[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by skinsfan_nn

Being a resort city I think your a little off on where people would be willing to stay and/or spend their money for a weekend getaway or whatever the case might be. I think most people coming to VA. beach would stay at the waterfront, on the ocean vs. driving to Chesapeake, which would mean a good piece of revenue in itself, not to include dinning, shopping, gas, and all the little things you buy while on the road that add up to alot.

And if they had done any decent pre-planning with this amount of time to work with, (they didn't start on this yesterday) the could have probably raised most of the funds through private investors to begin with. This is typical VA. beach, business as usual.

Agreed this is typical Va Beach, as a tax-paying citizen I am embarassed to say that. The City Council isn't the sharpest bunch and they're pretty much bought & paid for by the hotels & developers.

But my point is as backrow said, the Oceanfront is normally booked and the prices jacked up so unless a family has already booked a vacation here (in which case training camp isn't creating the revenue) people coming down just for camp will probably opt to stay in the more reasonably priced hotels in Chesapeake in the Greenbrier area. Travel from Greenbrier to the Sportplex vs. the Oceanfront to the Sportsplex is actually faster from Greenbrier without traffic.

The things people buy are great, but the City would only be getting the local taxes charged on food. The amount of revenue to the City would be minimal compared to a $ 2.5M investment. If private sponsors want to pony up then great (and yes the City should've been working this well in advance), but no way the City should foot the bill for this. There is really no tangible ROI for the City.