Marion A&P to fund more tourneys

Marion A&P to fund more tourneys

Dozens of teams translates into thousands of dollars for local businesses

news@theeveningtimes.com

Marion Advertising & Promotions Commission has agreed to underwrite four more baseball tournaments which will be put on in the fall by Marion Youth Sports Association (MYSA).

The new tournaments are in addition to the free registration tournament which will be held August 18 that the commission agreed to fund at its July meeting.

A& P agreed to spend up to $6,325 for the 25 team event at the Sports Complex, but also left the door open to MYSA to come back with a more detailed presentation for other tournaments.

Mayor Frank Fogleman said he believes the tourna- ments are a good investment and will not only bring more teams in to Marion, but also will be a good opportunity for the city’s youth sports.

“I find the idea appealing,” Fogleman said. “I’m very encouraged by what I hear.”

Logan Williams, MYSA president, updated A& P on the August 18 tournament noting that it is already sold out and that they expect similar results for the fall tournaments.

“It’s been sold out for about two weeks,” Williams said. “It’s going to be 23 teams ranging from eight (year-olds) to 11 (year-olds). Every team we’ve talked to seems to be excited.”

Williams said they sent out an e-mail to all of the teams and sent them a list of hotels and places to eat in Marion. Teams will have about an hour and a half between games to get something to eat and explore Marion.

“They’ll be here from 8 a.m. and the last games will all start at 8 p.m.,” Williams said.

Terry Gibbs, MYSA vicepresident, said the upcoming tournament will have many teams who have never played in Marion before.

“We have a lot of new faces that will be in Marion,” Gibbs said. “We’ve got Germantown, which is a majors team that you don’t see in Marion. Several teams from Memphis.

We’ve got three teams from Missouri coming.”

A& P oversees the collection of funds from the city’s one cent tax on prepared foods. The money is used to fund events and activities which promote tourism in Marion.

Gibbs said they met recently with the MYSA board of directors about the four fall tournaments and decided to ask A& P to guarantee a $75 minimum per team to help recoup the cost of putting the tournaments on in the event bad weather limits the number of games that can be played.

“A& P would not be on the hook for paying all of the expenses associated with the tournaments,” Gibbs said. “A& P would be more involved as a safety net so that it would help cover expenses in the event where the money isn’t quite there on the weekend if it rained. So once we paid expenses, if the Marion Youth Sports hasn’t achieved that $75 per team minimum, then A& P would cover the difference.”

Williams added that they need four teams per age group in order to make a tournament worthwhile to put on. There are four age groups — 8, 9, 10, and 11 year-olds.

“If we do four to six age groups this fall, we will be successful,” Williams said.

The maximum A& P is being asked to contribute is $75 for up 50 teams or $3,750.

Fogleman echoed that A& P is only being asked to be a safety net, and added that the more teams the tournament attracts and the more games they get to play, the less A& P will be asked to cover.

“A& P is only being asked to be a safety net or underwriter of last resort,” Fogleman said. “It could be zero. It could be one dollar per team. Depending on how deep you go into the tournament, it could be $75 a team at most. A& P is the fallback if they don’t reach a certain point” Williams said it would be unlikely MYSA would lose money with 50 teams.

“That $75 scenario is the worst case scenario,” Williams said. “If it doesn’t rain, there is no way it can go bad.”

A& P voted to approve funding for tournaments on Sept. 14 (”Back to School Bash”) and 21 (“Battle in the Delta” a NIT Global WS Qualifier) and October 12 (”Think Pink Battle on the Diamond” another NIT Global WS Qualifier) and 26 (Halloween Diamond Bash).

The committee also agreed to consider funding a free registration spring tournament.

“It’s a great idea,” said A& P member Mary Singer. “These kids need something to be involved in.”

“I love it,” added A& P member Hilda Phillips.

Fogleman encouraged NYSA to report back to A& P with the results and to discuss more events in the spring.

“The spring is tentative,” Fogleman said. “They want to see how it goes. We want to see how it goes. But I expect good results.”

Gibbs thanked the commission and said the tournaments

will be a big boost

for MYSA.

“Thank you for agreeing to this,” Gibbs said. “I know it is going to be great for the community. I know it is going to help Marion Youth Sports be able to provide athletics to the children of the community. And that’s really the long term goal.”

By Mark Randall