CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Visit Corpus Christi is turning its attention toward a different kind of tourist.
The newly created Corpus Christi Sports Commission was presented during a news conference Monday morning.
The commission will operate under the umbrella of Visit Corpus Christi.
Joey Jewell, who received a degree in Sports Management at UT in Austin, will be executive director of the Corpus Christi Sports Commission.
“Ideally, we’ll be going for the biggest of the big," said Jewell. "We want to make sure that we’re getting events that come in here to fit with the community and that we have the infrastructure for it. And, those that we don’t, we’re going to be working on getting the infrastructure built up for those.”
Bringing in events will be just one facet of Jewell's objectives. He will also advocate for all things sports in Corpus Christi. That could also come in the form of facility upgrades. Or it could be building infrastructure to create sports venues and increase participation.
The ultimate goal behind it all is tourism and economic impact, a goal in line with Visit Corpus Christi.
“If we are working with, let’s say the Corpus Christi Hooks or we have any other event that we want to do in there and it’s spectator based, then we want to have people driving in from all over the state or all over the country to come in and watch that event that we bid on, as well,” said Jewell.
He said if a child or teen is coming here for a tournament, they also want their family to come here.
An example of this is the successful bid to host the Summer Games of Texas in Corpus Christi the last two years. Having the event with 10,000 athletes and their families was expected to generate millions of dollars in economic impact to the city.
Another big part of their mission will be to help support and grow the sports already here.
“Any of our event planners or the entrepreneurs out there that are running tournaments or invitationals, we want to be able to reach out them and say we’re an extra resource for you. We’re a free resource to you,” Jewell said. "Whether it's logistically, whether it's through sponsorship, whether it's through just making connections through the community, we want to make sure that they're healthy, successful and will continue to grow so that we see that tourism aspect result from it."
Visit Corpus Christi is expecting to complete their economic impact of the Summer Games of Texas in the coming weeks.
