The Circle K Fieldhouse at NexusPark in Columbus is hosting an increasing array of multi-team sporting events.
The Republic file photos
For years, Columbus has used its resources to make sports tourism a prominent industry, one that’s continuing to grow.
With the Circle K Fieldhouse at NexusPark bringing in athletes and fans and the Hamilton Community Center and Ice Arena expanding its competitive programming, sports tourism is poised to be bringing in more visitors in the coming years.
Brady Buckley, associate director of sports for Circle K Fieldhouse, said there’s going to be a big wrestling event coming up in October. The event has 48 teams registered, with 20 athletes per team, and wrestling has an average of two spectators per athlete. In another event, the fieldhouse hosted 50 football teams for a 7-on-7 tournament. Buckley said the fieldhouse has the capability to host a number of sports, and the venue also will host concerts.
“Columbus, Indiana, has wanted an indoor facility here for a long time,” said Buckley.
The facility has already been well-received by visitors, with word spreading fast when athletes who come to town for tournaments return home.
“A lot of people are coming to us,” Buckley said about programming for competitions.
While Buckley currently oversees the fieldhouse, Seth Rice, the Sports Program Manager, focuses on outdoor programming. Just this summer, Rice said Columbus hosted 115 baseball teams for a state youth baseball tournament. While this is one of the biggest summer tournaments Columbus has held this year, it’s not the only one. Rice shared that this year, Columbus has hosted 11 outdoor tournaments that brought in more than 6,800 players.
According to the Columbus Parks and Recreation website, tournaments for baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse, and rugby bring in nearly 65,000 visitors to the city, and these events alone carry an annual spending impact of $8.5 million in Bartholomew County.
“We try to look at the overall economic impact,” said Buckley, about considering which events might be a good fit for the parks to host.
Because the events bring in a large number of people, the Circle K Fieldhouse has a calendar on its website that is available to anyone. Buckley said that they also share the calendar with the Columbus Visitors Center as a way to ensure hotels and restaurants are looped in.
Sports tourism mainly brings athletes from third through 12th grade. For the bulk of that demographic, family support is needed for travel, meaning the biggest fans are often the ones bringing the athletes.
In addition to sports that need a court, a field or a floor, Columbus can also cater to sports that need ice.
Carleen Fry, Hamilton rink manager, says that the facility has been hosting more competitive tournaments in recent years as a way to accommodate the growing popularity of ice sports. Hockey tournaments have brought players ranging in age from youth to college.
“It’s a lot of fun,” said Fry.
Hamilton also hosted a figure skating competition that brought in around 200 participants.
Columbus’s ice arena is an asset to the city’s sports tourism business, but the need for a girls locker room has become more apparent as they’ve hosted more competitive programs.
“There’s more girls in sport,” said Fry.
For the figure skating event, which had both male and female participants, the lack of space was noticeable. This also proved to be an issue for hockey tournaments, as game start times were delayed and the lack of storage for equipment was noticeable to athletes and fans.
The lack of space, and storage, is being addressed through fundraising efforts to add a women’s locker room. The current fundraiser that began in January can be found at Patronicity.com/creatingplaces and has a deadline of Sept. 13. If $50,000 has been raised by then, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority will match that amount. In addition to the crowdfunding, the project is still expecting a $200,000 contribution from the city, a major step toward the $400,000 goal.
“It would help with the teams coming in,” said Fry.
Athletes enjoyed their time at Hamilton but shared that the extra locker room would’ve improved their experience considerably.
In addition to being an asset to sports tourism, Hamilton is known by many in the area as just that, a community center — a place to gather and spend time.
“I just love Hamilton,” said Fry.
Next to the fields and facilities, the city’s annual Mill Race Marathon event in September brings runners from all over the state, country, and world. Last year, more than 2,400 runners came from Indiana, 148 runners visited from out of state and 11 runners came to Columbus from another country.
