Every year at the Maryland Counties Conference in Ocean City, we welcome Mayor Rick Meehan back to his Towson and Baltimore roots to update us on what’s growing at the beach. Here, he gives Nestor the facts about why the proposed sports complex in Berlin is a great idea for the future of OCMD. Oh, and a serious chat here about why the resort is still sandy, sunny and thriving.
Rick described Ocean City’s strategy to expand year-round tourism through a regional sports complex while highlighting beach replenishment as the project that most secured the city’s long-term future.
Sports Vision
- Sports Complex was framed as a major 365-day tourism driver that could bring families and teams to Ocean City for weekend tournaments, similar to activity now going to Virginia Beach and Myrtle Beach.
- Rick said Ocean City already has the supporting infrastructure — hotels, restaurants, and destination appeal — but lacks a large enough complex to compete for those events.
- What will it take to move the project past political opposition and into construction?
Funding Path
- Because Ocean City lacks enough land, the preferred site is a parcel just outside city limits in Berlin with more than 190 acres, access to Route 50, and room for future expansion.
- Rick said Ocean City previously received approval to raise the room tax from 5% to 6%; that increase created nearly $3 million in additional funds that can support debt service without using property tax dollars.
- The proposed path is to work with the Maryland Stadium Authority and the state legislature on a bond structure similar to four prior Ocean City Convention Center expansions, with the city showing the project is revenue positive or revenue neutral.
Lasting Impact
- Rick cited the golf market as proof that destination infrastructure can redirect tourism: the area now has 23 golf courses within 20 minutes of each other and draws travelers who once defaulted to Myrtle Beach.
- He identified beach replenishment as the city’s most important accomplishment, noting it was a bipartisan partnership among the city, county, state, and federal government that stabilized the shoreline, supported dune and seawall work, and enabled redevelopment.
- Rick said the project has prevented waterfront structural damage since completion and reduced flood-insurance pressure, while Nestor noted Ocean City’s broader shift toward year-round tourism and stronger hotel investment.
Action Items
- During Senator Van Hollen’s appearance at MACO, ask him about the upcoming Ocean City beach replenishment/maintenance project and how it relates to the city’s long-term waterfront protection. (@Nestor Aparicio)
- Reach out to Mayor Meehan to schedule a future appearance on the Baltimore Positive/MACO program. (@Nestor Aparicio)
Sports Tourism
- Nestor and Rick discussed the proposed Sports Complex as a way to drive year-round tourism.
- Rick described sports tourism as a strong family-oriented market and said Ocean City already has the hotel and restaurant base needed to support tournaments.
- Competing destinations mentioned included Virginia Beach and Myrtle Beach.
Site Selection
- Ocean City cannot host the project within city limits because it does not have the necessary landmass.
- The preferred site is in Berlin, just outside Ocean City, on more than 190 acres.
- Rick said the parcel offers Route 50 access and room for later expansion.
Financing Model
- Ocean City increased its room tax from 5% to 6% after receiving state approval.
- Rick said the increase generated nearly $3 million in additional funds for advertising, marketing, business development, and debt service support.
- The city expects to work with the Maryland Stadium Authority and the state on a bond issue structured around projected tax revenue growth.
Economic Rationale
- Rick compared the sports proposal to the area’s golf expansion, noting there are now 23 golf courses within 20 minutes of each other.
- He argued that building destination infrastructure can shift traveler behavior and keep Maryland residents from going elsewhere.
- The stated goal is to make Ocean City and the Eastern Shore the sports capital of the region.
Legacy Projects
- Rick said beach replenishment was the city’s most important long-term project.
- He described it as a bipartisan partnership across local, state, and federal levels that protected the shoreline, supported dune and seawall work, and reduced risk to oceanfront properties.
- The discussion closed with Ocean City’s transition toward more year-round lodging demand and continued local ownership within the hotel market.
Nestor Aparicio 0:00
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Tass of Baltimore. We’re Baltimore positive. We are positively here in Ocean City, Maryland. My summer home for many many summers of fun, and our home here at Mako each and every August. We have the mayor of Ocean City. You’re sort of a Baltimore, though, right? Like you still think Baltimore is where the base came from for you, right? Well, it is. I grew
Rick Meehan 0:26
up. I went to school in Baltimore. I’m a Delaney High School graduate out of Baltimore County. Went to the University of Baltimore, you know, for college. So yeah, I’m a Baltimore guy. Do
Nestor Aparicio 0:35
you ever think you’re gonna be running Ocean City all these years later?
8
Rick Meehan 0:37
No, you know, I started working down here when I was in high school and worked all the way through high school and college. What
Nestor Aparicio 0:43
was your gig? First gig down there?
Rick Meehan 0:44
I worked on the boardwalk at the Funcade, which is the arcade on the boardwalk. Were you getting the
Nestor Aparicio 0:49
quarters out, or were you the guy giving the the the teddy bears if you wanted?
Rick Meehan 0:53
I was a guy in charge of the money. I was the guy giving out the change. All right, still 16 years old, you know, and
Nestor Aparicio 1:00
and it’s a lot of quarters.
Rick Meehan 1:01
It’s a lot of quarters back then. Totally different today, but yeah. Did they have
8Nestor Aparicio 1:05
skee ball then? Skee
Rick Meehan 1:06
ball, yeah. Skee ball was a nickel. No, the claw, the claw
Nestor Aparicio 1:09
machine, all right.
Rick Meehan 1:10
Pocarino, all that kind of stuff. Yeah, it was there. Yeah, absolutely right. And that was a hot spot. I was on Ninth Street, and that was where everybody wanted to be back in the day, and it was a great job.
Nestor Aparicio 1:21
It’s where I went looking for girls when I was like 1213, You know, it’s where you went.
Rick Meehan 1:24
There was no, there was no internet. There were no telephones. There was nothing. So you had to show up somewhere. The boardwalk
Nestor Aparicio 1:29
was the internet. It
8Rick Meehan 1:30
was
Nestor Aparicio 1:31
Ninth Street
Rick Meehan 1:32
was where you had to be, and I was right there. So I got to be involved in everything that was going on. It was great.
Nestor Aparicio 1:37
Well, I had I had Tom on earlier, and we did a long thing on the sports complex. If you if you want to hear the mayor and I talk about the windmills, that was last year. We’ve done oceans calling, we’ve done the cancelation, we’ve been back and country and boardwalk and all that stuff. But the sports complex, I think that’s from the beginning of the time me coming down here over the last decade of saying that can really be a mover for 365 down. You’re not just a weekend or selling some rooms or a concept or even things you’re fighting politically. I’m wondering where the opposition is for wanting to bring 1000s, if not hundreds of 1000s, of tourists down here with families with sports. I mean, it just seems to be that’s the best idea I’ve heard since probably ocean scholars,
Rick Meehan 2:21
yeah, you know, sports tourism is huge. You know, not just in this area, but throughout the whole state, throughout the country, and it’s it’s good tourism. You know, it’s bringing families down, teams down. It’s great for them to be able to all be together to play outside or indoors. Either way, that’s what we’re trying to accommodate. We’ve got the infrastructure here in Ocean City, we’ve got all the hotels, we’ve got all the restaurants. You know, we can be that destination. Look, I still am involved in travel teams with my grandson. I did it with my kids. Different these days, right? Grandson, and you know, we go off for a whole weekend. You know, we’ll go to kind of remote areas sometimes, and there’ll be one hotel everybody has to stay at, you have to travel 30 or 40 minutes. Who wants to go to
Nestor Aparicio 3:03
Erie for a tournament, right?
Rick Meehan 3:04
For each game and do all this, and this is putting everything in in one location. And you know, I’ve been watching my grandson go to Virginia Beach on Memorial Day weekend to participate in the soccer tournament. Well, we want them to all come here. We want, you know, we want to be able to hold those same type of events here in Ocean City. Tom’s done a great job researching, finding locations, putting together what we need to have to present this concept. I think it’s a win-win for everybody. Yes, there are those that are in opposition. There always are. I honestly do believe it’s one of those things that five years from now, once that is open and has been running for a while. People are going to look back and say that was a great idea. This works.
8Nestor Aparicio 3:46
I know of Disney World recruiting 2530, years ago nationally, and they don’t even have a beach, by the way. They have no sand there at all. And I asked Tom, like, well, who’s winning at this? Because every time I’m like this too, I have people with kids in hockey, lacrosse, girls playing soccer. You’re right. These tournaments are in Allentown, or they’re in Hagerstown, or no offense to Hagerstown. Right, but but what I’m saying, I said to him, “Who’s really winning this? He said, “Virginia Beach. He said, “Virginia, because they have the beach. It’s the other, and I because it feels like Myrtle Beach. I know people do things in Myrtle Beach, but I-that’s a thing that’s missing from Ocean City, right? Like you just can’t do it big, and not that they’re kicking our butts, but they’re-you can’t play if you don’t have the comp. If you don’t have the complex, you can’t play, right?
Rick Meehan 4:35
Yeah, you know, years ago we we went through the same thing with golf. Everybody from up north was going down to Myrtle Beach to play golf. We got involved in building golf courses in this area. We now have 23 golf courses within 20 minutes of each other in this area. All great courses. We have seen a big shift. Those individuals from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, they can come to Ocean City and play golf. An extra day because it takes that extra day to travel to to Myrtle Beach, and that has become a big industry for us. And it’s an example. I don’t want to be huge old cliche. If you build it, they will come. But in some ways, it really, really is true.
Nestor Aparicio 5:15
Mary Ann is here. We’re in Ocean City, Maryland. The the sports part of this and putting it together. How is this going to get sold? And again, here to Mayor Ocean City, this thing’s going to be in Berlin, right? This is a regional. I mean, it’s a statewide. It’s a regional issue. Counties involved in all this. Give me the hurdles. I mean, we talked so much about windmills last year, and where the opposition, the political, and the money, and big business. Where does the money come from? How does it get appropriated? And how do I sit here next year with a shovel in the ground with you?
Rick Meehan 5:48
No, those are those are all good questions. Yes, it’s outside of Ocean City because unfortunately we don’t have the landmass in Ocean City. 190
Nestor Aparicio 5:54
acres.
Rick Meehan 5:55
We don’t have 190 acres. So, and that’s really what has slowed us down a little bit because we have to go outside of our own jurisdiction in order to find you know a suitable piece. Acetate’s not suitable. So we we have looked at if you talk to Tom, I think Tom looked at 100 properties. Okay, he put together a whole list, not just of parcels that size, but of possibilities to you know put parcels together to accumulate you know, over 100 acres, he looked at everything. This particular parcel, although it’s just on the other side of the land, is the best parcel. It has access to Route 50. It’s over 190 acres. It allows us to build what we need to do, and also have looper expansion. So it is really a great piece of property. We went to the state legislature a couple years ago to get permission to increase our room tax from five to 6% and to pay for this. So you don’t have to ask other people for money, right? Okay, we have a formula with our room tax. When we collect room tax, 60% of that collected those collected funds go directly to the general fund to offset other expenses and to keep our property taxes low, to benefit the residents.
Nestor Aparicio 7:07
Well, you’re always competing with Fenwick, right? You’re always competing with Delaware, literally, right?
8Rick Meehan 7:11
We want to make sure we have the funds. Another 40% goes towards advertising, marketing, and business development. So when we increase that room tax from five to 6% that increased the availability of funds to use for those purposes by almost $3 million. Those will be the funds that will be used to pay the debt service on the sports complex. So there’ll be no property tax dollars involved for our taxpayers or our residents. It strictly comes from the loan tax.
Nestor Aparicio 7:41
How does this affect Annapolis, Governor Moore? Who’s got to make this happen politically? And you know, I would think banks, money, capital, like all of this, this investment to have it make sense. I mean, you’re the pitch man for this, right? You and Tom are going to pitch this out. You’ve been 10 years working on this. How do you win that pitch? What are you up against? What are the hurdles in doing this for you?
Rick Meehan 8:05
Well, it’s all about the money, and as always, comes down to that. And we’ve been very fortunate in the building we’re in. We’ve expanded this building four times, and the part our partner in this building is a Maryland Stadium building. And each time we looked at, did the economic analysis and showed how much we could borrow from the state in a bond issue that would be revenue positive. So, in other words, if they invested in our project as they did in this convention center, we had to show them, which we did, that the new increase in taxes that would be attributable to that expansion would pay the debt service on their bond issue. So there’s 1,500
Nestor Aparicio 8:44
people in here right now. Now, I mean, my hotel in Salisbury was full last. You know, literally.
Rick Meehan 8:50
So we we have it’s that kind of
Nestor Aparicio 8:52
week here. We’ve
Rick Meehan 8:53
done that four times, and each time we’ve been successful, and we’ve been able to do what we said we were going to do. So that’s no different this time. We would go to the state legislature with the Maryland Stadium Authority, and we will show them how much we can pay and how much they can do a bond issue to be our partner. And that bond issue will be revenue positive or revenue neutral, and it will be an investment in the infrastructure and increasing taxes, increasing revenue. You know, instead of increasing taxes, sometimes increasing revenue is the way to go, and that benefits everybody. That’s what we’ll be able to prove to the state. We want the Eastern Shore, we want Ocean City to be the sports capital, you know, of this area. We don’t want people driving by us going to Virginia Beach, going to Myrtle Beach, and we want tremendous advantage for all the people in state to be able to travel. It allows Maryland to compete. It allows and our our residents to come here rather than travel 400 miles to go somewhere else. So, we think it’s a great way. Sports tourism is is one of the best ways to increase your tourism volume.
8Nestor Aparicio 10:01
All right, last thing for you, me and here we’re Mako in Ocean City. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland Lottery, GBMC, and our partners at Farnham and Dermer. I am very comfortable right now because they put me on the second floor and have to wear a sweatshirt today on a 90 degree day. It feels like the Super Bowl’s like that too. Convention halls are always cold. Doesn’t matter when it is. It’s just it’s just the nature. Bring a sweatshirt, but not today. I’m comfortable. Last thing, legacy piece of this, and I talked to Tom about this. How long you been mayor now? 20 years. What’s your proudest accomplishment if tomorrow you leave and I got to talk about you Saturday and say, all right, what’s the best thing you did for Thursday? Because I’m thinking that this sports thing certainly for Tom and having known him for almost 30 years and come down here, that I think the ocean callings thing’s cool. I think seeing the buildings, and I’m going to talk to you about hotels in a minute. But what are you what are you proudest of?
Rick Meehan 10:51
You know, I think it dates back really before I came here when I was on the council. I think the most important project we’ve ever done was our beach replenishment project. That’s the project that secured the beach that allowed us to build the dune system, put the seawall up along the boardwalk, heavy lifting. That was a that was a partnership. Civic Works,
Nestor Aparicio 11:10
literally, right?
Rick Meehan 11:11
That was a partnership with the county, the city, the state, and the federal government, and we put that together back in the fairly early 199 late 1980s. I do remember this.
Nestor Aparicio 11:22
I’m out of Columbus Beach forever, and it was eroding, right? Literally
Rick Meehan 11:25
eroding. I can remember walking under doing beach tours, taking Senator McPalsky out on the beach, and actually around 78th Street, I think we went up and we stood underneath the building because the sand had washed away and the pilings were exposed to show them how dramatically we were losing our beach, and our flood insurance was was very costly. We were able to work with those all those entities and build that beach replenishment project. Since that project has been built and completed, we’ve had absolutely no damage along the waterfront to any structures in Ocean City.
Nestor Aparicio 12:00
What a promise to make 35 years ago! You could that that could happen. Probably it was impossible, right? They
8Rick Meehan 12:06
weren’t sure, and FEMA no longer, Fannie Mae Freddie Mac no longer even requires flood insurance to do to do loans along the ocean front. Now most oceanfront properties still get it, but have a much reduced cost. But that is probably, as a matter of fact, we’re just getting ready to do another beach maintenance project that we have to do every four or five years to to rebuild some sand that’s been lost. Senator Van Hollen is going to be talking about that tomorrow. He’s
Nestor Aparicio 12:35
coming on later on, so I’ll talk to him about that. Okay, good. I’ll
Rick Meehan 12:37
be up there tomorrow, 27th. I
Nestor Aparicio 12:40
love bipartisan here to be an issue. Well,
Rick Meehan 12:42
I would add that was probably the biggest bipartisan project, one of the biggest the state has ever done. Let’s
Nestor Aparicio 12:48
get the key bridge on that too. Come on,
Rick Meehan 12:50
right? Well, you need to get Hal and I enough to maybe we get that done. All right, all right. This was, I’ll tell you, this this was what secured Ocean City, secured our our beach, secured our future, allowed all those buildings along the way to redevelop. It is really the most important project. So if I had to say one thing, that’s what I’m most proud
8Nestor Aparicio 13:10
of. So I went to the tourism event up the Holiday Inn, which I always do, and it’s I appreciate everybody, Ruth, everybody for having me. I ran into you. I ran into the former mayor here and all that. First people I ran into, I was there early, getting the snowballs and getting my deep E Dave, my crushes, and all that. And guys from the Hilton came up, and I start, and I got in a conversation. It’s a networking event. My hair’s out. I’m feeling good about myself. And they said we we’ve been sold out 77 nights in a row. My friend needed a room, and I’m thinking to myself back when I was young, and I told Tom this. There were no Holiday Inns, no Hyatts, no Marriott, no nothing like that. And I literally drove in those city today, and I’m driving up the coast, and I saw another Marriott, like another residence court or whatever it is. And I’m thinking, man, when I was a kid, there was Shoreham, there was Madison Beach, there was the Breakers. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, pick a couple. Any pick any of those Plin Plaza? Oh my God, Plym Plaza. So I don’t want Harrison’s. I got to get that in too. But now they’re that they want to be here. That this is a 365 effort, and I always thought back in 80s and 90s they’ll never come to never right. Never is a long time. I thought they’ll they’ll never be a Hyatt or a Marriott down here because it’s a three month place. Boy, you changed that. There’s nothing else. You changed that.
Rick Meehan 14:19
Yeah, we were very fortunate to be able to rebuild our city. You know, some cities grow old all at one time; some resorts do, and we were very fortunate. And you mentioned the Harrison Group. You know, we were very fortunate also to have local investors and local developers that had a long legacy in Ocean City be the ones that did the majority of that development. You might see, you know the hill. You know you might see the residents, but they’re locally owned. See, I don’t know that. That’s good. That there’s so many of those that are locally owned and operated from those people, those individuals, and those families that have had their roots in Ocean City since the beginning, and I think that’s what really makes it special, and that’s what has created such a bond. Between city government and our tourism industry, because everybody is affiliated and associated.
Nestor Aparicio 15:05
Well, I didn’t want to say it’s better to have chains. I’m just saying, but that kind of investment it makes. When people in Pittsburgh come down, you’re done with little sleepy village anymore,
Rick Meehan 15:13
right? People want to travel. They want to go somewhere to a hotel they’re familiar with, where they know what they’re going to get, and we’ve been able to be able to move forward in that direction, and I think that’s been a you know they’ve created better amenities, more amenities, more year-round amenities, so we can accommodate people on a year-round basis.
Nestor Aparicio 15:32
Well, Tom gave me a sunshine pin, so I got an Osom City, Maryland pin. Mayor, always good to see you. It’s always good to see you. Appreciate you and come on the show a little more often. Talk some sense.
Rick Meehan 15:41
You’re around any time.
Nestor Aparicio 15:42
All right.
8Rick Meehan 15:42
Let me know.
Nestor Aparicio 15:43
Mayor Mehan here of the Mihan family of Baltimore. I, you know, I accused Ron of being from Essex at the party the other night. He didn’t like that very much. You know,
Rick Meehan 15:53
he said we’re
Nestor Aparicio 15:53
Perry Hall. I’m like Woodlawn, and I’m like
Rick Meehan 15:56
proud of her. I’m from Towson, so we’re all kind of proud. Dundalk. I’ll take
Nestor Aparicio 16:00
it on, but never Essex, or maybe Sparrow’s Point on a bad day. Back for more Ocean City, Maryland. We’re here at Mako having fun. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland Lottery, GBMC, and Farnin and Dermer. Stay with us. We’ll send the sunshine home.
