<p>Diane Moca:<br />As we head into spring, kids' sports are coming back. That's right. And our local fields are hosting a lot more than just park district games. One of the biggest baseball tournaments in the country is coming right here, and that's thanks to the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. And I have Cort Carlson, the executive director, right here, joining me to tell us all about that. That sounds pretty exciting. Thank you for joining us.<br /><br />Cort Carlson:<br />Thank you, Diane. Glad to be here. Well, Aurora and Stuart Sports Complex is one of only five locations for the new Ripkin Baseball Select Tournament Series that's coming throughout the country, so it is a Ripkin Baseball event. The first time they've gone outside of their home base on the East Coast. So we are thrilled to have them coming into the Aurora area and Stuart Sports complex this summer.<br /><br />Diane Moca:<br />And how many teams are going to be coming to the Aurora area?<br /><br />Cort Carlson:<br />We expect here for our tournament about 150 teams.<br /><br />Diane Moca:<br />Wow.<br /><br />Cort Carlson:<br />We anticipate to book probably 2,700 room nights throughout the region at our local hotels, so we would be filling our hotels for that week of the tournament and probably welcoming about 50,000 spectators and competitors to the region during that week.<br /><br />Diane Moca:<br />50,000?<br /><br />Cort Carlson:<br />Yes.<br /><br />Diane Moca:<br />Oh my gosh, that's a lot. Right here in the Aurora area?<br /><br />Cort Carlson:<br />Yes.<br /><br />Diane Moca:<br />Okay. And so, what is the impact that that's going to mean for our local community?<br /><br />Cort Carlson:<br />We're looking at probably about a million dollars in economic impact from this tournament alone.<br /><br />Diane Moca:<br />Wow.<br /><br />Cort Carlson:<br />It is a five-day tournament, which is great to see.<br /><br />Diane Moca:<br />And what are the dates?<br /><br />Cort Carlson:<br />It is July 10th through the 15th.<br /><br />Diane Moca:<br />Now the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau covers a number of communities, correct?<br /><br />Cort Carlson:<br />We do. We serve the areas as far north of Batavia, all the way down through Yorkville and out west to like Plano, Hinckley, and Big Rock. So we have 10 communities that we work with. We work with all the local hotels in those communities first. So what we want to do is make sure that the guests that are here are staying in our local hotels. And as we know, if they're staying in our hotels, they're probably going to eat locally. They're going to do more attractions and shopping locally.<br /><br />Diane Moca:<br />So how is it that the Convention and Visitors Bureau is involved in getting a sports tournament here? Is this something that you normally do?<br /><br />Cort Carlson:<br />We do this all the time. This is almost like our full-time responsibility in terms of tourism. So we look at, what is our number one opportunity to bring tourists to the region in a large quantity? We don't have a lot of convention, meeting, and conference space here. But we do have some really outstanding world-class sports facilities. Stuart Sports Complex out on the west side, Great Lakes Volleyball Center on the far east side, are probably two premier Midwest destinations for sports.<br /><br />Diane Moca:<br />And so are you going to be informing local businesses? Should they do anything special to prepare?<br /><br />Cort Carlson:<br />We are. We're actually out right now talking with our restaurants, our attractions, working with the Ripkin folks in creating what they like to call the Ripkin Experience based around that tournament, so looking for maybe special discounts from some of our attractions, restaurants in order to drive our guests into local attractions and then make sure that they're getting out into the community to experience everything that Aurora has to offer while they're here. And again, we're the inaugural series of this, and we got the first year, and they're here in Aurora. So it's really pretty cool.<br /><br />Diane Moca:<br />And you're hoping the first of many years. Right?<br /><br />Cort Carlson:<br />Exactly. We hope to bring them back next year. Yes.<br /><br />Diane Moca:<br />Yeah. Well, great job. And thank you for joining us, Cort.<br /><br />Cort Carlson:<br />Thank you.<br /><br />Diane Moca:<br />Cort does recommend if you see kids in baseball or soccer uniforms this summer, especially in mass, just welcome them. If they look confused, maybe give them directions. And if you're going to your favorite restaurant, and it's taking a little longer to get a table because you see lots of parents with kids and team uniforms, be a little patient because it's helping our area. For Talking Cities, I'm Diane Moca.</p>