Written by John Boyle, Asheville Watchdog.
The Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority has contracted with a Florida company to attract sports events to Asheville, the current mission of the Asheville Buncombe Regional Sports Commission, a local nonprofit that fought the TDA last year to remain an independent operation.
TDA’s decision to work with Airstream Ventures caught the Sports Commission by surprise, with one commission board member describing the move as an attempted “end-around” to garner control over sports promotion and events in Buncombe County, and left some local officials critical of what they say was the agency’s lack of transparency.
Last year, the TDA agreed to let the Sports Commission remain independent, but slashed its annual funding – from $230,000 to $60,000 – in a battle that kept tensions high between TDA President and CEO Vic Isley and many of the commission’s members and staff.
“This unilateral decision to hire an outside firm to do the work that is already being performed successfully by a local 501(c)(3) nonprofit is not only duplicative, it’s disloyal,” Stephen Zubrod, chair of the Sports Commission, said in a statement Wednesday. “It is disloyal to our Sports Commission board and employees, event volunteers and corporate sponsors in an attempt to outsource this work to a firm outside of North Carolina.”
Zubrod said the commission “was not informed that Vic Isley had contracted with Airstream Ventures, a Jacksonville, Florida, company, to recruit and manage sports events in Asheville.”
That’s the “exact mission of the Asheville Sports Commission,” Zubrod added, noting it has been successful for over a decade in bringing in and running events such as the Southern Conference basketball tournament, the Maui Open basketball tournament, the Billie Jean King tennis tournament, and Grapple Wrestling tournament for local high schools.
Asheville Watchdog requested comment from Isley. Michael Kryzanek, the TDA’s vice president of business development, said via email that the TDA’s subsidiary, Explore Asheville, “routinely works with third-party meeting planners…that represent different corporate and association clients.” He added that doing business with Airstream Ventures will have “no impact on our partnership or relationship with the sports commission.”
“Our business development and sales team work with them regularly to bring various conferences, board meetings, and events to our community, venues, and hotel partners,” Kryzanek said. “Similarly, this month we are engaging with Airstream Ventures, a sports company that represents and works with many sports events rights holders to attract new turn-key sports groups and events to Asheville and Buncombe County.”
The cost of the contract with Airstream Ventures is $4,500 per month for an initial 18-month term, according to the TDA.
The Watchdog reached out to Airstream Ventures founder and CEO Alan Verlander but did not hear back by deadline. On its website, Airstream Ventures says its team of eight employees has “over 40 years of experience in sports and events of all sizes.”
“In just a few short years, the Airstream Ventures staff continues to deliver results that help move the needle and drive business and event growth,” the website states. “Whether it is delivering events to our partner communities, operating events in those communities or creating organic events with all our partners, the staff at Airstream Ventures builds the plans and executes to create the largest impact possible.”
‘She’s really trying to win this war’
Zubrod said the TDA should have held a public discussion about the move, its cost, and the impact on local jobs and events.
Jan Davis, a former Asheville City Council member who’s been involved with the Sports Commission since its founding in 2010 and sits on its board now, described the move as an “end-around” by Isley. The TDA wanted to absorb the Sports Commission into its operations last year, but the commission voted to remain independent.
“This is a never-ending thing again with the administration of the TDA,” Davis said, adding that the move to hire Airstream Ventures could shut down the Sports Commission.
Davis noted that the TDA has one in-house person who works on sporting events and said the TDA has never single-handedly brought in a sporting event, although it did work closely with the sports commission to land the SoCon tournament more than a decade ago.
Davis believes the Airstream hiring is a power move by Isley.
“I think it’s just that she wants that (function) to be in-house,” Davis said. “I think she’s really trying to win this war that’s been a skirmish all along. It’s regrettable, because the loser at the end of the day is the community.”
Kryzanek said Explore Asheville “has always had a proactive sports tourism effort.” She cited an update its vice president of business development gave to the TDA board last month on Explore Asheville’s progress in attracting sports events and groups.
“The Explore Asheville team currently has 26 different sports groups coming to Asheville from mid-March through the end of the calendar year 2024,” Kryzanek said. “These groups will generate just under $10 million in direct spending for local businesses and provide over 10,000 hotel room nights.”
Explore Asheville has “supported and partnered” with the local Sports Commission since 2010 “on various sporting events like SoCon,” Kryzanek said. “In addition, we’ve maintained an independent, proactive effort to attract additional sports groups to Asheville and Buncombe County.”
The Sports Commission maintains that it has generated about 30 percent of hotel room night stays in recent years, although the TDA disputes that number.
The Sports Commission has two full-time employees, Executive Director Chris Smith and Vice President of Operations Madison Davis. It relies on 130 to 140 volunteers to help run events.
“The lack of transparency on making a move like this just seems like a slap in the face,” Smith said via email. “And, in all honesty, the silence leading up to it has been deafening. It certainly makes one wonder where certain allegiances lie.”
Smith said the TDA’s reference to 26 events does not note that other groups often played key roles in bringing in the events, or that some of them have existed for decades.
Smith said the Sports Commission has a successful track record, “and given proper funding — while not having to worry about ways to survive — we feel like those efforts can increase.
“Yet, an out-of-state firm that also represents competing municipalities is being brought in and is already actively seeking out both current and previous event operators,” Smith said. “Our concern lies in the fear that there will be little to no sense of being good stewards to the community in any event that comes from this venture.”
The Sports Commission, Smith said, has a “vested home-grown interest in events leaving a positive impact on the residents of Western North Carolina.”
City Council member, state senator weigh in
The TDA, which has an annual budget of nearly $40 million, previously provided the majority of the Sports Commission’s funding — $230,000 annually. The city of Asheville and Buncombe County each pay $45,000.
But that funding was cut dramatically after the Sports Commission’s unanimous decision last September to remain independent of the TDA.
Asheville City Councilmember Sage Turner said the TDA’s move to hire an out-of-state firm is “a great disappointment” and she “can’t think of any reason (for it).”
“I mean, we do have a Sports Commission that does just this,” Turner said. “It’s a local nonprofit. It’s been in place and successful for a very long time. I don’t understand why the TDA would go outside the community for more help, when we have an entity here that is doing such a wonderful job already.”
The Sports Commission was created by four founding members — the city of Asheville, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, UNC Asheville, and the TDA. Turner is the city’s representative on the Sports Commission.
State Sen. Julie Mayfield, D-Buncombe, worked on changes to the TDA’s spending formula in 2022, which Mayfield said last year actually made it easier and clearer for the TDA to fund an organization like the Sports Commission. Reached Wednesday, Mayfield said she had spoken with Isley about the Airstream Ventures deal.
“It is unfortunate that the TDA and the Sports Commission are not working more collaboratively together,” Mayfield said. “And there doesn’t appear to have been a conversation about how this step of bringing in new turnkey events would impact the events we already have, and the relationship between the Sports Commission and its sponsors and other people in the community.”
Mayfield criticized the TDA for not being more transparent when pursuing a deal with Airstream.
“Ideally, if Vic were going to go get this additional service, there would have been a conversation with the Sports Commission about the idea of it — how it might work, whether it was a good fit, all of that,” Mayfield said. “Again, it’s unfortunate that didn’t happen.”
Kryzanek noted that Explore Asheville has worked collaboratively with the Sports Commission, but it also has maintained an independent, proactive effort to attract additional sports groups here.
Airstream Ventures’ personnel will be in Asheville soon.
“We will be conducting site visits with Airstream Ventures leadership at the end of this month to see facilities and meet parties who are vested in attracting more sports events to Asheville,” Kryzanek said, noting Explore Asheville often works this way with partners on site visits.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at [email protected] or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/donate.