How major cornhole event helps comeback hopes of Columbia’s sports tourism
After months of traveling to different states, Matt West was glad to be home for the biggest event on the American Cornhole Organization calendar.
West, who attended Chapman High School and lives in Spartanburg, is in Columbia this week with more than 350 competitors for the 15th annual ACO World Championship.
The tournament started Tuesday and runs through Saturday with all events at The Columbia Convention Center. The championships will be Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.
“I think it is great,” said West, who runs a car dealership in Spartanburg and plays in two or three tournaments on the cornhole circuit a month. “I have traveled all over the country playing and to have it in our home state for the first time is great. I think we have 24 states represented here this week. I am happy it is here.”
The ACO World Championship is the culmination of a season-long series that includes a major tournament once a month. Last year’s championship was held in Las Vegas.
The event, which is free to spectators, is a welcome addition to the Columbia sports scene, which like so many businesses was hit hard through the coronavirus pandemic. And it gives local organizers hope for what’s ahead.
The ACO World Championship is the first large event that Experience Columbia SC Sports has hosted in the city since South Carolina and Clemson baseball teams battled at Segra Park, home of Columbia Fireflies, on Feb. 29 in front of a record crowd of 8,986 fans.
The game had an economic impact of $327,000, according to the Columbia Business Report.
Social distancing practices and temperature checks are in effect at the cornhole event. The financial impact of this week’s tournament on the local economy wasn’t immediately available, but it will help the hotels and businesses downtown, Experience Columbia SC sales manager Jarrett Dowling said.
There were 16 events scheduled to be hosted in the city after that USC-Clemson baseball game but all were canceled because of the pandemic. Dowling said the loss of those events had a local economic impact of $1.731 million in direct visitor spending.
“COVID lowered things a lot and the number of events we were allowed to have,” Dowling said. “But an event like this week still shows Columbia can host the same kind of events that other big cities around the country can. I think the face someone came here and saw how much there was to offer and put us on the same playing level as other larger cities.”
Other events are scheduled to be played in the Columbia area over the next few months, and there is hope the University of South Carolina can host fans for football games, which would be a boost for downtown businesses.
The S.C. Women’s Open golf tournament is scheduled for August at Cobblestone in Bylthewood and the National Women’s Sunfish World Qualifier hosted by the Columbia Sailing Club is in September. Dowling also said there are a few other big events planned for later this year. Typically, Experience Columbia SC hosts about 46 events per year.
“We have to think outside the box with different events we could still host here,” Dowling said. “There are some cool events that I can’t talk about yet, but stay tuned.”
Columbia also will find out later this year if it will win a bid to host another NCAA men’s basketball tournament regional. The city hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament in 2019 and the event was considered a rousing success.
The two days of basketball drew almost 48,000 fans from 33 states and had an $11.3 million impact, up from the projected $9 million, according to a study by University of South Carolina sport and entertainment management professor Tom Regan.
“It’s an iconic event that brought many first-time visitors to Columbia and really put us on the map. It would be huge to have March Madness back again.,” Dowling said. “We proved that we have the infrastructure to host large and high profile events successfully.”
This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
