Taking a cotton to sports tourism
ST. CATHARINES — The Niagara Sports Commission’s new executive director is bullish on Niagara.
“I see a lot of opportunity for the Niagara Sports Commission to drive the economy through sports tourism and it’s something that fascinated me and really fits into my business and sporting background,” Bram Cotton said.
He was the manager of marketing and communications with the Canadian golf tour until he left in November of 2010 to start a consulting company. Cotton served on a few volunteer committees with the commission before taking the executive direc- tor’s job in January.
The 33-year-old Barrie native, who has been a resident of St. Catharines for the past five years, believes the region is ready to take a bigger chunk of $3.4-billion sports tourism industry in Canada.
“We have an opportunity to grow that pie and be the leader across Canada in doing that. Right now, from a sports tourism standpoint, we host a lot of events down here but we don’t have a strategy for creating new events and filling slow weeks,” he said.
That’s where the Niagara Sports Commission comes in.
“We want ( to develop) that strategy, create those events, attract those events and fill those
When we look at it, why would you not want to Niagara where you know that there’s other stuff to do? In some communities, you go there to play hockey and that’s it.” Niagara Sports Commission executive director Bram Cotton
time slots. Tourism in Niagara is a six- to eight- month industry and sports tourism offers the opportunity to make it an eight-, 10- 12- month a year industry” he said.
In 2011, the commission and several partners produced an economic impact assessment of 26 sporting events held in Niagara, using a recognized sports tourism economic assessment model. It determined the 26 events had an economic impact of more than $ 20 million. The actual number for sports tourism in Niagara is much higher if one factored in all the sporting events staged in Niagara.
“We’re already developed in some ways and we’re scratching the surface in others,” Cotton said. “We want to work on getting everyone going in one direction so the region as a whole can benefit from it.”
He feels there are many areas for sports tourism to grow in Niagara.
“Hockey, soccer, baseball and the other traditional sports are well-established. I do think the non-traditional sports is a good way to go.”
Starting with iconic Niagara Falls, the region has many attributes other competitors lack.
“When you look at it, why would you not want to come to Niagara where you know that there’s other stuff to do? In some communities, you go there to play hockey and that’s it.”
Niagara also boasts a strong inventory of sporting venues which further adds to its allure.
One less alluring characteristic found in the region is parochialism.
“I have heard that word tossed around a few times by a few different people, but I believe the silos and the isolation that perhaps people operate in are coming down,” Cotton said. “I have people in Welland who want to work with people in St. Catharines.”
Breaking down those barriers is where he feels the commission can really make a difference.
“We’re a regional organization and we work across all the municipalities.
“We’re neutral and you can’t look us as the guys from St. Catharines who are trying to do this.”
The commission is funded mainly through event management of local events such as the Henley Regatta, partnerships, sponsorship, consulting, and public-sector grants used to run specific community programs or projects. In 2011, the commission had an operational budget of less than $190,000.
“We don’t have a huge budget, but we do a lot with what we do have,” Cotton said.
Its staff consists of two fulltime employees, one part-time employee and four unpaid co-op interns from Niagara College and Brock University.
The commission’s mandate is to foster economic and community development though sport, to enhance economic, social and personal health of Niagara residents through sport and physical activity and it wants to make Niagara the premier destination for sport and recreation in Ontario.
“A quick way to describe us is we’re a not-for-profit, privatelyfunded organization that is an economic development agency, concentrating on sports tourism as our way of driving the economy. As an offshoot of that is we run community programs as well to enhance the social fabric of the community,” Cotton said.
Among its community programs is working with the DSBN Academy creating after-school and sports programs.
Cotton agrees the commission doesn’t have a great deal of name recognition within the region.
“It’s a bit of a branding issue and an exposure issue with the local community,” he said. “We’re very well known among the people that benefit from what we do.”