It’s no secret that major sporting events are good for the economy, so it was heartening to see Okotoks council agree last week to establish a pot of money to support local organizations that are looking to bring large-scale competitions to the area.
The Town has been supportive of these endeavours in the past through grants and facility usage, but this new policy takes it a step further, formally outlining what types of events qualify and how much funding they would be entitled to receive.
Major sporting events bring hundreds, even thousands, of people to town, both participants and family members, who typically stay in local hotels, eat in local restaurants, shop in local stores and generally drop money wherever they go. It all helps fuel the local economy.
Sport Tourism Canada, which studies the economic activity generated by these large-scale tournaments, has crunched the numbers for many of them, including the 2022 Tim Hortons Brier, held over 10 days last March in Lethbridge, which generated almost $20 million in overall economic activity in the province, the vast majority of that in the Lethbridge area. On a smaller scale, the City of Leduc, which is comparable in size to Okotoks, saw over half a million dollars in economic activity from the Wild Rose Invitational figure skating competition last summer.
Sports organizations in these parts have a proven track record of hosting major events, competitions that have been a boon to the area’s economy for many years. The latest example of this is the Okotoks Carstar Bisons playing host to the Hockey Alberta Junior B Provincials at Centennial Arenas starting today.
Providing event organizers with pre-determined seed money is likely to entice more of them to pursue hosting duties, which in turn would create even greater economic spin-offs. Many other towns and cities already have such a funding policy in place, so it’s about time the Town put our sports organizations and facilities on a level playing field.
