City of Morgan Hill Bikeways, Trails, Parks and Recreation Master Plan

Section 6: Participatory Sports Trends | May 2017 Sports Market Business Strategy – Morgan Hill, CA PAGE 95

MORGAN HILL FOCUS GROUP OBSERVATIONS Johnson Consulting was asked to focus on two existing Morgan Hill venues: the Aquatics Center and the Outdoor Sports Center. As part of our analysis, we spoke with several local stakeholders to better understand the overall sports market in Morgan Hill and any needs or potential opportunities for new facilities. The conversations with coaches, facility operators and league/event operators help us to identify the needs that are currently met, but more importantly the needs that are un-met within the market. After touring the city and the existing facilities we met with the following groups and/or individuals, either in person or over the telephone:

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Morgan Hill Youth Sports Alliance

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Morgan Hill Aquatics Center Team

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Youth Soccer coaches

 Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Association  Wineries Association  Local Hoteliers  City Economic Development  Volleyball coaches  Baseball coaches

Outlined below is a summary of the comments we heard during our stakeholder interviews.

 There is a lack of available parking at the two facilities. This causes a problem for attendees who end up parking on the street, and anyone who is able to get a parking spot for a large event is unlikely to leave the complex to visit a local restaurant because they know they will lose their spot. As a result, many people spend the entire day at the complex. Also, due to the lack of parking there are attendees using street parking in areas surrounding the complex.  Sports are very important in Morgan Hill and there is a high participation rate for sports such as soccer, football, swimming, volleyball, lacrosse, baseball and softball. Several large events are already held in Morgan Hill, either at the Aquatics Center or the Sports Center. This is not necessarily new information, but something we try to confirm during these meetings.  There were several comments from the stakeholders we met with towards the overall quality of the facilities. The most common complaint was regarding the condition of the grass fields. For example, we were told of teams withdrawing from past soccer events due to poor/unsafe field conditions.  The hotels have not made a commitment to work with events holders to provide room blocks or hotel rebates for sports tournaments, with the exception of the La Quinta. Much of the hotel inventory in Morgan Hill has outlived its useful life and some additional hotel inventory could be

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