Oconee County is considering contracting with Kemper Sports, a golf, sports, and hospitality company, to help it develop and market the planned Dawson Park for sports tourism.
Three representatives of the Northbrook, Ill., company attended the Tuesday meetings of the Oconee County Industrial Development Authority (IDA) and the Board of Commissioners to present their analysis of the sports tourism potential of Dawson Park.
In five years, the Kemper representatives said, the county could be holding 62 revenue generating events at Dawson Park, filling 55,183 hotel rooms, generating $26.5 million in local spending, and producing $946,597 in “incremental” tax revenue.
Kemper produced the report under a May 27, 2025, Professional Services Agreement with the county. The agreement ran through the end of November.
Board of Commission Chair John Daniell said on Wednesday that the county has “options” for how it works with Kemper in the future, “from simply a consulting relationship to full operation of Dawson Park.”
Members of the Industrial Development Authority and the commissioners had not seen the Kemper report prior to Tuesday’s meetings, and discussion at both venues focused on costs, economic impact, and benefits to citizens of the county who will use the park.
The county is in the process of decommissioning the Land Application System site on Rocky Branch Road and determining how to finance construction of a park on the 240-acre property.
IDA Involvement
Kemper’s presentation to the IDA followed discussions in that group beginning in August of the possibility of the county venturing into sports tourism as a way of helping with financing of Dawson Park.
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| Goris 12/2/2025 |
The Authority is holding $5.2 million in reserve that it can use only to facilitate development in the county.
County Attorney Daniel Haygood advised the IDA at its meeting in October that the report from Kemper should focus on economic impact.
“That is part of the data that says this is really for economic development,” he added. “That it will generate jobs. You almost have to look at this facility like it’s a plant,” he said.
“It’s going to employ people. It's going to generate income. It’s going to bring people into the county. It does all the things that economic development is supposed to do. And in a less impacted way.”
At least some of the discussion at the two earlier meetings has been on use of IDA money for synthetic turf versus natural grass on the sports fields planned for Dawson Park.
Kemper Presentation
Kemper representatives gave the same presentation to both the IDA and the Board of Commissioners, offering four different models of revenue generation: synthetic turf field with a gymnasium, grass fields with a gym, synthetic fields with no gym, and grass fields with no gym.
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| Stiftinger 12/2/2025 |
The fifth year projections were dramatically different for the four versions, with direct economic impact for the turf fields with a gym projected at $26.5 million and at $10.9 million for the grass fields without a gym.
Kemper estimated that the operating costs will be higher for the grass fields with a gym model, at $2.6 million in year five, compared with $2.5 million for the turf fields with the gym.
The actual revenue generated by the turf fields with the gym is projected at $3.5 million, versus $3.0 million for the grass field with the gym.
Kemper said that the EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) would be negative for all of the models, meaning that the county will have to subsidize the operation.
The subsidy would be lowest for the turf and gym model, at $178,425, compared with $1.0 million for the grass fields with a gym.
The county is planning 16 full-size multi-purpose fields and a 90,000 square foot indoor sports complex for Dawson Park, though, at present, it is considering delaying construction of six of the sports fields and the gym until some future phase of the project.
IDA Discussion
“We feel very favorably about the ability of Oconee County to be a destination for sports tourism,” Richard Stiftinger, Senior Project Manager for Kemper, told the IDA.
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| Kirouac, Bernardi 12/2/2025 |
“It's in a strategic location--22.7 million people within four hours, several major metro cities within a 2.5 to 4 hour time threshold,” he added. “And we believe that there's untapped potential here.”
IDA Member Courtney Bernardi, who is president of the Oconee Chamber of Commerce and who handles development for the county through a contract, asked about management of Dawson Park.
County Manager Justin Kirouac, who was sitting in on the meeting, responded, saying “Our number one priority is to take care of our citizens.”
Dawson Park “allows us to free up other facilities that we currently have,” he continued, “but Kemper would be the operator of this facility. And there would be cooperation amongst the (county) Parks and Recreation (Department) back and forth.”
Kirouac, in response to a question from IDA Chair Brock Toole, said “the current plan” is for Kemper to run Dawson Park completely.
“The way it typically works,” Steve Goris, Senior Vice President for Kemper, said, “is we run it on the county's behalf. So we're a steward of your direction. So we've met with Parks and Rec. We spent some time with them, we understand what their utilization needs are.”
The Professional Services Agreement between Kemper and the county expired at the end of November. The county paid $11,750 per month, or $70,500 plus “out of pocket expenses” including travel and operating expenses.
Commission Meeting
Goris, Stiftinger, and Will Spence, Regional Operations Executive with Kemper, appeared before the Commissioners near the beginning of a meeting, which lasted more than two hours.
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| Harden 12/2/2025 |
Goris said that Spence, who had been at the IDA meeting as well, “will oversee this account when it comes to fruition.”
Following the presentation by Kemper, Commissioner Amrey Harden noted that in each of the four models presented, the county is expected to subsidize the operation of Dawson Park.
“I've been told that sports was a moneymaker,” he said.
Stiftinger countered by saying that Direct Economic Impact was projected to be from $10.9 million in the grass only model to $26.5 million for the turf and a gym model.
Harden then noted that the county only has one hotel operating, SpringHill Suites on Daniells Bridge Road, with 99 rooms. So it will not be possible to accommodate the demand shown in the model, he said.
“We'll have demand leakage for hotels until our inventory goes up,” Goris said, meaning that demand will be for hotel rooms outside the county.
Oconee County Director of Planning and Code Enforcement Guy Herring said on Wednesday that the county has six additional hotels zoned, and but only one, off Virgil Langford Road, is in the permitting stage. The others are dormant.
Additional Comments
Commissioner Chuck Horton, who also sat in on the IDA meeting, responded to Harden by saying that the county does not have the sports facilities it needs at present and “We’ve got to do something in Parks and Rec” to provide those facilities.
Horton noted the spending that Kemper said the new park would generate and said “I think it's what the government should do is try to help businesses in their communities to survive.”
Commission Chair Daniell, in response to an email on Wednesday asking about the role of Kemper in the future, said “We have a lot of options in how a relationship could be structured. From simply a consulting relationship to full operation of Dawson Park. We are in the early stages of the process.”
“The goal now is to make sure we have a facility that can support our program needs and also have the ability to move into sport tourism,” he continued. “Dawson Park will have an impact (on) the taxpayer.”
“The fields and facilities are needed even without sports tourism,” Daniell wrote. “We are looking into sports tourism to see if that impact to the taxpayer can be reduced.”
“Our next step is to get cost estimates for the park,” Daniell said. “Kemper will continue helping us with completing design, pricing and updating financial numbers as well as working on how Dawson Park could be marketed to generate revenue. The fee structure is a monthly charge.” That fee is $11,750.
“Dawson Park is a huge investment for Oconee County,” Daniell said. “We are just trying to get as much accurate data as possible so the best decision possible is made.”
Video
The first video below is of the entire meeting of the Authority, which took place in the North High Shoals room of the county Administrative Building.
Discussion of the Kemper report begins near the very beginning of the meeting.
The second video of the Board of Commissioners meeting is on the county web site.
Goris from Kemper began the presentation to the Board of Commissioners at 8:18 in that video.
I video recorded the Commission meeting as well, and the picture of Harden is a frame from that video.
I will write a subsequent story about other action at the Commission meeting.
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