Sports Tournaments Provide Millions In Economic Benefit To N.B. Towns
SAINT JOHN — “Typically for the Dairy Town Classic we usually are always sold out. This year is no exception,” says Janet Johnston, the corporate general manager of the Amsterdam Inn’s Sussex location.
The Dairy Town Classic (DTC) is a major Atlantic high school basketball tournament that attracts top-notch teams from across Atlantic Canada and beyond. It’s a part of a multi-million dollar sports tournament economy in New Brunswick that tends to fly under the radar, proving you don’t need to have a professional team to generate revenue or create a sports culture.
“It’s great, especially on the weekends when the sports teams are here, whether it be hockey, whether it be the Dairy Town Classic, ski racing, those sorts of things. It brings a lot of business to our hotels on the weekends,” Johnston says.
She says the inn does steady business during the week, with business-related meetings and events, but weekends in the winter can be challenging. That’s why the DTC, which is back after the Covid-19 pandemic cancelled it for two years, is so important and exciting for the town.
Everyone benefits
“You’re bringing people in for a certain purpose, but the economic side of it is going to be a huge swipe of the brush because it’s going everywhere,” says Paul Bedford, the president of the Sussex & District Chamber of Commerce.
“Coming out of this Covid pandemic, any community that can get their hands on a little bit of this [tourism] is going to be a huge, huge help for them.”
Bedford notes that there are teams coming from all over New Brunswick, as well as from Nova Scotia and Quebec.
“These are youth teams coming in which typically are going to have parents, siblings, or possibly other family members, coaches, and team supporters,” he says.
In addition to accommodation at hotels and Airbnbs, there are a number of other economic spinoffs from the visitors.
“Your restaurants and your little takeouts and your coffee shops are going to be busy and hustling right down to your fuel stations.” Dollar stores, sporting goods stores, and grocery stores are also places where visitors spend money.
Bedford says the tournament aspect of the event means there will be downtime for players to take advantage of the other things to do around town.
“They’re going around taking in some of the winter sites. I’m sure some of these people are going to be taking in Poley Mountain, going up to the ski hill. Maybe hiking into the Parleebrook ampitheatre with the ice glaciers.”
Fan support
DTC committee president Dave Baxendale estimates there will be approximately 200 people in town directly participating in the event as players and coaches. But the competition itself will draw even more spectators.
“The crowds have been unbelievable,” Baxendale says of the DTC fans at the Sussex Regional High School gym. “We’re probably getting 600 people most times for most games.”
He says that really adds up over the course of the 20-game cycle of the three-day tournament, which also featured lead-up events like alumni games and elementary and middle school competitions.
This year, the 35-year-old tournament will feature play-by-play announcements by Mount Allison’s Dave Kingsley. Games will also be streaming on Facebook Live.
“I think [the DTC] provides an opportunity for sports lovers to see a quality of sport at the high school level that normally you would never see in this neck of the woods. It brings out a lot of people who are true fans of the game …to see some really high-quality basketball.”
In the small town of Plaster Rock, the population triples during the World Pond Hockey Championship, which runs for three days every February.
“We can have 3,000 – 4,000 people out here on the lake in the afternoon,” says Danny Braun, president and CEO of the World Pond Hockey Championship. “Over the course of the four days, it wouldn’t be unheard of to have 7,000 or 8,000 total.”
That massive increase in people means accommodations, restaurants, and local stores all benefit not just in Plaster Rock but in the surrounding area as well.
“A number of years ago, it was well in excess of a million dollars for the region,” Braun says of the economic spinoff effect of the tournament. He uses an online estimating tool to determine the impact.
Braun says people in Plaster Rock open their homes to participants and spectators, with the overflow choosing to stay in neighboring communities like Grand Falls and Peth-Andover.
He says during the NHL lockout there was a lot of attention paid to the tournament as reporters from the New York Times wrote stories about the event, and even the Great One, Wayne Gretzky paid a visit.
Braun says there are a lot of volunteer hours put in to make these events happen, beyond just organizing them: supporting the snow blowers and tractors to clean and maintain the ice at the event, the music and other entertainment at the hospitality events for participants and spectators.
With teams of mostly expat Canadians arriving from as far away as the Cayman Islands and Dubai to get together and play some hockey, the event has a far-reaching impact.
Economic benefits hard to calculate
What is the actual economic impact of events like these, big and small, on communities across New Brunswick? It’s hard to say.
“If we look at the economic impact of sports tourism in 2019, for example, it was $139 million in the province,” says Tourism Minister Tammy Scott Wallace. “That’s not necessarily measuring the smaller community events that happen, but we know that there is that strong community benefit and we know there’s this social benefit to these types of events where everyone comes together to celebrate.”
She says that during the seven years prior to Covid-19, the Government of New Brunswick invested $4.5 million and the federal government $3 million to host 55 national and international events in the province. That generated an estimated $50 million in total net economic activity.
And all the same factors for the World Junior Hockey Championship or the Dairy Town Classic would apply – accommodation, food, transportation, entertainment, and buying items to make your stay more enjoyable, like a new pair of ski gloves for a ski trip, or a souvenir to remember your adventure.
Some of the other economic benefits are not as apparent, but more meaningful.
Strengthening communities
For one of the lead-up events to the DTC, a food or monetary donation for the food bank was the price of admission. Organizer Baxendale says prior to the Covid pause, that event would garner $200 in groceries and $300-$400 in cash.
“This year, we had at least $300 worth of groceries and we had almost $1,000 in cash,” he said. “People know that times have been tougher … the sharing club and food banks can really use help right now.”
For Janet Johnston at the Amsterdam Inn, that community spirit the DTC creates is valuable in more terms than just money.
“Dairy Town Classic does such a fabulous job of making it such a wonderful event for the athletes. Having banquets, having an opening ceremony, having a closing ceremony so it’s a big draw,” she says. “My twin brother is in Cape Breton and he grew up playing in the Dairy Town Classic the whole way through. They invited his daughter’s team to come to the DTC from Glace Bay High. It’s so exciting.”
“That’s the nice thing about this tournament, it’s generations.”
Alex Graham is a Huddle reporter in Saint John. Send her your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].