On Monday night during the informal portion of the Joplin city council meeting, Jerod Bruggeman, the Executive Director of the Joplin Sports Authority, provided a quarterly update.

The J S A is a 501 C 3 non-profit primarily funded by Joplin’s lodging tax. The group aims to attract and promote sporting events in the area. Bruggeman spotlighted numerous recent and future events coming to Joplin.

“But certainly you can see that we have the regional championship in cross country Division 2. That’s a big deal. That covers the entire Midwest from North Dakota to Minnesota down in Arkansas and below and Illinois and over to Kansas and so forth. So that’s a big deal.”

He also underscored that when teams visit Joplin and stay in the city’s hotels, the Average Daily Rate of a room per night is about $100, a 10 percent increase.