On Friday, Westfield Mayor Andy Cook and Grand Park Sports Campus officials, along with local and state hospitality industry leaders, released glowing reviews from the Grand Park Sports Campus’ summer reactivation amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.
In looking at data from mid-May through Labor Day, with more than 613,000 visits to the sports campus, no COVID-19 outbreaks were detected because of campus activity. Athletes participated in tournaments and leagues hosted by Bullpen Tournaments (diamond sports), the privately-owned Pacers Athletic Center (basketball) and the Grand Park Sports Campus team (field sports).
Cook
“We looked at the situation and instead of closing up and waiting until next year, our team worked with the Governor’s Office, national leaders in youth sports, local health officials, event organizers, families and athletes to figure out how to get kids active as safely as possible,” Cook said. “I am happy to report that, of the young athletes competing at Grand Park, to our knowledge, there were no spikes in cases due to campus activity. We worked hard to convince the community we would not be injecting COVID-19 into our city and convince visitors they could have a safe visit.”
Grand Park closed on March 16, which lead to the cancellation of more than 255 activities. The campus reactivated with a phased approach beginning May 24. Campus leadership worked closely with state and local leaders to develop guidelines to allow for young athletes to return to play. Those guidelines were updated in conjunction with the State of Indiana’s reopening plans and guidance from the Hamilton County Health Department and other national youth sports organizations.
“Safety was, and is, our priority at Grand Park,” Grand Park Director William Knox said. “The data we collected from the summer shows that our protocols worked and that families were willing to travel and participate if it meant allowing their kids to safely play their sports. When we were developing and researching the Grand Park concept, we were told that youth sports was one of the first industries to rebound in a downturn. The information we are seeing proves that point. In fact, facility demand at the campus was at record levels this July with revenues up by 543 percent over that of last summer.”
Knox
“Grand Park is an internationally recognized leader in youth sports. They led the way for youth sports to operate safely during this time. In doing so, they also led the way for thousands of employees in the hospitality industry to return to work for the first time in months,” remarked Patrick Tamm, President and CEO of the Indiana Restaurant and Lodging Association. “Hotels welcomed teams week after week with safe and enhanced protocols. Restaurants enjoyed safely serving thousands of guests brought to Indiana solely due to Grand Park. Grand Park and youth travel sports have been more than a lifeline during these challenging times for the hospitality industry. Without Grand Park thousands would be out of work today and many more hospitality businesses would have closed.”
According to Hamilton County Tourism, Grand Park activity was a critical drive of visitor spending in the county. Although July hotel room demand in Hamilton County declined 18.8 percent overall, due primarily to a loss of business travel during the pandemic, county hotel room demand actually increased for three July weekends compared to the previous year:
- July 10-11 – 19.5 percent room demand increase
- July 17-18 – 17.2 percent room demand increase
- July 24-25 – 11.9 percent room demand increase
“There is no doubt Grand Park’s ability to safely welcome tournaments was a much-needed salve to an otherwise challenging year for Hamilton County’s tourism economy,” Hamilton County Tourism President & CEO Brenda Myers said. “While the market is gradually showing signs of recovery, we now have amazing evidence of just how resilient the competitive youth sports industry can be.”
Grand Park continues to monitor the COVID-19 guidelines and is actively engaged with local health officials to ensure a safe environment. For more information, go to GrandPark.org.