Living Here | Sports tourism a big part of the Grand Strand’s future

For several years the Grand Strand has continued to find ways to capitalize on the tourists who visit the area, with a keen focus on sports tourism.

The $15 million North Myrtle Beach Park & Sports Complex and $1.2 million Crosley Field at The Ripken Experience-Myrtle Beach both opened in March 2014, giving athletes several more places to participate in outdoor sports such as soccer, baseball and softball.

The Grand Strand has been a go-to place for some baseball and softball spring training teams for years because the weather usually cooperates and it’s a shorter trip for many of them than traveling all the way to Florida, officials said.

And the Myrtle Beach Sports Center – expected to cost $13.8 million – is scheduled to open in March 2015 adjacent to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, where there will be eight basketball courts that are cross-lined to hold two volleyball courts each.

Grand Strand officials continue to look for ways to bring more people to town for youth sports.

The Myrtle Bech Sports Center’s general manager, John McDonald, said he is looking forward to bringing more and more youth sports events to the city – an area where he said he sees major growth.

“I think the development of youth sports is the next big thing,” he said. “It’s generating new revenue dollars and tax dollars.”

McDonald ran his own company – Prism Sports and Entertainment – that produced events ranging from NBA preseason games to high school sports, he said.

McDonald said he not only is working to bring youth sporting events and tournaments to the sports facility, but also wants to create events that Myrtle Beach could host.

“We’re not only relying on youth sports [promoters], but we want to be creative and generate events that can run in the off-season,” he said.

Construction of the 100,000-square-foot indoor sports center near the Myrtle Beach Convention Center began in February 2014.

In addition to the basketball courts, the center will include a café and retail area, an entertainment zone featuring a climbing wall and a 1,500-seat telescopic bleacher system.

The North Myrtle Beach Park & Sports Complex also offers a lake with land borne cables for water skiing and jet pac rides.

Outdoor concerts that are free to the public are held in the 2,000-seat amphitheater. There will be interpretive trails through a 12-acre Carolina Bay on the site and around the lake. A multipurpose trail already goes from the park to Robert Edge Parkway and the hope is that it may one day go all the way into the main part of town.

And there are two dog parks, one for large dogs and one for small dogs – the first dog parks in the city.

And the sports complexes also aim to attract different kinds of sports.

For example, North Myrtle Beach Park & Sports Complex – which has six ballfields and eight soccer/lacrosse fields – hosted the International Quidditch Association World Cup VII in April. The game spawned out of the popular “Harry Potter” books and movies.

In Myrtle Beach, McDonald has said he hopes to bring futsal to the center, which is a variation of soccer that’s played on a smaller field and typically indoors.

“If you haven’t heard of it, you should Google it,” he said. “It’s getting to be more popular.”

Follow Maya on Twitter @TSN_MPrabhu.

This story was originally published September 27, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Living Here | Sports tourism a big part of the Grand Strand’s future."