Editor’s Note: More coverage from the Midland Daily News on the 2010 ISC World Tournament plans.

Tournament to boost local economy
projected gain from ISC tournament $2.5 million
By Dan Chalk
of the Daily News
Published: Sunday, March 15, 2009 3:11 AM EDT
The 2010 International Softball Congress World Tournament will have a “tremendous” impact on the local economy and will hopefully return to Midland again in later years, said Jim Peckrul, executive director of the Midland County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The Midland Explorers Booster Club is working on finalizing a contract with the ISC to host the World Tournament and two other concurrent ISC men’s fastpitch softball tournaments over an eight-day period in August of 2010 — bringing about $2.35 million of projected revenue to the Midland area.

“This would be one of the larger economic impact events that we’ve had in Midland,” Peckrul said. “If you take a look at the history of the ISC and the number of cities that have hosted this event, this is a tremendous opportunity for Midland.”

Up to 80 teams will be in town during the tournaments, representing more than 1,000 individuals from around the world. And as many as 20,000 fans are projected to attend the games, which will be played at Currie Stadium and the two other softball fields at Emerson Park, and at Redcoat Softball Complex.

Peckrul said the revenue that comes into the area from the tournament will sustain 29 jobs for the course of a whole year, according to figures from Michigan State University and Travel Michigan.

In the past, Emerson Park and Currie Stadium have been the sites of numerous major fastpitch softball events, including the ASA Men’s Major Nationals, ISF World Championships, USA Men’s National Team and Women’s National Team tryouts, and Olympic Softball team exhibition games.

Peckrul noted that not only does Midland offer a great softball venue, but it has a lot of other things to offer to fans who come watch the ISC.

“We’re a sports mecca,” he said.

And if players and fans like what they see in Midland, the likelihood increases that the city could host the event again in the future.

“If you can get (the ISC) to say, ‘We want to come back,’ that’s what we want to try to do,” Peckrul said.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 15th, 2009 at 12:44 pm and is filed under General, ISC, ISC-II. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.