A tournament passes through a town once. A destination venue is different: from spring through fall, a new group of teams checks in every week, plays, spends money nearby, and leaves, and the next group arrives. Towns like Cooperstown, Branson, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg have built part of their year around that rotation. If you own a business nearby, the opportunity is steadier than a one-time event, and the risks are different. (For the one-time version, see How Local Businesses Can Benefit When a Major Youth Tournament Comes to Town.)
What a venue that fills every week looks like
These figures come from cities, news reports, and the venues themselves. The text says when a venue reported its own number, and several figures are a few years old.
- Cooperstown, New York. Two competing venues share the summer market. Cooperstown Dreams Park, five miles south of the village, runs about 13 weeks each summer, according to CNBC. Cooperstown All Star Village in Oneonta was bought by Josh Harris and David Blitzer in 2022 for a reported $116 million and combined with Ripken Baseball in 2023, according to Sportico. In April 2020, CNBC reported that the pullback in baseball tourism, including a canceled Dreams Park season, was expected to cost local merchants and restaurants somewhere between $50 million and $150 million.
- Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The city owns its $22.5 million Ripken Experience complex, which opened in 2016 and which Ripken Baseball operates under a contract with the city. The city says the complex contributed more than $54 million to its economy in 2025 and that research indicates 99 percent of its visitors live outside Sevier County.
- Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Rocky Top Sports World, an 80-acre multisport facility, reported more than 149,000 athletes, spectators, and family members and $55.6 million in economic impact for its 2021-22 year, according to a 2022 news report.
- Branson, Missouri. Ballparks of America, with two-thirds-scale replicas of Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, and three other ballparks, opened in 2016 as a public-private partnership with the city. Sports Destination Management reported in 2020 that it had produced an estimated $50 million in economic impact since opening.
- Flemington, New Jersey. Diamond Nation, which Unrivaled Sports acquired in 2024, says more than 3,000 teams and 45,000 participants play there each year.
- Emerson, Georgia. LakePoint Sports sits in Bartow County, where Explore Georgia's state tourism director put 2022 direct visitor spending at $273 million, supporting 2,800 jobs. That is a county-wide figure, not LakePoint alone. LakePoint's president told the same audience that the challenge is getting visitors to stay in the county's hotels, eat at its restaurants, and shop at its stores.
How a destination differs from a one-time tournament
- The crowd repeats on a schedule. You can plan around the same weekly pattern and the busiest weeks of the season, instead of a single date.
- The venue often controls lodging. Ballparks of America advertises on-campus stay-and-play suites. When Ripken Baseball bought Sports Force Parks at Cedar Point Sports Center in Sandusky, Ohio, in 2023, it also took over a travel planner that books hotels for visiting teams. More of each family's trip is arranged inside the venue's own system, so a nearby business usually reaches visitors through meals, shopping, and things to do.
- One venue is a lot to depend on. A 2022 local report found that businesses relying on the two Cooperstown parks had not seen volumes return to pre-pandemic levels, after sessions were shortened from a full week to six days. A restaurant owner who caters to team outings told the same report that attendance was below past years.
- Ownership and operators change. Ballparks of America was sold to four Springfield, Missouri businessmen in 2020, Cooperstown All Star Village changed hands in 2022, and Ripken Baseball runs the Pigeon Forge complex for the city under contract. The person who agreed to something last season may not be the person who decides this one.
What a nearby business can do
- Build for the weekly cohort. A group menu, a team-night rate, or a pre-ordered meal for a coach is easier to repeat across a season than a one-time offer. Ask the venue for its season calendar and its arrival and departure days.
- Find out who controls what. Before you spend money on signs or printing, ask whether the venue sells its own signage, has an official housing or dining partner, or limits outside vendors.
- Start before the season. The same lead-time point applies here as with sponsor activations: a banner can go up on short notice, but anything more needs real planning time.
Zubie Five's work is brokering the connection between an audience and the businesses that want to reach it, mostly for local leagues and organizations. A destination venue is a different audience, one that rotates in weekly instead of staying put, but the steps are the same: work out who controls access, what the venue's rules allow, and what a visiting family would actually use. The research, outreach, and negotiation can all be done remotely, so this can be set up for a business in your market without traveling there. If a destination venue is near you and you want to reach the families it brings, Zubie Five can help you work out who to talk to and what to offer.
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