Maryland Sports Commission executive director Terry Hasseltine recently chatted with PressBox about why the 2024 Maryland Cycling Classic was canceled, how the Maryland 5 Star has evolved and more.
PressBox: What led to the decision to cancel the 2024 Maryland Cycling Classic?
Terry Hasseltine: There are several factors when it comes to it. One, obviously the international incident of the [Francis Scott Key Bridge] going down — not 100 percent sure on how that’s going to impact traffic patterns, understanding that city resources and county resources need to be focused in on those objectives at this current time. Our job is to be mindful and respectful that the city, the county and the state have to keep their eye on that ball over the next short period of time without throwing a 120-mile road closure into the equation. In addition to that, this summer with the Olympics [means that] the international calendar of races is all out of sorts. And because of those races being out of sorts, it’s created a window where getting the best riders in the world to come to Baltimore was going to be somewhat challenging in this Olympic year.
PB: Are you confident that the race will be held in 2025?
TH: We’re extremely confident that we’ll get it back up and going again in 2025. We’re not taking our foot off the proverbial gas pedal right now. We are going to deliver content in and around the Maryland Cycling Classic in 2024. However, we are working with UCI and USA Cycling along with our local stakeholders to ensure a more robust and more dynamic event come 2025.
PB: The fourth annual Maryland 5 Star comes to Cecil County in October. How has that event evolved?
TH: The really cool part about that, we knew the first couple years were about getting our feet underneath us, making sure operationally and logistically we understood how the venue worked, how it sets up for a world-class competition. And then last year going into this year it was about, “How do we take it to the next level?” You see a lot more marketing happening around it. You see a lot more engagement of special activities on the grounds. Now we know how the athletes — the horses and the riders — move around the complex, especially on Cross-Country Day and the like. Now we can start implementing additional opportunities to bring more people out. You’re seeing a continued growth year after year. Every year we’re incrementally growing the attendance on the site, and therefore we look to take the next step this year by inviting more people on site. It’s doing exactly the growth trajectory that we anticipated, and we’re seeing it come to life. … Obviously the opportunity with the Olympics this year, hopefully that spurs more international riders coming to Maryland this year to participate because people have already taken the Maryland 5 Star from being a new event on the calendar to being the event on the calendar.
PB: For those who don’t know much about the Maryland 5 Star, what’s your pitch to them to check out the event?
TH: If you are an enthusiast of sports in general, the Maryland 5 Star should be a bucket item on your list. It’s one of only seven in the world. It’s [one of] only two in North America. It is a place to gather. It’s a place to have a good time and interact with clients and guests. It’s also a chance to see the best of the best in the world performing on Maryland soil. It’s worth the trip, it’s worth the overnight stay and it’s worth the experience.
PB: CFG Bank Arena will host a men’s basketball doubleheader on Nov. 15 featuring Villanova-Virginia and Virginia Tech-Penn State. What triggered that idea?
TH: I think the unique thing about that is obviously the opportunity to bring big-time college basketball [to Baltimore]. We have the CIAA. We’ve been looking at opportunities to bring the game of basketball to the marketplace. We are known for our basketball product in the state of Maryland. However, we weren’t doing anything around the preseason and/or the in-season activities. An opportunity was presented to us by the Naismith Hall of Fame group. We found it to be a great opportunity for us to be at the forefront with a tip-off classic type of event.
PB: What kind of reception have you gotten from the community for the CIAA Men’s & Women’s Basketball Tournament?
TH: I think when you look at the event holistically, you look at an opportunity. It brings people together. It’s more than just a basketball tournament … It’s bringing a group of folks together to celebrate HBCU institutions, basketball, camaraderie and those types of things. It’s a no-brainer to me why we are supporting that event, why the event makes a lot of sense in Baltimore and we look forward to having those continued conversations with the CIAA leadership about many, many years to come. It’s an event that we want to see in the Baltimore market for a long, long time.
PB: How is your group partnering with the Premier Lacrosse League’s Maryland Whipsnakes?
TH: We were behind helping them choose Maryland as their site. The PLL was looking to identify where they were going to call teams home. We were working with the PLL to not only help make the Whipsnakes call Maryland home. You notice it’s Maryland — it’s not Baltimore, it’s not Prince George’s County, it’s Maryland because it allows us to make it Maryland’s team so it can get support from all over the state. But also we were having discussions about the growth of lacrosse with the PLL brand in addition to some of the other ancillary events that they host throughout the year to make sure we had a full portfolio of the PLL in how they’re delivering within the Maryland market, so it allowed us to make sure it’s touching communities far beyond the nucleus, which is Baltimore. But it’s going to touch the Eastern Shore. It’s going to touch Western Maryland. It’s going to touch the Capital region. It’s going to touch up north toward the border. So it was a holistic approach about how we’ll work with the PLL to deliver not just the Whipsnakes, but how we’ll deliver a lot of content and products in partnership with them.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Maryland 5 Star
Originally published June 19, 2024
