They talk about cooperating with our neighbors to the east and west to take overflow bookings, etc. but let's recognize that this will be a competitive situation for tournaments in the future, with them having a large advantage in:
1 - recognized facilities and history
2 - many, many more and larger condo buildings available (or are we going to start building 30 story condos on
30a? a developers dream)
3 - many, many more family oriented dining opportunities ( fast food coming to SOWAL? )
4 - overall costs to stay in Bay County will always be much lower
5 - predict teams will stay and eat in Bay County even if they play ball in Walton
6 - beach time is a wash
IMO, this will be a tax drain and a net negative for SOWAL. Haven't we just gone through a battle with the TDC, resulting in a change in leadership, about a change in emphasis on marketing (heads in beds) to managing what we have in the way of infrastructure? The up-front stated purpose of this project is to increase heads in beds ( I hate that phrase) . Haven't we learned anything?