Local high school football talent, Winthrop Athletics and the soon-to-be-built Carolina Panthers practice facility are all solid reasons to consider Rock Hill a small sports town. Another reason, one that may have slipped under some people’s radars, is the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center.
Sports and Event Center Superintendent Brian Jones said construction for the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center began in late 2017, and the building first opened in December 2019.
“We were [going to have] our grand opening March 19, and about two weeks before that we had to cancel,” Jones said.
Jones said the center closed in early March due to the pandemic and aside from hosting one event in May, it did not reopen until July. Now back and running, he said there are COVID-19 protocols in place similar to those of restaurants and other businesses.
“You have to wear a mask at all times unless you’re competing, you have your temperature checked every day when you arrive, and then you have to sign a waiver of liability for the facility as well as for the event right holder,” Jones said.
Since reopening, Jones said the center has mostly hosted basketball tournaments, but in August it was home to the 2020 American Cornhole League World Championships.
“I met Stacey Moore [the president of the American Cornhole League] probably two years ago and we started a conversation [and] built a friendship,” Jones said. “His idea is to make Rock Hill the home for cornhole.”
Jones said Moore is moving his headquarters to Rock Hill and the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center hopes to host his national championship every year.
The tournament received national attention this year when it aired on ESPN. Jones said the Sports and Event Center was built with live-streaming and ESPN capabilities in mind for its championship court.
“Right outside our door we’ve got a box where ESPN trucks can just come and plug in… and not have to run chords everywhere,” Jones said. “That feeds back to a central location where they can run their cameras and their feeds and their Wi-Fi and all that kind of connectivity.”
Jones said the Sports and Event Center was projected to have a financial impact of $10 million on the city of Rock Hill this fiscal year, and he said he believes that goal will still be reached despite the pandemic.
“I think in a healthy year it’ll probably be more like 12 to 15 million,” he said.
As for the center’s impact on Winthrop, Jones said there are lots of new opportunities for the university.
“It will really benefit the basketball teams and the volleyball team because [coaches] don’t have to necessarily travel to Atlanta or Phoenix or New York to recruit,” Jones said. “We have some very large, what I call ‘recruit-able events,’ right here in their backyard.”
Jones also said the teams could use the facility for practices, which he said the men’s basketball team did last spring in preparation for the Big South Tournament.
For other students, Jones said there is always a free walking track as well as pickup basketball games for $5 a day or $120 a year.
“We also have leagues, so Winthrop students can put a team into our adult basketball or our adult volleyball [leagues] and see how they do against the local community,” he said.
Jones said the center is also available for exercise science classes to utilize, and it is a good place for sport management majors to seek internships. He also said students could be hired for evening and weekend jobs.
“We’d love to hire Winthrop students to get them involved,” Jones said. “It’s kind of a win-win. They’re getting experience for their resume, they’re getting paid and we’re getting a good workforce.”
Photo by Olivia Esselman
