Complex seeks loans for tourney

The tournament organizer said 18,000 visitors will come to the two counties.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners will be asked next week to approve $75,000 worth of short-term loans to the organizer of the PONY Girls Fastpitch Softball National Championships to help him bring an expanded tournament to Trumbull and Mahoning counties this summer.
Earlier this week, the county's Revolving Loan Fund committee agreed to recommend approval of a $50,000 loan to tournament organizer David Anderson and his partners, who run the Thunderplex in Vienna Township.
The Reinvestment Partnership Corporation also has approved a $50,000 loan to the partners.
Of the $50,000 from the RPC, $25,000 would come from the county's Section 108 Loan Guarantee Fund and the other $25,000 would come from seven local banks that participate in the program, said Alan Knapp, county planning commission director.
Knapp said he believes the commissioners will vote in favor of the $50,000 RLF money and the $25,000 share of the other loan at their meeting Wednesday.
Repayment
Knapp said the principal and interest would be repaid by Aug. 4, right after the tournament ends.
He said the main collateral for the loans would be the mortgage on four properties Anderson's brother, Steve Anderson, and his father, Godfrey Anderson, have pledged. Both men are from Liberty. David Anderson is from Vienna.
The Trumbull County Tourism Bureau pledged in March to help David Anderson with the tournament by providing $20,000 worth of in-kind support services.
Mary Ann Porinchak, the tourism bureau's president, said that support will mainly go to the opening ceremonies that will be July 23 at Mollenkopf Stadium in Warren.
The tournament is expanding from last year, when it hosted the 16-and-under tournament and featured 120 teams. This year, teams in three divisions, including the 10 and under and 12 and under, will play here, and 320 teams are expected.
Many more games
Last year during a seven-day period, 400 games were played on 24 fields and generated more than $7 million for the area's tourism and lodging, and service industries, David Anderson said. About 8,000 athletes, coaches and fans attended the games.
This year, the tournament will involve 1,500 games played on 39 fields and is expected to generate $20 million for area businesses, he estimates. He believes the tournament will attract 18,000 people this year. The games were played last year on fields in Liberty, the Thunderplex, Perkins Park and Packard Park in Warren and Lordstown.
In order to accommodate the additional games, fields also will be used in Springfield Township in Mahoning County, and negotiations are nearly complete for games to be played in Poland, David Anderson said.
The organizer said 2,300 hotel and motel rooms in the two counties have been booked for the event, which will run for a week starting July 21.
To prepare for last year's tournament, Anderson said he spent more than $220,000 to make improvements to 24 fields at six complexes, and he lost money. This year, he believes much less will need to be spent on fields. Instead, some of the top expenses will be for field conditioning materials and drying agent ($15,000), softballs ($25,000) and trophies ($11,000), he said.
The loan money will be used for a variety of expenses such as this, he said. David Anderson said the PONY organization has committed to holding the tournament here through 2008.