UAFS volleyball to boost Fort Smith economy

It may not be obvious to the naked eye, but Fort Smith will be a bit more crowded through the upcoming weekend as players, coaches, support staff and fans stream into the city for the Heartland Conference regular-season volleyball tournament taking place this weekend at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith's Stubblefield Center.

According to Dr. Dustin Smith, UAFS director of athletics, the tournament will feature UAFS and three other teams.

"(In our conference), the team who wins the regular season (games) hosts the tournament," he said.

With the UAFS Lady Lions boasting a 21-8 record going into the tournament, no other school was even in contention to host the tournament. It's the second such volleyball tournament the school has hosted. The school also hosted a Heartland Conference basketball tournament last year and a golf tournament about two years ago, according to Smith.

And while it is important for any school hosting a tournament to have home court advantage, Smith also spoke about the financial side of hosting a tournament.

"We get the benefit of not having to pay any of (the travel expenses), plus you have your home court advantage," he said. "Now if you compare it to what the Razorbacks do, we don't get (paid any money by the conference). But they do pay for the officials and lodging for the officials."

To give an idea of how much money the athletic department is saving by hosting the tournament in Fort Smith, all you have to do is look at what expenses the three schools participating in the tournament (Dallas Baptist, St. Edward's and St. Mary's) must front for their student athletes.

"You're looking at probably $35 to $40 per kid in meals. You're looking at roughly $100 per room, with seven to 10 rooms per team. And then your entertainment, depending on what they do and how many times they have to do it, you figure about $25 per kid."

For a team of 25 spending three days out of town, a college could be looking at nearly $7,900 using the figures provided by Smith.

Factoring in fans and support staff that travel with the team would put the number even higher.

According to Claude Legris, director of the Fort Smith Convention and Visitors Bureau, the tournament to be hosted this weekend will pump more than $175,000 into the local economy.

"The bottom line is we're looking at $176,072 which would have gone somewhere else, which is a good thing," he said. "If the university had not done as well as they did in the outcome, they would not have been the host. By them doing as well as they did, they brought this town $176,000 that would not have come here otherwise, which means Fort Smith being the hotbed of volleyball is a good thing."

And if the Lady Lions can add a few more wins to their already impressive 21-8 record, Smith said it is possible the school could host another tournament in the near future which could have an even larger economic impact in Fort Smith.

"The top eight teams make the regional tournament. If you rank high in the regional, you can host. So there could be eight teams and that expands that amount of money and the impact it could have in the community. So it would double that money for sure."

And while UAFS focuses on hosting the tournament this weekend, there is already talk about what the future holds for Fort Smith and sports tournaments, Legris said.

"It is our intention in 2015 to start pursuing that sports market once again because of the infrastructure we'll have in the city with the additional fields (at the River Valley Sports Complex and Ben Geren Regional Park)," he said.

But UAFS' Director of Sports Information Jonathan Gipson said his focus would be solely on this weekend and said if nothing else, the impending tournament will be a good thing for locals.

"Our conference is so geographically spread out, it's difficult for our home fans to make games," he said. "It's a reward for our fans who've been loyal to us to see them play in the conference (tournament) right in Fort Smith. And it gives us a good home field advantage."

The tournament begins Friday (Nov. 22) at 5 p.m. and runs through Saturday's final match at 1 p.m.