MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Members of Monongalia County Commission and Visit Mountaineer Country CVB will participate in a multi-county effort to bring an international competition to the Morgantown Area.
Representatives from the Greene County (Pennsylvania) Convention and Visitors Bureau, along with the Greene County Commission, will join Monongalia County Commissioners and Visit Mountaineer Country as part of a site visit by international motocross organization MOTO GP. During the visit, Visit Mountaineer Country CVB CEO Susan Riddle will give a presentation as well as the Greene County Convention and Visitors Bureau to show the benefits of hosting a race in the Greater Morgantown Area. They will be joined by local business owners and local motocross organizers to sell the High Point Raceway in Mount Morris and the growing tourism market in Monongalia County.
“It is a predominantly international race, and we are hosting a site visit with Racer X and the group MOTO GP, and hopefully they will be selecting High Point Raceway,” said Riddle.
As part of the site visit tour, Riddle, along with Monongalia County Commissioner Tom Bloom, Racer X representatives, and Greene County commissioners, will join MOTO GP organizers to see a combination of sights around both counties. For Greene County Commissioners, they plan to show the High Point Raceway in Mount Morris and it’s potential to hold the international race while commissioners lodging options in Monongalia County. This will include a tour of the KOA Campground in Monongalia County and an eventual trip up to Pittsburgh. The tour is aimed to reflect both the race track capabilities in Greene County and the lodging potential that could handle the tens of thousands who would be expected to be in the area.
“The working relationship we’ve been having with Greene County, we believe that we can both benefit from it,” said Bloom. “We’re talking 35,000–50,000 people for a five-day event,” he said.
For Riddle, if the site visit is successful, it will open up another avenue for the Monongalia County tourism industry to continue to grow. The potential 30,000 motocross racers and fans who would travel to Monongalia County for lodging, food, and side trips could have a financial impact of hundreds of thousands of dollars at the minimum. With a collaboration in place with a nearby county with similar goals, there’s confidence that the bid will be accepted by an international motocross organization.
“We’ll be making a presentation on our destination as a whole, we will also visit Pittsburgh, so the Greene County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau will also be making presentations,” said Riddle.
Wherever MOTO GP representatives decide to select to host a race, it will be the first time the international motorcross organization will host an event in the United States. The Green County, Pennsylvania, Monongalia County, and West Virginia partnership is in competition with an Indiana-based group that intends to host a similar presentation within the next week. With a multi-county effort that includes neighboring states, both local officials and Visit Mountaineer Country CVB are excited about the potential of the opportunity.
“We’re always working hard to try and get our destinations showcased,” said Riddle. “And we know that people just don’t get up in the morning and say they want to go to North Central West Virginia, that’s why we have to focus on one more night, one more dollar,” she said.