Goldsboro to host state cornhole championship
By Matt Caulder
Published in News on June 15, 2014 1:50 AM
Goldsboro has been chosen as the battleground where the state's first team and singles cornhole champions will be crowned Saturday, June 28.
The city will host the inaugural state tournament for the American Cornhole Organization at the Goldsboro Family Y on Saturday with free-play taking place Friday night, June 27, next to the Flying Shamrock.
The ACO is the governing board for cornhole tournaments across the country.
The winners of the teams and singles divisions will go on to play in the ACO World Championship of Cornhole IX in Charleston, West Virginia, in July.
"These events like going into communities who wrap their arms around the event," Goldsboro Travel and Tourism Director Betsy Rosemann said. "Where the event is the main attraction."
Entry to the tournament is free with membership to the ACO, which costs $20 annually.
"You join the ACO for $20 and that's not just this tournament but the whole year," Wayne County Chamber of Commerce Board Chairman Rick Sumner said.
Right now, 75 singles teams are registered with the doubles numbers lagging behind that, Ms. Rosemann said.
One hundred sixty team slots total are open for both the single and double divisions opening the field to a potential 480 participants.
The tournament is double elimination and winners will take home prizes and money.
Travel and Tourism pursued the tournament to get a larger piece of sports tourism to Goldsboro, Ms. Rosemann said.
"We were at a conference where this opportunity came in front of us so we pursued it," she said.
She is hoping to pull people from across the state to participate in the tournament, filling up the hotels in the process.
"A day traveler will spend about $65 in the community while an overnight traveler will on average spend $165," Ms. Rosemann said. "We are trying to, as we say, put heads in beds. Sports tourism is recession-proof and Goldsboro has done very well in the past with other events."
If 100 singles teams participate Ms. Rosemann expects the impact to be as high as $20,000 coming into the community with the tournament.
Goldsboro recently hosted a U.S.A. Cycling Criterion race, was a stop on the Cycle NC Mountains to the Coast ride and will host a U.S. Tennis Association tournament for the second year this fall.
Bud Light is the official sponsor for the tournament but there are local sponsorship opportunities as well, Sumner said.