Gulf Shores, Ala. – (OBA) – Gulf Shores was a busy town during the weekend with major sporting events taking place at Gulf Place and the city’s Sportsplex on Oak Road West. Director and Recreation and Cultural Affairs Grant Brown gave a report on the weekend during the May 8 regular council session.

The NCAA Beach Volleyball Champion was crowned on May 7 as USC won for a third straight year and the 4A-7A state track championships were staged at the Sportsplex stadium. Additionally, more than 400 youth volleyball teams were in action near the site of the NCAA event.

The weekend at the Sportsplex included two evacuations of the complex when storms rolled in twice during Friday’s competition.

“They had a record number of athletes again this year surpassing the 2,200 athletes they had in 2022,” Brown said. “And, we had over 2,500 spectators also on property. We got behind but on Saturday we were able to catch back up and finish the championship with rave reviews from the high school athletic association. And, we were able to get our two local teams’ soccer matches in and both of those won and qualified for the final four in Huntsville.”

West Gulf Place was taken over like it has annually when the NCAA tournament comes to town.

“This was 440 teams of volleyball players with Shawn Weaver and coach Phillip Bryant with Gulf Coast Region Volleyball and the west Gulf Place area,” Brown said. “It’s a huge impact on our community with rooms and overnight stays with all the food and beverage and other opportunities they had to spend their dollars while they are here but also expose all these young volleyball athletes to what was happening at the east Gulf Place near the Hangout, the NCAA beach volleyball national championship.”

The NCAA tournament, which is leaving for California after the 2024 tournament in Gulf Shores, had record-setting attendance as well.

There were 11,772 paying customers topping the 2022 total of 10,151. The last year of record was 2019 with 9,488 people buying tickets. The 2020 tournament was canceled because of COVID and in 2021 the tournament was played but without any spectators, again because of COVID.

“There were 2,000 room nights specifically generated by that specific event,” Brown said. “The athletes, ESPN crew that’s in town, the NCAA championship committee as well as NCAA staff that was here. That equates to $1.5 million of economic impact.”

Huntingdon Beach will host the event in 2025-26 but Brown hopes the city can lure the tournament back to Gulf Shores after those two years.

“Our goal is to be able to get them to come back and hopefully have their permanent home here in Gulf Shores,” he said.

Brown also reported that upcoming events in town include the ongoing Southeast Regionals for high school softball May 9-12 and the massive Hangout Music Fest on May 19-21.

During the meeting, the council also:

• Heard a presentation awarding Kallie Byrd as the lifeguard of the month for April. In the current year, Byrd has had 12 rescues, 49 preventative actions, 548 public contacts and one major medical call, Fire Chief Mark Sealy reported.

• Awarded a $1.7 million bid for renovations of buildings 200 and 300 on the Gulf Shores Elementary campus. See related story.

• Authorized a grant application for a police boat through the 2023 FEMA Port Grant Program for $500,000.

• Awarded the 2023 street resurfacing bid to Weaver & Sons who had the lowest bid at $730,073 which includes eight roads in the city to be repaved.

• Approved $80,000 for contracts for the 2024 Winter Entertainment Series. The city sold $89,145 worth of tickets to the 2023 series and after expenses had $17,668 left over.

• OK’d a budget amendment two to show an increase of $169,070 dollars to reflect more revenue from Baldwin EMC license fees. Other increases were to pay for the resurfacing of the Bodenhamer Recreation Center pool, adding $298,000 for additional parking/increased fees, reduce transfer from General Fund $162,000 and add $136,000 expense for three additional beach lifeguards.

• Approved a franchise agreement with Brightspeed of Southern Alabama and Brightspeed Broadband with the city receiving 5 percent of the monthly service fee paid by subscribers.