During the Town of Cortlandville Town Board meeting on Wednesday, the Town Board voted to authorize a bid/request for proposals on updating the economic and feasibility study on Gutchess Lumber Sports Complex.
“The goal of the study is to allow community leaders like yourselves (Town Board) to make informed decisions on the future development of Gutchess Lumber Sports Complex.” Cortlandville Parks Director John McNerney said to the Board in regards to the study.
With a new study, the Town can learn more about what sports will bring in additional teams to Cortlandville. Those could include soccer fields, additional baseball fields, pickleball courts, etc. The study will also look into nearby competition and work to create a plan to have Cortlandville the preferred option for events and tournaments.
McNerney then spoke to the Town Board on the statistics of the Spring and Summer of 2023 at the complex; data on the Fall is not available as it is ongoing.
“We hosted over 100 high baseball and softball games. We also hosted 40 NCAA baseball games. We hosted over 80 club and local/travel baseball teams.” McNerney said.
The park welcomed over 600 teams and over 25,000 players, coaches, and spectators during the Spring and Summer of this year. McNerney noted the addition of the two fields, which opened this Spring helping increase the number from last year’s data.
Teams coming to Gutchess Lumber came from multiple states including: Colorado, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Minnesota, Texas, and New Jersey. There were also teams that came from both Ontario and Montreal Canada.
For New York State, over 100 teams came to the complex. The average 3 to 4 day tournaments had about 36 to 55 teams participating.
“The only other thing I’d like to add. I just worked on my economic impact numbers up through the beginning of October and doesn’t include any of the Fall tournaments PBR has done nor does it include the girls soccer tournament we’re hosting in another month. We’re at $4.9 million in economic impact. Usually at this point in the year we’re about half that. About two million of that, maybe a little more is directly contributed to PBR.” Machell Phelps, Cortland Regional Sports Council, said to the Board.
PBR (Prep Baseball Report), is the company in charge of bringing tournaments and players to Gutchess Lumber Sports Complex. That economic impact goes towards sales tax, which the Town receives 8% of.
Town Supervisor Tom Williams along with the rest of the Town Board was impressed with the statistics given so far from the Sports Complex. Future growth at the park is clearly certain.
