The Daily Courier
Don Prince, director of tourism for the City of Prescott, recalls taking his son, Chris, to Prescott from Scottsdale to participate in the Mile High Classic regional soccer tournament. Prince’s son is now an adult, but dad now takes in the tournament from a different perspective: soccer players and their families filling hotel rooms, tables and booths in restaurants and buying other merchandise and services.
“Mile High pretty much sells out all the hotels,” Prince said, referring to the tournament that the American Youth Soccer Organization sponsored from Friday through Sunday. Citing a study that the city’s Parks and Recreation Department conducted, he said Mile High drew 1,060 participants [70 teams] in 2010. He added the estimated direct spending amounted to $273,000 from visitors and $22,500 from participants from the tri-city area …
Mile High took place two weekends after the Yavapai Soccer League hosted the annual Yavapai Cup Tournament in Prescott Valley. A total of 143 teams [2,160 participants] participated in the Yavapai Cup and came from throughout Arizona, New Mexico, California and Utah, said Mary Sterling, league president.
Players and their families stay in hotels in Prescott Valley, Prescott and Chino Valley, she said. “People definitely come to stay the night,” Sterling said. “They are eating out, shopping at our stores.”
Players and their families filled at least 70 percent of the rooms in the 118-unit Hampton Inn & Suites off Glassford Hill Road in Prescott Valley, said Jeff Sandy, director of operations …
The soccer traffic also spilled over into restaurants and other establishments. Business increased about 20 percent at Freedom Station in Prescott Valley on the Saturday during Yavapai Cup, sales manager Clint Mapston said. Freedom Station, located in the Entertainment District, offers a café, arcade, climbing wall, roller coaster simulator and miniature golf …
Saturday amounted to one of the busiest days of the season for Bill’s Pizza on South Cortez Street, said Ken West, a waiter and cook. He counted about 10 uniforms of players of middle school age around noon Sunday …
Thanks! Great web site. The Yavapai Cup tournament is always excellent and we enjoy participating. Thank you for the information, this site is amazing.
I’m visiting the soccer website every day. Great job keeping us up to date! Great article about the tournament! Our team was sponsored by Dance Prescott Valley.
We all know why this site is so useful. Thank you for the posts from the news about our kids in soccer. Congrats!!