‘Salem is always there’

The 2009 Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl was played at Salem (Va.) Stadium amid more than 2 feet of snow that fell on game day and the day before.City of Salem Communications

Next week, four NCAA Division III women’s soccer squads will travel to Salem, Va., with hopes of being crowned national champions.

For the people of Salem (population 25,373), this visit is a little extra special.'

The tournament will be the 100th NCAA championship hosted by Salem — more than any other town — and will take place almost 30 years to the day after its first one. In 1993, a sold-out crowd of 7,304 fans packed Salem Stadium, framed by the Blue Ridge Mountains, and endured below-freezing temperatures and wind gusts of 30 miles an hour to watch Mount Union (Ohio) rally late to beat Rowan (N.J.) in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, NCAA Division III’s football championship game.

Carey Harveycutter, the city’s director of tourism, has been there from the beginning.

“We met in 1993 with Moose Malmquist [chair of the NCAA Division III Football Committee] and he said ‘I just want this to be the best championship these kids will ever be involved in,’” said Harveycutter, who was Salem’s director of civic facilities for 20 years before semi-retiring in 2013 and being named director of tourism. “We’ve tried to focus on the student athletes since Day 1 because it is their championship. We know that some of them will leave without reaching their national championship goal, but everyone in town works to make sure they have a good experience when they come to Salem, Virginia. That’s what it’s all about.”

Harveycutter said that many families over the years have hosted the athletes in their homes during the championships.

It’s that feeling of community that keeps the NCAA coming back every season, said Joni Comstock, senior vice president of championships for the NCAA.

“Salem has really been a true, true partner in every way, whether it’s facility needs or just celebrating student athletes,” said Comstock, who has been at the NCAA since 2006. “The entire area is so consistently, fully committed because they’ve all grown up hosting college events. It’s in their DNA, which makes it just a really, really special place for our athletes and our staff.”

Comstock said there have been several times over the years, especially during the pandemic, when championships had to be moved on very short notice from another state for some reason.

“Salem is always there,” she said.

The return of the Stagg Bowl next month (the game was played in Salem 1993-2017, and this is its 50th anniversary), and a $20,000 grant from the Virginia Tourism Corporation’s sports marketing incentive program (funded by the American Rescue Plan Act) to assist with the game’s marketing and staffing, means that the city’s estimated revenue from NCAA events is projected to hit $270,000 this fiscal year, up from $176,000 in 2022-23.

The game also will provide a needed boost to area hotels. The number of rooms booked in the Salem-Roanoke market through August decreased by 10% compared with the same period in 2019, according to CoStar data.

And more events are on the way. A $27.5 million renovation project at Moyer Sports Complex, which hosted a Division II or III NCAA softball championship every year between 1994 and 2022, is scheduled to wrap up in late spring. As a result, the city earlier this month was awarded several USA Softball events.

It’s not the first time a governing body other than the NCAA has come to town, Harveycutter said, noting that the AAU girls basketball championships were in town for several years.

“Our local people just love hosting sports,” he said. “We’re like Mayberry on steroids.”