Warren County officials say two new gyms to be built at county parks will not only allow the county’s sports leagues to expand, they also present opportunities to lure potentially lucrative sporting events and tournaments.

Amy Cardwell, sports sales director for the Bowling Green Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, is responsible for working with groups such as the collegiate Mid-South Conference – which holds its championship events here – that are interested in holding tournaments and other events in Warren County.

These events benefit the county by bringing outside money into the local economy, mainly thanks to participants and spectators eating at nearby restaurants and staying in area hotels, she said.

“As we add more events, room nights go up and the economy improves,” she said.

Warren County hosts these events at local facilities, notably those in the county and city park systems, as well as at Warren County Public Schools, Bowling Green Independent School District and Western Kentucky University facilities, Cardwell said.

Activity in youth leagues the Warren County Parks Department oversees can make scheduling other events difficult, Cardwell said.

She’s happy there’s so much demand for the county’s facilities from outside groups, even if CVB can’t meet that demand, she said.

“It’s a fabulous problem to have,” she said.

Cardwell expects two gyms being built at Ephram White and Michael O. Buchanon parks to meet the demand of people wanting to play in the county’s sports leagues and in doing so, free up more times to hold events not affiliated with the county.

Cardwell spoke to the Warren County Fiscal Court on March 24, the day a second and final reading of a measure to issue no more than $12 million worth of general obligation bonds to fund the construction of the gyms was unanimously approved. Cardwell said the new gyms will keep the CVB from having to turn down as many events as it has in recent years.

“Last year alone, I turned down over 150 bids because we didn’t have gym space,” she said.

Though not all of these bids would have been finalized even if the county’s facilities were available, many of the bids that were turned down were missed opportunities for the county, Cardwell said.

The new gyms, while mainly intended to give the county’s youth leagues room to expand, will also allow for a great deal of additional revenue to come into the county, she said.

“Easily another $25 million a facility a year in economic impact could be possible with these new facilities,” she said.

Via text, Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon said he could easily envision Cardwell’s prediction that the new gyms could potentially bring a combined $50 million.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if these facilities create a great deal more than her estimate as we move forward with statewide and national proposals in the next few years,” he said.

Buchanon said “sports tourism” has been growing in Warren County for several years.

Each tournament held in the area features numerous teams, as well as coaches and spectators, who stay in local hotels and eat at local restaurants and possibly stop at other local points of interest such as the National Corvette Museum and Beech Bend Park if they have spare time, he said.

“Those few kids playing ball in our parks over those few days give a big lift to our community, and helps to pay for these amenities that they use,” he said. “One tournament can have an enormous positive impact for everyone in our area.”

Because the two new gyms will offer more space and times for games and practices to be held, Buchanon anticipates the county will host more events after the gyms are completed, he said.

“These multi-purpose athletic facilities give the CVB a better chance to attract more sports tournaments to Warren County,” he said. “These facilities give us venues that will allow us to grow family recreation, and to market for tournaments as well.”

According to Public Works Director Josh Moore, one of the gyms is expected to be completed by Dec. 1 with the other set to be finished by Jan. 1.

At the fiscal court meeting March 24, Parks Director Chris Kummer said he was excited about the two new gyms’ potential to allow the county’s youth leagues to expand and to bring outside events to the area.

“I would love to see the gyms booked up every weekend, every night of the week,” he said.

Each gym will contain four middle school basketball courts that can be reconfigured into two high school courts; volleyball nets that are suspended from the ceiling rather than being supported by poles sticking up from the floor; two batting cages, not including pitching machines; and a sheriff substation for a deputy who will be overseeing the parks system full-time – a response to several instances of unruly behavior from adult spectators at youth games, Kummer said.

Kummer said the new gyms provide opportunities for the parks department to host events for sports and activities it couldn’t facilitate before.

“I think we’ll be able to attract events we’ve never been able to host before because we didn’t have the space or the facilities,” he said.

In her comments to fiscal court, Cardwell said the two new gyms can accommodate an activity that no other county facility can: cheerleading.

“We’ve never been able to do much cheerleading and dance because the ceiling heights aren’t high enough,” she said.

The parks department could also expand to hosting archery tournaments, Cardwell said, adding that the sport has been growing in popularity recently.

“We have just hit the surface with archery,” she said. “This gives us a whole nother potential.”