one that Adams County voters will get to express their opinion on during the Nov. 3 election.
Smith said Natchez used to host state tournaments with regularity, but hasn’t even bid on one in six years, partly because the facilities aren’t on par with facilities in McGee, Laurel and Hattiesburg.
“Natchez would get a lot out of it if we could host them,” Smith said. “Other towns have passed us up when it comes to recreation complexes.”
Smith said his experience at this past year’s Dixie Youth World Series in Laurel showed him the economic impact a tournament like that would have in Natchez.
“I went to Laurel and stayed there a week,” Smith said. “Laurel doesn’t have the restaurants and hotels Natchez has got. A lot of people from other states were going 35 miles down the road to Hattiesburg to stay. Natchez has got plenty of restaurants and hotels for people.”
Muscle Shoals also has experience hosting a Dixie Youth World Series, and it was a huge boon for the local economy. The city hosted the World Series for ages 9-12 in 2002, which brought in an estimated $9 million.
“We had about 8,000 people here for that,” Wheeles said. “It was a big moneymaker for us.”
Not only is it a moneymaker, but Colbert County Tourism Board Director Suzanne Hamlin said recreation tournaments are huge for a community.
“Sports tournaments are the best thing you can do,” Hamlin said. “Sporting tournaments mean a lot to a community. People use it for a vacation. They go to your nicer restaurants and they’re going to want to stay at nicer hotels.”
And the tourism board should know, as they pass out surveys to as many visitors as they can during a tournament and even offer incentives to see that surveys are returned.
The tourism board has a tent set up at each tournament, and also has an information booth at each hotel in the county, Hamlin said.
“We ask them where they stay, where they eat and how much they spend shopping,” Hamlin said. “We try to get a survey into the hands of every family. Then we get figures from the hotels as well.”
Those numbers combine to form the estimated financial impact of the tournament.
Hamlin said she thought Natchez would be an ideal place for many families to go for sports tournaments, and expressed surprise that the city didn’t already have a quality complex.
“People will flock to Natchez, they’ll love it,” Hamlin said. It’s really a no-brainer for people. I can’t imagine that Natchez hasn’t got one already. It’s really worth it, so you ought to go for it. I think you’ll be so proud to have it.”
A non-binding referendum will be on the Nov. 3 Adams County election ballot. If a majority of voters vote “yes” local leaders have said they plan to form a nine-member committee that would begin working on proposals for a recreation site, cost, parks and more.
Comments
Posted by skreagan58 (anonymous) on October 25, 2009 at 4:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I would love to see a complex built in Natchez. I have a grandson and a grandaughter that play in Natchez. It is hard going from one field to another across town. It would be great to have them close together.
Posted by jvl401969 (anonymous) on October 25, 2009 at 7:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Make this happen people! We need this.
Posted by pronat (anonymous) on October 25, 2009 at 7:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What Porky did not elaborate on is the fact that most leagues changed their bid packets to require the city bidding on a tournament to have adequate hotel and restaurants and a 4 field complex in one location. Natchez does not have the complex. Magee built their complex before 2002 and had to add 2 hotels to be in the guidelines. This could be a huge economic impact and a boost to the quality of life for our residents.
Posted by niderbip (anonymous) on October 25, 2009 at 8:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
How much debt did Muscle Shoals have when they built those fields?
Were they borrowing money every year to "balance" their budget?
Posted by southernbelle (anonymous) on October 25, 2009 at 10:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If you can concieve it ,it can happen. Go for it !
Posted by jamesgirlz4 (anonymous) on October 25, 2009 at 11:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Ask the Garden Club for a donation, (ha ha) they should have enough money to build the whole thing then no taxpayers dollars would be neccessary.
Posted by Ntz (anonymous) on October 25, 2009 at 12:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
All for this, the question that comes to mind is, Are we guarenteed the bids if we build this. Remember we have to win the bid for the tournments to come. Who ever is on the board of this thing needs to put their pride behind and atleast undercut the other overs by couple 100 dollars. Need to start off small until we get our feet on the ground. Its economics 101...supply and demand, something alot of our leaders don't understand and our real estate companies here.
Posted by Ntz (anonymous) on October 25, 2009 at 12:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I mean undercut the other by a few 100 dollars.
Posted by Preacher (anonymous) on October 25, 2009 at 4:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Did I miss something, or did a non-existent, not even on the ground floor ball park take precedence over Sawyer Brown and the free music concert this weekend? Somebody (ND) needs to give Highland church a little credit for the economic impact and for the spiritual lift it gave this community. They really stepped out on a limb to make this happen. The least we could do is brag on them a little and say thank you.
Posted by niderbip (anonymous) on October 25, 2009 at 5:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"For the sake of balanced reporting perhaps the ND will do a story on a small town than went further into the hole to build a rec center and lost its collective ass."......................
that'll never happen.
Posted by NAMVET (anonymous) on October 25, 2009 at 5:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Natchez BOA is only dreaming !!!!!! Vidalia is on the move
and starting to make hings happen !!!!!!! SEE YA !!!!! Wonder
who will be hosting any kind of tournement first ?????
Posted by 2008 (anonymous) on October 25, 2009 at 5:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Great idea......let Vidalia build it, and the tourists can sleep and eat in Natchez! How cost effective is that?
Posted by joe_the_plumber (anonymous) on October 25, 2009 at 6:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"Wheeles said the city estimated this year’s Dixie Youth State Tournament brought in between $2 and $3 million into the city."
One tournament folks. What do you people not understand? It wouldn't matter if someone donated 100 million dollars to the city, you guys would complain about the city having to pay the taxes on it. Stop sitting on the bench and get in the game. I hope Vidalia gets a complex as much as I hope Natchez gets one.
Posted by hutto2007 (anonymous) on October 25, 2009 at 7:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If you want to see what a sports complex can do for an area, check out this link:
http://www.roundrocktexas.gov/home/index...
They went from a 2M dollar investment to the sports (youth) capital of Texas. It took an investment. Now, they doing 18.9M in "improvements" to the complex. This place is larger than the town of Ferriday and its all for YOUTH!
Posted by dirtcookie (anonymous) on October 26, 2009 at 8:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Who is Rob Serling?
Posted by Doc_Fungo (anonymous) on October 26, 2009 at 8:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm not sure if a comparison with Muscle Shoals is a good one.
One of the most important factors in the success to these types of facilities is logistics. In layman's terms...how close is the facility to populous areas. Especially those with a lot of travel teams.
Muscle Shoals is in the middle between a large number of populous areas.
Huntsville, AL 68 miles
Birmingham, LA 113 miles
Nashville, TN 125 miles
Memphis, TN 151 miles
Chattanooga, TN 169 miles
Each of the cities is closer than New Orleans is from Natchez. (New Orleans teams are not well known for travelling to tournaments)
This leaves Jackson & Baton Rouge as the major populous areas for Natchez to draw from. Each have many facilities much closer to choose from.
There are approximately 20 facilites that host tournaments within an hour from Baton Rouge. Eight within 15 miles. Every weekend these Facilities struggle to fill tournaments and most cancel age divisions and/or their tournament due to lack of teams because of the competition of hosting tournaments among these facilities.
Vidalia gets first crack at this and they'll be in direct competition with Natchez for the travelling teams.
Good luck!
Posted by snowgarden (anonymous) on October 26, 2009 at 9:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Doc-Fungo, I agree about us being a little out of the way and larger city teams wouldn't bother coming here, but we have an abundance of smaller towns with their own small town teams that don't have great facilities. Monterey, Jonesville, Harrisonburg, Jena, etc. Wouldn't a recreational complex benefit us (Vidalia or Natchez), even though we aren't close to big cities?
On the other hand.....I don't think Natchez needs to borrow MORE money to build anything. So....tax increase, fund raisers....idk how they get money for these things.
And Preacher, I agree with you as well - WAY TO GO HIGHLAND and many thanks to Sawyer Brown for coming to Natchez. (On this topic, can't we bring up the thought of building a collesium as well? You want a money tree BUILD A COLLESIUM)
Posted by Ntz (anonymous) on October 26, 2009 at 10:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Why don't see about taking all this energy and create jobs for Natchez???? Why don't we take advantage of 61S land and clear cut alot of that to sell to industry or hwy84. If you don't think that will work, take a drive to hattiesburg along 98 in Oak Grove community.
Posted by Doc_Fungo (anonymous) on October 26, 2009 at 10:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I believe you'd be more successful in drawing teams by expanding Duncan Park than building an aluminum and asphalt facility in the middle of a bean field. Everybody has those types of complexes.
The uniqueness of Duncan Park (trees, shade, rural old-time baseball environment) would be a much more logical draw for teams.
How many samll town travel teams are there within an hour of Natchez? How many tournaments will they play in? Since they're within a short distance, what would the benefit be to hotels? You want them to spend money at the concession stand, what benefit is that to restaurants?
If you're trying to sell this idea as a huge economic impact...there are many, many, questions and issues to consider. There isn't a plan on paper at the moment which makes this an intriguing subject to ponder.
The biggest fear is the fear of building a multi-million dollar facility and you can't get enough teams to participate in your tournaments. What is your recourse if that happens?
All the optimism in the world isn't enough to make teams show come to Natchez. You need something different that otehr facilities don't offer and/or can't replicate.
I personally believe Duncan Park has the potential to be the difference maker. Forget a bean field. Everybody has those. If you build in a field, odds are you're not going to be happy with the outcome.
Quit using that Field of Dreams quote. That was a line in a movie. If you believe that I'm sure you believe a giant monkey climbed to the top of a building in New York a while back.
With all this optimism I've been hearing on the radio and in the ND. Make it happen in Duncan Park. It is your best shot
Posted by Krogers (anonymous) on October 26, 2009 at 10:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
they passed a TAX for infrastructure- storm drains- and now use that money for recreation......
well I guess government will have to step in and do what private business will not and/or cannot do.....
what a nice story of a little town that wants to be the baseball capital of the SE.......
personally, I don't know if I want my town crowded with a bunch of baseball idiots on the weekends....
Posted by Doc_Fungo (anonymous) on October 26, 2009 at 2:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Heck...look at all the non-baseball ones you live with now...
Yep...go ahead and build it in that bean field and in 10 years it'll look like Arlington...
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