Mike Bell, a representative of the Topeka Area Sports Commission, urged Shawnee County commissioners on Monday, Feb. 3, to back a strategy aimed at keeping more youth and amateur sporting events — and the spending that comes with them — in the Topeka area.

Bell told the Shawnee County Board of County Commissioners during a work session that the commission recorded about $27,000,000 in direct economic impact from sports activity in 2024, including roughly 17,000 room nights. He said the commission tracked 81 event leads but lost about 15 events that together represented about $11,000,000 in potential spending.

The commission’s strategy for 2025, Bell said, focuses on recruitment and community storytelling, better promotion of existing venues, targeted facility upgrades, volunteer recruitment and a stronger digital presence through TopekaSports.org and social channels. "We wanted to make sure we had a baseline," Bell said, describing the commission’s 2024 “Road Warriors” survey of about 1,200 residents. "About 70% of those folks are leaving our community," he said, often more than 11 times a year for youth sports. Bell said families reported spending about $161 per day when they travel for sporting events.

Why it matters: Bell said those outflows equal roughly $7,000,000 a year leaving Shawnee County and also reduce the pool of local volunteers and participants available to run events. "If we can move just a fraction of it, we can keep people in our community to, again, run events," he said.

Bell highlighted specific assets and opportunities the commission plans to promote: the Stormont Vail Event Center, Bettison and Vista complexes, Humber Sports Park, the Topeka Quarter Midget Track and Heartland BMX. He said the commission has pursued collegiate and amateur championships — including bids for NAIA, National Junior College and NCAA events — and noted an upcoming Cheer and Dance National Championship scheduled at the Stormont Vail Event Center in about a year.

Bell described smaller, targeted programs already underway, such as Task Cares, a local equipment-distribution effort that he said provided $2,900 in last-quarter 2024 distributions for items including gymnastics mats and athletic shoes. He also said the commission saw benefits when facilities adopted turf surfaces and when venues were promoted effectively: "When you do your homework, you build facilities that will work, and then you promote them right and put the right things in there, it just goes gangbusters."

Commissioners pressed Bell on several points. Chair Aaron Mays, representing District 3, asked whether retaining local participants would produce less economic impact than drawing overnight visitors; Bell agreed overall spending would be lower if families stay home but said the goal is to increase local spending and build events that draw visitors and volunteers over time. He said the commission is working with local private-sector partners and potential sponsors to help offset costs for new surfaces and courts and noted the commission lobbied Shawnee County last year for funding for a sport court at the Stormont Vail Event Center.

On facilities, Bell urged the county and Shawnee County Parks and Recreation to inventory and consider reconfiguring underused fields and sites rather than building new venues in every case. He suggested repurposing or reconfiguring multi-field complexes such as Felker for alternate uses — from T-ball championships to rugby or mountain-bike events — and said trails, including Skyline and Kaw-area trails, attract nonlocal users with low barriers to entry.

Bell also flagged an external funding route: Kansas Tourism’s attraction development grants. He suggested the Topeka Quarter Midget Track and other sites could apply for grants to fund specific upgrades — Bell cited a roughly $12,000 estimate to repair or replace a scoreboard at the quarter-midget track ahead of an October race he said has attracted about 400 out-of-area racers.

Bell described a range of niche events bringing visitors, from a collegiate quadball (a sport derived from Quidditch) tournament to Heartland BMX sessions that drew attention from an Olympian, and said the commission will pursue USA Pickleball, USA Wrestling and similar organizations to bring regional and national events to the county.

No formal actions or votes were taken during the work session. After Bell’s presentation and a brief public-comment period with no speakers signed up, the commission adjourned.