MH lands major regional youth soccer tourney

More than a year ago, Morgan Hill partnered with Cal North Soccer to bring a regional tournament to the Outdoor Sports Complex.
The effort has paid off, as the city will play host to the 2014 US Youth Soccer Region IV President’s Cup June 10-15 at the Morgan Hill Outdoor Sports Center on Condit Road, plus one additional location yet to be determined.
The regional tournament brings together 120 teams from around the western United States. That means almost 2,000 players and coaches with their families, equating to a hoped-for 10,000 people pouring into the area according to Jeff Dixon, president of the Morgan Hill Youth Sports Alliance which is working with Cal North Soccer.
“We are still trying to analyze the economic impact,” Dixon said. The official announcement from U.S. Youth Soccer arrived Sept. 11.
Morgan Hill Mayor Steve Tate said Tuesday he was pleased at the prospect of 10,000 people potentially flooding the South Valley for the week-long soccer extravaganza.
“It’s going to bring good competition and lots of hotel stays. It’s all good for us,” Tate said.
The Outdoor Sports Center houses 11 fields, but the President’s Cup requires the tournament to host 60 games a day, which will be more than the center can handle. Organizers are looking into an alternate site, which could be chosen by mid October.
Dixon said he’s talking with Morgan Hill and Gilroy Unified school districts, but wouldn’t comment about which fields could be the alternate because he is still in talks.
Morgan Hill was chosen because it had partnered with Cal North Soccer’s official bid for the President’s Cup.
Randy Greenwood, Region IV President’s Cup Tournament Director, said three other states had submitted bids in 2012 to host the 2014 tournament.
In 2012, Cal North had hosted the National President’s Cup Tournament. Winners from the regional tournaments across the United States advance to the national competition.
Dixon said the mission of the Sports Alliance is to bring more prestigious events to the area, such as the Western regional lacrosse tournament and a three-day county soccer tournament held there this summer. Hosting those events also served as a learning curve to help “us understand the important modifications to our operations we have to make,” Dixon noted.
“I’m thrilled and the whole community is thrilled,” said Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce President and CEO John Horner about bringing the tournament to the Sports Center. “Jeff and his team running sports alliance are working pretty hard pretty much every day of the year.”
Horner said if Morgan Hill does see 10,000 people come through because of the tournament, it could mean a $1 million impact to the area.
He said the lacrosse tournament in particular was helpful. Because of its size, which Dixon estimates brought between 8,000 to 10,000 people, it was a decent dress rehearsal for dealing with issues related to crowds and allocation of resources.
For the first time this year, the Sports Center also hosted the July 4 fireworks, which Dixon said attrected 25,000 people.
The Sports Center is also gearing up for the rock concert dubbed the Kihncert scheduled to come Oct. 12 that could bring several thousand people to see Bret Michaels, the Greg Kihn Band and others.
Tate said he is pleased to hear there are more programs coming to the Sports Center, which was handed over from city control three years ago to the private Morgan Hill Sports Alliance. Tate said he hopes the trend will continue, as it could be a boon to Morgan Hill and its residents.
“Bringing more big-time events will help our economy and raise money for more scholarships to our students,” Tate said.
If 10,000 people come to the tournament, the economic impact could be felt in Gilroy as participants might choose to stay in its hotels and visit its shops – something Gilroy Mayor Don Gage would love to see.
He hopes people will frequent Gilroy restaurants, stay in hotels and visit the outlets.
Jane Howard, executive director at the Gilroy Welcome Center, echoed the mayor’s thoughts.
“Anytime South County can get these types of visitors – with sports being a real draw – it’s a boon,” Howard said.
In addition to restaurants experiencing an influx of patrons, the local businesses – including South County’s more than 20 wineries – could see an increased flow of people.
Howard said she hadn’t heard the soccer tournament was coming, but would be alerting Gilroy area hotels about the possible bump in business.
Howard added she hopes once people see what Gilroy and Morgan Hill have to offer, they would be inclined to come back for more visits.
The next preparation steps are underway.
Greenwood said representatives from U.S. Youth Soccer will meet with Cal North and Morgan Hill representatives to lay the groundwork for what needs to be accomplished in the next few months.
He said there will be one or two other in-person meetings after this weekend and that follow-ups will likely occur via conference call unless in-person interviews are required.
Greenwood said starting in January, U.S. Youth Soccer will start putting out information about travel and staying in Morgan Hill.
In the interim, Dixon said he will be meeting with hotels in San Jose, Morgan Hill and Gilroy in the next month.
He also said the Sports Center crews will start smoothing out logistics of where vendors will set up and how they will work out the task of watering fields during the tournament. This must be done through a portable irrigation system.
Dixon is confident crews will have everything worked out by June 10.
“It’s kind of what we do,” he said. “It’s what we’ve done for three years now. We’ve gained a strong reputation in the industry for putting on quality events.”
Dixon said the tournament will play a major role as he tries to ramp up the Sports Center’s ability to host bigger events. U.S. Lacrosse is returning its western regional tournament to Morgan Hill next year and on Oct. 15-19, 2014, the Cynosport Dog Agility World Games is scheduled to be held in Morgan Hill.