Major score: State Cup soccer to cap off ‘huge’ month for Columbus

David Boyd has a bit of advice for those who may consider venturing out to a Columbus restaurant over the Memorial Day weekend.

“If you’re going to try to get into your favorite place to eat, you may want to grill,” the event manager with the Columbus Sports Council said Tuesday.

That’s because local eateries likely will be filled with hungry diners at any given time as legions of soccer players, with their families and friends, descend on the city for the three-day U.S. Youth Soccer Georgia State Cup.

About 170 teams with a total of 3,700 or so athletes will be in town for the major event taking place at the Woodruff Farm Road Soccer Complex and the Columbus State University soccer field, Boyd said. Age groups range from 13-and-under to 20-and-under for both boys and girls. On top of that, he estimates there will be nearly 9,000 people coming with the players to watch them and root them on.

Add that up and it amounts to more than 12,000 visitors to Columbus, filling the hotels with about 3,800 room nights, and generating an economic impact of just under $1.4 million for the city over the three days. That includes plenty of eating and some shopping for the crowds when they are not trying to score a goal for the cup championship.

“You’ve got graduations this weekend as well, so basically it’s a sellout,” Boyd said. “There’s no hotel rooms.”

Merri Sherman, executive director of the Columbus Sports Council, said this weekend’s soccer winners will move on to State Cup Finals in Statesboro, Ga., and then advance to a regional tournament. The ultimate goal is to be in Frisco, Texas, in late July for the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships.

“This is huge,” said Boyd, noting the sports council’s staff has been “running all month” to pull off various events smoothly. “May is one of our toughest months. ... We’ve been going nonstop. It’s been amazing because we’ve gone back to back to back.”

That includes this week’s Georgia State High School Association golf championships, USA Shotgun Shooting at Fort Benning, an American Grappling Federation event, and a flurry of softball competitions — a U.S. Fastpitch Association tournament, a USA Softball of Georgia tourney, and the National Club Softball Association World Series with 16 college teams.

Boyd, who tracks the numbers for the sports council, said it is on pace to generate a total economic impact for the city this year of about $17 million. That includes major events such as the Georgia High School Association softball and cheerleading championships.

“I think it will surpass last year,” he said of the impact figures. “Last year we were looking at about 52,000 participants, so we’re going to be about in that range again.”

This story was originally published May 23, 2017 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Major score: State Cup soccer to cap off ‘huge’ month for Columbus."