On Friday, the City of Westfield and Bullpen Tournaments received a national sports tourism award. Bullpen’s Amateur Baseball Championships, hosted at Westfield’s Grand Park Sports Campus, was named a 2019 Champions of Economic Impact in Sports Tourism by Sports Destination Management.
“We built Grand Park to be an economic driver for our city and this recognition not only validates our strategy, but celebrates the contributions and partnerships we have created with organizations like Bullpen Tournaments,” said Mayor Andy Cook. “It is a great accomplishment to present a world-class event at Grand Park, a world-class facility.”
“It is incredible to think we have players that have played in the ABC Championships at ages 14, 15, 16 and 17,” said Bullpen Tournaments President Blake Hibler. “Our tournament, Grand Park and Westfield have become a part of their baseball lives and their baseball memories. We are excited to receive this award from Sports Destination Management. We are even more thrilled to contribute to the vision the Mayor and City of Westfield have for Grand Park.”
The Amateur Baseball Championships began at Grand Park in 2016. The goal was to get the top 72 teams in the Midwest to play. It grew in popularity quickly. The first year the tournament hosted 245 teams from 11 states. It has grown into an invitation-only event, in which more than 300 requests come in during the opening week of registration. This year, the event ran 20 days and brought 7,830 athletes playing a total of 1,165 games at Grand Park.
Sports Destination Management is the leading publication with the largest circulation of sports event planners and tournament directors in the sports tourism market. This year’s winners are responsible for contributing more than $700 million to the national economy over the past year.
All winners of awards have been recognized in a special feature published in the November/December 2019 issue of Sports Destination Management. Click here to read the entire article with full details on the winners.
About Westfield and Grand Park
Westfield is home to almost 40,000 people and the Grand Park Sports Campus. Grand Park is a 400+ acre sports complex, with 31 outdoor fields, 26 baseball diamonds, a privately-owned basketball facility and a 370,000 square-foot events center. The campus boasts more than 2.5 million visits a year and has spurred more than $1 billion of economic development in Westfield since its inception. Westfield is located within one day’s drive of more than half of the United States population and within 40 minutes of the award-winning Indianapolis International Airport.
About Sports Destination Management
Sports Destination Management is written for the largest audience of sports event managers and tournament directors in the sports tourism market and maintains a focus on the important issues surrounding event location decisions and event management. With content from experts and thought leaders, SDM provides in-depth coverage of sports event planning and execution through incisive and relevant articles as well as insightful, real-world case studies showcasing best practices and successful event production. In addition to the publication, SDM offers extensive digital resources through sportsdestinations.com and the e-newsletter SDM Blitz, both providing decision support tools for organizers to ensure successful events at all levels of play.