VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - A new study examining the city's potential for sports tourism found action sports could be the number one draw in bringing new visitors to the city.
City council members were presented with the results on Tuesday afternoon.
The study found a potential new indoor-outdoor action sports park could bring in 35,000 new hotel stays a year to host events related to things like skateboarding, biking, and surfing.
"Our number one opportunity is action sports and why is that? At our core, it's authentic to who we are," Deputy City Manager Taylor Adams said.
The city just hosted the Jackalope Festival for the first time this past weekend.
Five other ideas were presented, including adding a baseball complex, an ice facility, a 50-meter pool, as well as making improvements to Hampton Roads Soccer Complex and Princess Anne Athletics Complex.
The ideas are just in their early stages with the city to now evaluate the study and get feedback.
"There's a lot of concern that we want to make sure these opportunities are spread throughout the city," said Mayor Bobby Dyer.
The city used the same consulting firm, called Victus Advisors, to help them research the potential of building the Virginia Beach Sports Center.
The Sports Center opened in 2020 and is considered a success in terms of bringing people and events to the city, although an audit released earlier this year found the Sports Center is losing money in operations.
"There's always a clarion cry to get a professional sports team here... that comes with a lot of overhead and a lot of strings and commitment," said Dyer. "People that come here year round - I think that's the important thing we need in our economy."
The city is moving ahead with creating an action sports series this year with the city helping to fund 5 surf and 12 skate events.
"The idea is to take the skate element and instead of all of the stake at the resort to spread these skate events throughout the city," said Adams.
The city council is expected to vote on funding the $125,000 ask at their next meeting.
