City debates whether to help fund regional baseball tournament

American Legion Post 42 Baseball has requested $15,000 from both the city and the county in Optional 1% Sales Tax to help host the 2023 Northwest Regional AA Tournament in August.

The regional tournament — one of eight in the country — will bring in the state champions from Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Colorado, as well as two Wyoming teams.

This will be the third summer in a row that Gillette has hosted the tournament.

Steve Laakso, board president, told the City Council that the organization submitted a $15,000 bid to host the tournament. This is owed at the end of the tournament. Additionally, the teams from Alaska, Washington and Oregon will be flying in, and Post 42 has to provide transportation for these teams from the airport and between their hotel and their games.

There were several games last year that had close to a thousand people in attendance, Laakso said. Councilman Tim Carsrud said he went to one game where there was standing room only.

City staff recommended that if the city fund this request, that it be for $5,000. That led to a discussion on the city’s philosophy when it comes to this kind of thing: Should the city be in the business of giving money to help pay for sports tournaments?

Councilwoman Trish Simonson worried that the city would “be opening Pandora’s Box” with this.

“I realize it’s a great thing for our economy and a great thing for sports tourism, but I feel we have so many other clubs in this community that host big tournaments,” she said.

She worried that this would lead to a number of local groups coming to the city with funding requests for their events.

Councilman Jim West said he agreed with Simonson.

“I’m not against it, but I don’t think we should pick and choose winners and losers when it comes to that,” West said.

“I think that would be good for economic development here,” said Councilwoman Heidi Gross.

“I think it’s a good investment,” said Councilman Nathan McLeland. “Perhaps it opens that door, but … this one’s a little bit different of a situation.”

City Administrator Hyun Kim suggested that if the city were to fund this, it should take money out of general fund instead of using 1%.

The City Council has not yet made a decision on this.

The county commissioners were a quick “no” on the organization’s funding request when they went over it Monday.

“I don’t see the alignment with the 1% priorities,” Jim Ford said.

The commissioners said the Joint Powers Lodging Tax Board has a grant program that is a much better fit for Post 42. That grant program, funded with the lodging tax, is open to any event that brings people to Campbell County.

The group has gotten money from this program in the past. It received $3,500 from this program for the 2022 tournament. It also got a $2,100 grant for the 2021 tournament.