Texas A&M hosting the NCAA Regional is supporting the economy’s slower summer season

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – The Selection of Texas A&M’s Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park as one of 16 Regional Host Sites for the Baseball Championship, brings travelers to Aggieland and hotels and restaurants are booked and busy.

KBTX visited the crowded Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux on Friday afternoon and spoke with the executive kitchen manager, Byron Wiggins, about how these games benefit their restaurant.

Wiggins said Walk-On’s is expecting 3,000 – 6,000 people to come in and out of their restaurant this weekend alone.

“It will be extremely busy. There will be a lot of children here, families here, and little league teams will come in to watch the games. We have over 70 TVs, the game will be on, the audio will be on, this place will be rocking, it will be the place to be,” said Wiggins.

Wiggins said they are hoping to capitalize on the crowds with a Pints for Pups event during the day on Saturday. With each beer sold, $1.00 will be donated to Zoi’s Animal Rescue.

“We are very in tune with our baseball team that’s doing really well and we just anticipated that because they are doing well, we would host the regionals here. About a month or two out, we planned this terrific event to support our community,” said Wiggins.

It’s an all-hands-on-deck weekend for Wiggins and the staff.

“We also have the luxury of pulling from other restaurants which is phenomenal that we can get help if we need help, but yeah we are triple staffed just to be able to handle the value that will come through the restaurant,” said Wiggins.

The Hilton College Station & Conference Center said they are almost completely booked for this weekend.

The Director of Sales and Marketing with The Hilton College Station & Conference Center, Ishan Mehta, says having the NCAA Regional in Aggieland is a good warm-up for the next two weekends with the Mexico versus Brazil soccer match and the George Strait concert.

“That gives our staff time to make some extra money during a period that might be a little slower. People always think of College Station as a small town, but we’re really a big small town in that way, so it’s getting out there in front of the world that’s important and this gives us a chance to be that team player,” says Mehta.

The BCS Chamber of Commerce said events like these impact everything from local businesses to residents, employers, and employees.

Large events in Aggieland usually don’t happen during the summer, but because Texas A&M is hosting the NCAA Baseball Regionals, this is bringing people and their money into what is usually a slower season.

Jason Cornelius, with the Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce, said the NCAA Regionals in College Station this weekend is only prep for the Mexico versus Brazil soccer match next weekend and the George Strait concert the following weekend.

Expecting 70 thousand people traveling into College Station for the soccer game and 100 thousand visitors for the concert, Cornelius says these events support the economy during the summer.

“For everybody in the community, it’s other people’s money. They are coming into this community, spending money at our restaurants, spending money at our hotels, spending money at our businesses, that’s going to stay here and benefit us all locally. That’s local jobs and local businesses that can continue to be successful because of, again, A&M [baseball] doing so well,” said Cornelius.

Cornelius said that because the economy relies so much on the football games in the fall, to have these extra big events like this in the community, is a huge benefit to the economy in the long run.

“Hopefully, if A&M does well this weekend, A&M will also be hosting the Super Regional, so that’ll be double the economic impact of everyone coming in for that. So there’s a lot of things preparing us and over the summer, these are things that continue to help out our community,” said Cornelius.