National and regional sports are a big deal in small- and mid-sized cities, where athletes can find top-notch sports facilities and a warm welcome from local fans. Big sporting events won’t get lost in the crowd like they might in major metropolitan areas. That’s one of many benefits that smaller cities of 200,000 or less can leverage when attracting and hosting tournaments and competitions.
Making athletes, families, and fans feel welcome is a key to success for cities such as Providence, R.I., and the sister cities of Bismarck and Mandan, ND.
The Bismarck-Mandan, ND, region, with its 57 baseball and softball diamonds, hosts the Special Olympics North American Softball Championships, and every June the region hosts the Sam McQuade Sr./Budweiser tournament, a three-day charity slow-pitch softball tournament. Teams appreciate the region’s sports facilities and the community’s warm welcome, according to Sheri Grossman, CEO of the Bismarck-Mandan Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“We do have fabulous softball diamonds,” she says. “We have such a good reputation for holding softball tournaments. Our parks department is so good about hosting them.”
“What [the McQuade tournament organizers] really [like] is that everyone is excited when they’re here. People are excited to have them here,” Grossman says. “Athletes feel that hospitality while they’re here.”
The warm welcome for those attending and competing in sports events extends down to the South as well.
“Our hotels are well-versed with sports teams. They do a great job of making everybody feel at home. A lot of our hoteliers are also sports parents who know what it can be like to be on the road for some of these tournaments,” says Alysha Carse, sports sales manager for Visit Plano in Texas.
That sports-specific experience means hotels are ready to cater to guests who need services such as earlier breakfast times and additional bottles of water and towels, for example.
Getting there
Accessibility to airports and interstates is essential for competitive sports host cities.
Providence is within easy driving distance of such major metropolitan areas as New York City and Boston, and the city’s accessibility is part of its appeal for sporting events.
“We really focus a lot on the drive-market business, so folks up and down the I-95 corridor are our bread and butter. The mid-Atlantic and New England region are where a majority of attendees come from,” says Jonathan Walker, director of sports sales for the Rhode Island Sports Commission.
Dothan, Ala., Plano, Texas, and Rock Hill, S.C., similarly benefit from locations near bigger metropolitan areas.
Dothan is situated in a tri-state area of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. The city has a regional airport and attracts drive-in traffic from surrounding states, says Hannah Shiver, executive director
of Visit Dothan.
Plano sits in the Greater Dallas-Fort Worth Area. Especially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Carse says the region’s drive market has thrived for athletes and visitors traveling from 200 to 300 miles away.
Rock Hill’s location near Charlotte is within 18 miles of a major airport and drive-in traffic from the nearby metropolitan area.
Though Bismarck-Mandan is a few hours’ drive from its nearest major metropolitan cities—Minneapolis and Denver—the region has an international airport. It is also situated at the intersection of Highway 83 and Interstate 94, making it easily accessible for those who drive in for sports events.
“For a lot of new events, athletes are pleasantly surprised when they get here. They’re surprised at the offerings we have and the hospitality,” Grossman says.
Recreation off the field or court
Smaller communities proudly promote their distinctive recreational, cultural, and educational attractions to entice athletes, families, and fans to explore their city.
Plano is the first city in the South to have a Fowling Warehouse franchise.
“It’s like larger cornhole boards that have bowling pins. You throw a football, and the point is to knock over the bowling pins. It’s very fun,” says Millerann Moya, senior marketing manager for Visit Plano.
Crayola Experience Plano’s creative interactive play is a must for younger kids and families. Visitors can learn how crayons are made and visit 25 hands-on attractions.
Dothan is a boon for outdoor enthusiasts, with 750 acres of parks and 400 acres of parkland to explore on the six-trail Forever Wild system.
Dothan’s most unique claim to fame is its status as the “Peanut Capital of the World.” It’s the site of the annual National Peanut Festival, with carnival rides, entertainment, and events for
all ages.
Year-round, Dothan has a mural trail to explore with 84 custom peanut statues.
“You can tour around town. Each business and various locations have them designed to match their business, so it’s kind of fun. It’s a peanut hunt around town,” says Shiver.
Providence and Bismarck-Mandan both include a variety of museums and zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Both cities also maximize their nearby rivers as tourist destinations.
In Providence, gondola rides along the Providence and Woonasquatucket rivers recreate an authentic Venetian experience in the heart of Rhode Island’s capital city.
Bismarck and Mandan, separated by the Missouri River, host afternoon, sunset, and dinner cruises on the Lewis and Clark riverboat.
Rock Hill is within 10 miles of an amusement park, and a nearby river offers kayaking and canoeing. It showcases its history on the Civil Rights Trail, which highlights the locations of two significant protests.
“It’s a unique thing to come here and visit. We’ve done a good job of highlighting that, and it’s part of our downtown,” says John Taylor, director of parks, recreation, and tourism for the City of Rock Hill.
Building for the future
Providing exceptional facilities—and building more—to attract a mix of sports organizations and teams is vital for any competitive host city.
Bismarck-Mandan, a popular destination for hockey, is completing an $8.8 million addition to its VFW Sports Center, adding a third sheet of ice to the facility.
“Like [in] most communities, ice is in high demand,” Grossman says. “We recently put together a bid to host National Collegiate Roller Hockey.”
Bismarck-Mandan is also home to a BMX fast track and a year-round archery range that has hosted national archery tournaments. A domed tennis center for tennis and pickleball was recently completed in Mandan.
Its riverside location positions Bismarck-Mandan to host walleye championships, and the region’s facilities allow it to host events such as the World Horseshoe Tournament and the U.S. Paralympic Swimming Pan-Am Open, says Grossman.
Among Providence’s multiple sports facilities, the crown jewel is its Amica Mutual Pavilion. The center features a 31,000-square-foot arena floor, a 25,000-square-foot concourse, and space for 14,000 spectators. Providence’s partnerships with eight colleges and universities equip it to host ice hockey, figure skating, gymnastics, cheerleading, dance, volleyball, softball, baseball, soccer, lacrosse, basketball, and quidditch.
Dothan is home to 106 sports fields, parks, and courts for baseball, softball, tennis, soccer, golf, disc golf, archery, regional and national BMX events, and trails for mountain biking.
“Our biggest and newest is that we have recently built the first NFL flag football field…without an actual NFL team in the city,” Shiver says. “We recently hosted our first tournament there.”
“Probably we’re most known for travel baseball,” she continues. “We host about 18 to 30 tournaments annually…we do host a very large Junior Future Masters tournament at Dothan Country Club. A couple of hundred golfers come in and play for that tournament, and you see a lot of them go on to be great golfers.”
Plano focuses primarily on youth sports, such as the regional US Youth Soccer Presidents Cup, which it will host this year.
In the next five to 10 years, the city’s goal is to ensure the quantity and quality of its fields can attract national tournaments, says Carse.
“When it comes to youth sports, we [currently] have some of the largest quantities in one spot. There are not a lot of places you can go to have 20 lacrosse fields. That’s very appealing to event organizers,” she continues.
Sporting events are a $100 million industry in Rock Hill, which hosts ESPN events, this spring’s Under Armour Classic basketball invitational, and the Adidas Invitational basketball tournament in July, among many others. One of the biggest events Rock Hill hosts is an all-ages BMX competition, which brings in 4,500 riders from 50 different countries, says Taylor.
Merging local history and sports, Rock Hill repurposed an old mill and installed basketball and volleyball courts as part of the Rock Hill Sports and Events Center. The city also has plans to build four gyms, additional basketball and volleyball courts, 12 pickleball courts, a 140-acre park for college, and professional-sized synthetic baseball and football fields.
“We do a good job with facilities. We try to make them a little bit special so it’s quality for locals but also makes our visitors feel like they’re in a top-notch facility,” Taylor says. “We take great pride in maintaining our parks. Our city council has done a good job with giving us the resources to continue to be top-notch.”
