June 25, 2007
Summer kick | A big-time youth soccer event brings a flood of business to southern Maine
By Whit Richardson
Barbara Whitten has served as president of the Convention & Visitor's Bureau of Greater Portland for the past 17 years. During that time she has never prepared for a sporting event as large as the one taking place in the greater Portland area later this month.
Beginning June 29 with an opening ceremony in Portland, the 2007 U.S. Youth Soccer Region 1 Championships is expected to bring 15,000 or so youth soccer players, coaches and family members to southern Maine from 13 other northeastern states. "Some [sporting events] might have brought more people for one day," Whitten says. "But this is a conference that lasts four or five days."
For those five days ˆ June 29 to July 3 ˆ more than 250 visiting soccer teams and their entourages will pack hotels from the New Hampshire border to Augusta, fill area restaurants with the sounds of post-game camaraderie and spur a rush on the bottled water and Gatorade sections of local convenience stores. "Think about the amount of milk that'll be drunk in that time," Whitten says. "And how much ice do you need to put on injuries and to keep things cold?"
The event, which is being held at facilities in Falmouth and at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, is expected to pump an estimated $9 million into the regional economy, not including any benefits the state may reap if any of those families stick around for a few days in Vacationland (which is entirely likely given that the tournament ends just before the July 4 holiday).
To host an event of this size also requires a lot of planning, from staffing the fields with volunteers to booking sound systems and lining up a company to haul away the loads of trash 15,000 attendees are likely to produce.
While the visitor's bureau has been integral in helping to prepare for this event, it was Soccer Maine, a statewide organization that promotes soccer in the state, that lobbied successfully to bring the event to Maine for two years: 2007 and 2008. "We got it here but [the visitor's bureau] will make it really successful," says Ray White, president of Soccer Maine's board of directors and chair of the local organizing committee for the event.
Attracting such a large soccer event was quite a feat, White says. "This is the first time a smaller state has been awarded this event," he says. (And by "smaller," White doesn't mean geographically: Maine has roughly 11,000 registered youth soccer players, while Virginia, which hosted the Region 1 championships for the last two years, has 81,000.) "There was a lot of convincing that we had the volunteer base and the facilities to be able to do this," White says.
Local impact
Large events also generate business for a host of behind-the-scenes, service-oriented companies, from the ones that provide tents to the caterers. White estimates that roughly 150 businesses will benefit in some way from this event.
On June 30, Personal Touch Catering in West Buxton has been booked by Soccer Maine to throw a lobster bake for an estimated 2,000 soccer players and their families at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland. Frank Wright, sales manager at Personal Touch, expects to cook as many as 1,800 lobsters that afternoon in special high-volume pots the company purchased specifically for this event. "A lobster bake for 2,000 is not something we do every day," Wright says.
Personal Touch Catering doesn't expect the lobster bake to be a big money maker for the company, "but we're not going to lose any money on it either," Wright says. "We get the PR mileage, as well."
Hotel rooms are being booked all over the region. An estimated 31,000 room nights will be booked in 51 hotels in Maine and eight in New Hampshire, according to organizers. Even in Kennebunkport, which is more than an hour away from the Brunswick fields, the Rhumb Line Resort has held 45 rooms for the event since last year, and already is holding the same amount for 2008. Melony Jellison, general manager at the 59-room hotel, applauds the extra business. "We're always slow the last week of June because it's just before the 4th of July," she says. "So to have 45 rooms for five nights, that was awesome."
Jellison was a bit disappointed, though, when in mid-June the travel company that reserved the 45 rooms let her know they would only need to use 28 of them. (Fortunately, global politics are working in her favor: That weekend, President George Bush will be meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Bush compound in Kennebunkport. "When the president comes it gets pretty busy," Jellison says.)
Any event that brings $9 million to the local economy is a big deal ˆ especially since the largest of the 200 events planned each year by the Portland visitor's bureau generates between $2 million and $4 million.
To help in that endeavor, the visitor's bureau will have tents staffed with bureau employees set up at every set of fields where the soccer games will be played. They'll be there to help groups make restaurant reservations or give advice on the must-see tourist attractions in the area. "We're working hard to expand [the economic benefit] beyond the few days they'll be here," Whitten says.
And whatever kinks there are to work out this year, it will only make next year's event that much better. White, who's traveled to the Region 1 Championships for the last 15 years, says the events are a "controlled madhouse." And Maine, with fields in three locations in Falmouth and Brunswick, will be no different. That means three times the number of tents and three times the number of volunteers to staff them. "There's a lot of effort that goes into this," he says. "The jury is still out, so we we'll see how it goes."
Beginning June 29 with an opening ceremony in Portland, the 2007 U.S. Youth Soccer Region 1 Championships is expected to bring 15,000 or so youth soccer players, coaches and family members to southern Maine from 13 other northeastern states. "Some [sporting events] might have brought more people for one day," Whitten says. "But this is a conference that lasts four or five days."
For those five days ˆ June 29 to July 3 ˆ more than 250 visiting soccer teams and their entourages will pack hotels from the New Hampshire border to Augusta, fill area restaurants with the sounds of post-game camaraderie and spur a rush on the bottled water and Gatorade sections of local convenience stores. "Think about the amount of milk that'll be drunk in that time," Whitten says. "And how much ice do you need to put on injuries and to keep things cold?"
The event, which is being held at facilities in Falmouth and at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, is expected to pump an estimated $9 million into the regional economy, not including any benefits the state may reap if any of those families stick around for a few days in Vacationland (which is entirely likely given that the tournament ends just before the July 4 holiday).
To host an event of this size also requires a lot of planning, from staffing the fields with volunteers to booking sound systems and lining up a company to haul away the loads of trash 15,000 attendees are likely to produce.
While the visitor's bureau has been integral in helping to prepare for this event, it was Soccer Maine, a statewide organization that promotes soccer in the state, that lobbied successfully to bring the event to Maine for two years: 2007 and 2008. "We got it here but [the visitor's bureau] will make it really successful," says Ray White, president of Soccer Maine's board of directors and chair of the local organizing committee for the event.
Attracting such a large soccer event was quite a feat, White says. "This is the first time a smaller state has been awarded this event," he says. (And by "smaller," White doesn't mean geographically: Maine has roughly 11,000 registered youth soccer players, while Virginia, which hosted the Region 1 championships for the last two years, has 81,000.) "There was a lot of convincing that we had the volunteer base and the facilities to be able to do this," White says.
Local impact
Large events also generate business for a host of behind-the-scenes, service-oriented companies, from the ones that provide tents to the caterers. White estimates that roughly 150 businesses will benefit in some way from this event.
On June 30, Personal Touch Catering in West Buxton has been booked by Soccer Maine to throw a lobster bake for an estimated 2,000 soccer players and their families at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland. Frank Wright, sales manager at Personal Touch, expects to cook as many as 1,800 lobsters that afternoon in special high-volume pots the company purchased specifically for this event. "A lobster bake for 2,000 is not something we do every day," Wright says.
Personal Touch Catering doesn't expect the lobster bake to be a big money maker for the company, "but we're not going to lose any money on it either," Wright says. "We get the PR mileage, as well."
Hotel rooms are being booked all over the region. An estimated 31,000 room nights will be booked in 51 hotels in Maine and eight in New Hampshire, according to organizers. Even in Kennebunkport, which is more than an hour away from the Brunswick fields, the Rhumb Line Resort has held 45 rooms for the event since last year, and already is holding the same amount for 2008. Melony Jellison, general manager at the 59-room hotel, applauds the extra business. "We're always slow the last week of June because it's just before the 4th of July," she says. "So to have 45 rooms for five nights, that was awesome."
Jellison was a bit disappointed, though, when in mid-June the travel company that reserved the 45 rooms let her know they would only need to use 28 of them. (Fortunately, global politics are working in her favor: That weekend, President George Bush will be meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Bush compound in Kennebunkport. "When the president comes it gets pretty busy," Jellison says.)
Any event that brings $9 million to the local economy is a big deal ˆ especially since the largest of the 200 events planned each year by the Portland visitor's bureau generates between $2 million and $4 million.
To help in that endeavor, the visitor's bureau will have tents staffed with bureau employees set up at every set of fields where the soccer games will be played. They'll be there to help groups make restaurant reservations or give advice on the must-see tourist attractions in the area. "We're working hard to expand [the economic benefit] beyond the few days they'll be here," Whitten says.
And whatever kinks there are to work out this year, it will only make next year's event that much better. White, who's traveled to the Region 1 Championships for the last 15 years, says the events are a "controlled madhouse." And Maine, with fields in three locations in Falmouth and Brunswick, will be no different. That means three times the number of tents and three times the number of volunteers to staff them. "There's a lot of effort that goes into this," he says. "The jury is still out, so we we'll see how it goes."
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