City of Morgan Hill Bikeways, Trails, Parks and Recreation Master Plan

Section 2: Introduction and Executive Summary

May 2017

Sports Market Business Strategy – Morgan Hill, CA

PAGE 15

6 East Monroe Street

Fifth Floor

Chicago, Illinois 60603

Phone: 312.447.2010

Fax: 312.444.1125

1. AQUATICS CENTER

The Aquatics Center is well-positioned for the future and recent upgrades to the facility have made it a

suitable venue for everything from recreational swimming to large swim meets sanctioned by USA

Swimming. We also observed solid leadership from an operations and management perspective. At this time

we feel the Aquatics Center is well-managed and successfully attracts several large swim meets each season. If

the City wishes to expand the reach or calendar of events at the Aquatics Center it should be able to do so

through the creation of a DMO that can increase marketing efforts of the Aquatics Center.

2. OUTDOOR SPORTS CENTER

Alternatively, the Outdoor Sports Center is in fair condition, and could benefit from several investment

updates aimed at maintaining the current event portfolio and potentially attracting new events. The inventory

of multipurpose fields in the region is significant and Morgan Hill risks losing events if the facility does not

receive routine maintenance and some investment in the following:



Replace existing FieldTurf



Install FieldTurf at all multipurpose fields



Add lighting for each surface



Consider additional parking



Improve maintenance and day-to-day operations

The recommendations listed above will improve utilization of the facility at the local and regional level. It will

also allow the facility to maintain its current inventory of events and also potentially attract new ones. As

more outdoor sports complexes are built, athletes have more options to consider when selecting a complex

and will typically choose the complex with the best amenities. The last bullet point above is important and

requires further explanation. The facility does a very good job of securing events and thinking outside the box

to fill the calendar with events. The use of the grass fields for Cricket is just one example of identifying a non-

traditional use for the grass fields. During stakeholder meetings, however, we heard several comments

regarding the operations and maintenance at the Outdoor Sports Center, including overall appearance of the

facility and condition of the grass fields. For example, multiple stakeholders informed us that some teams had

withdrawn from past soccer events due to poor/unsafe field conditions. It is possible, however, that the

appearance of the grass fields was due, in part, to the most recent drought experienced through much of

California.

Other areas of improvement should include more frequent routine maintenance, prompt event cleanup and

proper data collection, including attendance figures for events. The competition for hosting events and

attracting users of the facility will grow as more sports complexes are built in the region. Because of the

increased competition, it is important to maintain the facility and operate it in a way that gives users a reason