Page 24 - South Mississippi Living - May, 2017

COASTNOTES
story by Kelsey Sunderman-Foster photo by Michael Sunderman
A portion of the proceeds from the May 24-28 Conference USA Baseball Tournament at MGM Park will benefit local charities across the Mississippi Gulf Coast. During a recent press conference, Tim Bennett of Overtime Sports addressed plans for the new Champions 4 Charities initiative, which will pair each coastal city with a designated charity beneficiary.
“We came up with the idea that if we can marry each city to a charity and then to a baseball game, it would be win, win, win. From each ticket sold for each game, $1 will be donated to a charity,” Bennett said.
With 15,000-17,000 in attendance at last year’s Conference USA baseball tournament, Bennett hopes to exceed those numbers, boosting the economic impact of the event and driving charity
donations.
“We know the
tournament has had a $3 million to $4 million economic impact in past years,” he said. “The fact that we
have a five-day event that will be streamed nationally on ESPN3 we think will have a big economic impact
Tim on the Coast.’’ Bennett
COMING TO MGM PARK
story by Kelsey Sunderman-Foster
In a recent press conference, Tim Bennett
of Overtime Sports announced that the 2017 Conference USA Baseball Championship would be held at MGM Park in Biloxi May 24-28.
With a total of 12 teams included in Conference USA, only the top eight will qualify to participate in the tournament.
At South Mississippi Living’s press time, Southern Miss was leading the pack at 10-2 in Conference USA standings and 26-8 overall, with Old Dominion just behind them at 9-3 in Conference USA and 25-9 overall.
The championship is the be held at MGM Park for the next three years with the possibility
of a two-year extension. Bennett hopes that bringing the Conference USA championship
to the Coast will have an economic impact similar to those of Cruisin’ the Coast and the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic.
Individual game tickets will be $14.50 and passes for the whole tournament are priced
at $165. Day passes are $35. Tickets can be purchased at www.ticketfly.com or at the MGM Park Box office.
Biloxi Shuckers at MGM Park
105 Caillavet St., Biloxi | 228.233.3465 | www.biloxishuckers.com
24 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • May 2017 FOR MORE REFLECTIONS OF THE GULF COAST >> www.smliving.net