A recent Sports Events and Tourism Association (Sports ETA) study revealed that more than 60 percent of cities reported sports as the largest room-night generator in the US. In 2023, more than 200 million people traveled to amateur and collegiate sports events in the United States.
This trend strongly impacted the economy, providing a $52.2 billion direct economic impact in 2023 alone. The survey conducted by Tourism Economics in collaboration with Longwoods International builds on two previous surveys that sifts through data in 2021.
The report covers adult and youth amateur youth events but excludes professional sports or regular season collegiate events.
The $52.2 billion is an increase from $39.7 billion as the industry recovered from the pandemic in 2021 and $45 billion in 2019. The study revealed that sports-related travel produced $128 billion in total economic impact in 2023, including non-direct and induced spending. This supported 757,600 jobs and generated a tax revenue of $ 201 billion.
“The sport tourism industry continued to grow in 2023, increasing by 7 percent over sports traveler volume in 2022,” says John David, president and chief executive officer of Sports ETA. “The number of sports travelers in America established a new high-water mark of 204.9 million in 2023.”
Economic data collected from the sports event industry and stakeholders revealed the 10 states with the most activity in the sports-related travel industry: Florida, Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, New York, Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia.
“Each state played an integral role in sports tourism in 2023,” David says. “The addition of the Top 10 list of states generating economic impact with sports tourism allows us to analyze the best practices for all of our members.”
