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By the Numbers
$7.5 million estimated economic impact on Dayton region
12,000 observers
3,500 soccer players
212 teams
The US Youth Soccer Midwest Regional Tournament coming to Greene County in 2014 is expected to give the Dayton region an economic boost — around $7.5 million, according to county convention and visitors bureau officials.
“Soccer is huge in southwest Ohio,” said Kathleen Young, the Greene County Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director. “We consider Greene County the soccer capital of the Midwest because we have so many soccer fields.”
The soccer competition is in the top 10 events within the county that draw in the most visitors from outside of the region, according to the county CVB.
The soccer tournament will be held at the John Ankeney Soccer Complex in Beavercreek, which added 35 acres last year, said John Ankeney, who the park is named after the Beavercreek Soccer Association executive director.
“We now have almost 100 acres which allows us to easily put 40-50 soccer fields of various sizes (on the complex grounds),” he said.
Ankeney said he plans to close the soccer fields three weeks before the tournament.
“It’s to allow the grass to recover,” he said. “We’re playing so many games and we have over 2,000 over our own kids. Some of those teams have teams that come in to play them in leagues. So the grass takes a beating.”
The last time the regional tournament was held at the soccer complex in 2010, the complex had 65 acres so soccer fields at the Athletes in Action headquarters in Xenia, were also used.
In 2014 all of the soccer youth soccer tournament games will be held at the Ankeney complex in late June.
Next year, drivers may also notice an added second exit which will help relieve traffic congestion, said CVB officials. The county sheriff’s office will also assist with traffic, but CVB officials do not expect any major backups because the times for the competitions are staggered.
“This event doesn’t have the same kind of traffic impact that the other big tournaments have,” Stebelton said.
Next year, the youth soccer competition is expected to draw more than 3,500 players and 12,000 observers to the complex over during the tournament.
The youth soccer tournament is not the largest event to be held in the county, but it is an important event because the large number of out-of-town visitors that travel to the area, said Allen, Stebelton, the county CVB sales manager.
“Locals don’t create economic impact,” Stebelton said. “Out-of-town visitors create economic impact.”
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