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Rocklin, Calif. – Placer Valley, the three-city region of Roseville, Rocklin and Lincoln, Calif., has long been known for its active, healthy lifestyle and high percentage of residents being heavily involved in various sports leagues, both municipal and competitive, and is viewed as an ideal place to develop a sports complex designed to generate additional tourism revenue for the region.

Placer Valley Tourism, the tourism entity serving the Placer Valley, today announced that Ripken Design was chosen to conduct a feasibility study to determine the need, economic impacts and mix of facilities within the Placer Valley for such a sports tourism center. Ripken Design is an industry leader with extensive experience in feasibility studies, planning, designing, building and operating youth sports complexes, and was chosen via an RFP process to conduct the study over the next 90 days.


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The Placer Valley is an outstanding area for team and individual participatory athletic events.ย  The climate enables events rights holders to stage outdoor events approximately nine months per year on natural turf surfaces, and twelve months per year on synthetic surfaces. There currently is no concentration of competitive-quality playing facilities in a single location that would enable Placer Valley to successfully compete with other sports tourism centers for new or existing major events.ย 

 Placer Valley Tourism’s feasibility study with Ripken Design has several objectives to meet:

Identify the most feasible site within the PVT footprint, as defined by the following considerations:

  • Location and accessibility;
  • Potential incremental tourism growth;
  • Cost of acquisition and development;
  • Financing opportunities and alternatives.
  • Determine short and long-term strategies to maximize the potential positive impacts of growth in room night generation as the result of increased sports tourism within the PVT footprint;
  • Determine the most productive use or mix of uses in developing incremental sports tourism and visitor stays at the prospective site;
  • Demonstrate the economic benefits of the incremental tourism to the Placer Valley;
  • Placer Valley’s hotel management and owners are supporting the study. “A sports tourism center can be defined as a large group of top quality facilities located in a single location,” says PVT’s Board Chair David Huber, who is also the General Manager of the TownePlace Suites by Marriott in Roseville. ‘Placer Valley’s hotels are very supportive of the complex concept and are eager for the results of the study.’

‘Placer Valley Tourism’s mission is to generate incremental room nights for hotels located in the Placer Valley,’ explained Greg Van Dusen, CEO of Placer Valley Tourism. ‘We expect that such a sports tourism center would be an economic driver for the Placer Valley area with various sports tournaments and special events happening simultaneously across the calendar year,’ added Van Dusen.  ‘We also believe a center would be a catalyst for additional tourism-related development.’ 

Ripken Design is a leader in the youth sports tourism facility industry. Their experience is second to none having been involved in facilities not only as top-notch consultants but as owners, operators and end users of many youth sports facilities on the East Coast including Ripken Center, Ripken Stadium, Cal Sr.’s Yard (Camden Yard replica stadium) and the Ripken Academy in Aberdeen, MD; the Ripken Experience baseball complex in Myrtle Beach, SC; and Cypress Mounds baseball complex in Baton Rouge, LA. 

‘We see great potential for a sports tourism complex in the Placer Valley area of northern California,’ explained Jim Arnold, Director of Projects for Ripken Design and lead on the feasibility study. ‘A successful complex will have the ability to draw local, regional and national play and tournaments; spur economic development; provide a boost to economic impact for local business; and increase the overall quality of life for residents of Placer Valley. We look forward to developing the study and seeing what opportunities arise to support its development.’

“We already attract tremendous business to existing sports facilities with our top-notch hotels and amenities,” Huber continued. “Placer Valley offers an amazing variety of entertainment options including dining, wine tasting, outdoor recreation, family fun and regional culture.  Such a state of the art facility would allow us to attract new visitors to the region who come for the sports but stay for the other attractions and amenities.”

About Ripken Design
Ripken Design is a subsidiary of Ripken Baseball, the sales and marketing company based in Baltimore, Md. that represents all business and philanthropic efforts of Cal Ripken, Jr. and Bill Ripken. Established in 2002, Ripken Design specializes in the feasibility and design of amateur and professional sports facilities. Ripken Design is a proven leader in sports facility design and consulting and represents a renewed focus towards developing innovative and practical designs. Ripken Design holds a unique niche in the industry as the only design firm that also owns and operates professional and amateur sports facilities.

About Placer Valley Tourism (PVT)
Placer Valley Tourism advocates for and assists in the development of major tourism facilities and attractions, including, conference space, sports tourism facilities, universities, major museums, and visual and performing arts facilities in Placer Valley. Its mission is to generate incremental room nights in hotels within PVT’s geographic footprint, the cities of Roseville, Rocklin, and Lincoln, Calif. In addition to growing the tourism infrastructure of Placer Valley, PVT recruits a wide variety of events, from corporate to athletic to performing arts activities, to the area. Grants are available to select events, depending upon how many room nights they generate, and when they occur. The organization is a business improvement district, classified for tax purposes as a not-for-profit 501(c)6 corporation.

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