Virginia’s Pulaski County Creates Sports Tourism & Entertainment Authority

The Pulaski County Board of Supervisors in Virginia have created the Pulaski County Sports Tourism & Entertainment Authority to manage the county’s sports tourism and entertainment facilities and assets, as well as promote sports tourism within Pulaski County.

“Our exponential growth of our sports and entertainment assets, as well as the diversity and scale of our facilities, warrants a specialized and strategic focus to optimize these properties for the maximum benefit to both our citizens and our business community,” said Laura Walters, chair of the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors. “This approach to enterprising these public assets should yield a greater return to our County coffers and make it more sustainable, as well as provide a better experience for our citizens, create greater demand for our hospitality, tourism and service industries, and bolster our small business and retail operations.”

The Pulaski County Sports Tourism & Entertainment Authority will serve as the principal point of contact for sports tourism, sports facilities and will provide management services and oversight for Pulaski County’s sports assets. The Authority will also oversee and facilitate future public and private investments in the space.

“Sports tourism is one of the biggest opportunities in Southwestern Virginia for Pulaski County to capture latent market share,” said Jonathan D. Sweet, county administrator. “With our world-class sports and entertainment venues, coupled with the potential for one of Virginia’ largest indoor sportsplexes and expo centers to be added to our inventory, it makes good sense to establish a sports tourism and entertainment authority.”

The six members of the Pulaski County Sports Tourism & Entertainment Authority are Bud Foster, Virginia Tech; Dr. Angela Joyner, Radford University; Kevin Meredith, New Roads Mindset, LLC; Ashley Coake, Cultivate Financial, LLC; Amber Clark, New River Community College and Missy Gentry, The Shelor Group.