Va. Beach Pursuing Major Sporting Events
by Karen Hopkins, WVEC.com
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 11:27 AM
VIRGINIA BEACH -- Virginia Beach is working to get major sporting events to play in the city.
Last year, the SportsPlex was home to the United Football League's Virginia Destroyers. Games were attended by thousands of fans.
Officials hope to partner with the Hampton Roads Sports Commission and CVB/Sports to bring even more big events to the complex.
The city was losing about $400,000 a year on the complex. In 2009, management was turned over to Hometown Sports. Since then, revenues jumped from $71,813 to $325,714 and the number of events more than doubled.
City Council will get a progress report on how the partnership is going. A power point presentation shows there's increased attendance, more events, more revenue and a new artificial turf field that won't cost the city any money.