How much of an impact can eight baseball fields have?

Searcy, Ark., is a relatively big town — twice the size of Natchez if you just look at the population numbers.

One hour north of Little Rock, Ark., Searcy is the home of Harding University, and while it is not fed by an interstate highway, Searcy is on a major artery headed northeast to St. Louis.

Even still, when you drive into the Arkansas city, you notice the similarities between Searcy and Natchez. Church is at the center of community. Even with its sizable population, Searcy feels like a small town with its historic business district. Southern hospitality still shines here in this town where drivers will go out of their way to give you the right of way.

Like Natchez, Searcy loves its sports. Unlike Natchez, Searcy has developed a first-rate recreation complex, complete with basketball courts, soccer fields, softball diamonds and baseball fields. Recent additions to the complex have attracted state and regional tournaments, including four separate Dixie Youth Baseball World Series regional tournaments this weekend.

Players, coaches, parents, family and friends packed the biggest stadium on the complex for the weekend’s opening ceremonies.

Looking at the crowds, I started to understand the impact the action on eight ball fields can have on a town in just one weekend.

Here are the rough numbers that I tallied up in my head. Eight ball fields will entertain 32 teams. Each team has roughly 12 players and three coaches, which means that approximately 480 people will be competing this weekend.

So far the numbers seem small. Of course most of the players travel to Searcy for the tournaments. Since the competitors are just children, each player more than likely brought a parent or two. Without counting grandparents, additional siblings and other friends of the team, the number adds up to 1,440 people who will be staying in nearly 500 hotel rooms for at least three nights.

If each person eats 10 meals over the course of the weekend, a little more than 14,000 lunches and dinners will be served.

None of these numbers take into account the additional T-shirts, programs or concessions that will be purchased this weekend.

Putting a conservative dollar figure to all of the numbers pushes the impact of the World Series well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Of course, Seacry doesn’t host the World Series every year, and neither would any town that has a tournament-ready ballpark.

Even still, towns like Vidalia that have recreation complexes capable of hosting state and regional tournaments have been filled with baseball and softball fans this summer. Even small tournaments have an impact.

For years, Natchez residents have been debating whether or not a new recreation complex would be worth the cost of development and construction. Proponents say “Build it and the money will come.” Opponents say such complexes are a waste of money and the impact will not outweigh the costs.

As a parent who has spent the summer in two different sports complexes in Mississippi and Louisiana and has seen the dollars drain out of my bank account, the numbers alone begin to tell the story.

 

Ben Hillyer is the news editor of The Natchez Democrat. He can be contacted at 601-445-3540 or by e-mail at ben.hillyer@natchezdemocrat.com.