Rock Hill will be in ESPN spotlight as it hosts American Cornhole League tournament
Rock Hill will be on ESPN.
On Saturday, the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center will host one of the nation’s first live sporting events since mid-March, when the threat of the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of several national sporting events, including the NCAA Tournament.
The sport? Cornhole. The event? An American Cornhole League Pro Invitational Qualifier.
The event will be broadcast by ESPN on Saturday. Doubles will start at noon, and singles will start at 6 p.m.
Participants will practice social distancing on the main court of the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center, and the event itself won’t have spectators, Rock Hill parks, recreation and tourism director John Talyor said.
“There will be less than 75 people in the 170,000 square feet,” Taylor told The Herald in a phone interview Friday. “We feel comfortable, and hopefully this will give a little entertainment for the folks who are out there that want some live sports, while also giving some exposure to Rock Hill.”
Taylor and Rock Hill’s PRT department have worked with the American Cornhole League before. In fact, two prominent cornhole tournaments will be held in Rock Hill in the fall.
But this tournament was not planned months in advance, Taylor said.
“ESPN was looking for things to televise,” Taylor said. “(ACL commissioner) Stacey (Moore) has worked with them before, and he brought it to us to see if we could make it happen.”
The event center, a multi-million-dollar complex that was expected to generate $10 million of the $30 million to $40 million estimated annual economic impact from Rock Hill-owned sports facilities, held its first event in December and has hosted many since then, including the 2020 MLK Basketball Showcase.
The center is the latest large investment in Rock Hill’s renowned sports tourism industry. One of its expressed purposes is to bring national events, like this weekend’s cornhole tournament, to York County.
The center, because the coronavirus postponed its grand opening, hasn’t yet been open for public use for its full hours (7 a.m. to 9 p.m.). A new date for the facility’s grand opening will be announced later, according to the City of Rock Hill’s website.
Rock Hill is located in South Carolina across the border with North Carolina, just south of Charlotte.
This story was originally published May 8, 2020 at 5:36 PM.
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