It's only been a few months but Larry Tougas is back in the sports tourism business.
Tougas has been hired by a new company called North Star Sports and Entertainment to find and attract events in the North Bay area.
The former teacher and longtime high school sports coach was hired into a new North Bay Sports Tourism position in 2015, which transitioned from the City of North Bay to Tourism North Bay (in 2019) to drive sports-related tourism to the area.
Tougas, who left the position in August of 2022, noted that he has been involved in bringing in more than 30 OFSAA-related provincial sports championships to the city since 2011.
"This is a new direction for me," noted Tougas, who held a media event on Wednesday at the companies' new office on Commerce Crescent in North Bay.
"I have the opportunity to go into the private sector which is something I have always been very interested in doing. It gives me a lot of flexibility in order to do things that will be good for the company and the North Bay area."
See related: City sports guru Tougas steps away from Sports Tourism position
North Star Sports and Entertainment is a branch off of North Star Studios but is independent of the North Bay production company which is planning to build the largest film and studio space in northern Ontario at a location in West Ferris. That announcement came back in late May of 2022.
Tougas believes that the new position will not conflict with the Sports Tourism position with Tourism North Bay which is currently being run by Matt Rabideau.
He feels they can work together on projects that will benefit the community.
"He will be one of the first phone calls I make when this announcement comes out, and Matt is a great guy," said Tougas.
"The more the merrier, it should not prevent them from doing what they need to do or what we are doing. It is actually a two-pronged attack now. They should be happy about this kind of stuff because it is going to bring things into the city that bring economic dollars into our town."
Tougas says they have three large projects they are currently working on that will be announced in the next couple of months.
The new business will not focus solely on sporting events but Tougas will also be responsible for attracting non-sports related events such as conventions, as well as music and entertainment.
