Take your pick of sports. Baseball, basketball or football. Then toss in the television production facilities and the soon to be new headquarters of the ACC. Charlotte has played it’s cards right and is, without any doubt the hot spot for conference sporting events. In no small part the Charlotte Sports Foundation has played an enormous role in delivering the goods.
This season, the Duke’s Mayo Classic, Duke’s Mayo Bowl, Jumpman Invitational and Ally Tipoff are just a few of the major college sporting events locked into Charlotte. The Classic is part of the ACC Football Kickoff on Labor Day weekend and features North Carolina and South Carolina. In 2024 Tennessee and NC State will go head to head. On December 2 the ACC Football Championship returns to the city. The Duke’s Mayo Bowl brings post-season excitement to Charlotte on December 27.
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Women’s basketball gets off to an exciting start in the Ally Tipoff with two teams that made the ’23 Final Four and are projected to be in the Top 10 this fall, Virginia Tech and Iowa facing off on November 9. Later, it’s the Jumpman Invitational featuring the men’s and women’s basketball teams from Florida, Michigan, North Carolina and Oklahoma on December 19 and 20.
Charlotte
There’s more to sports tourism than meets the eye. It’s big money. Not only for the organizers and promoters of events but also for the community in which it is held. It doesn’t hurt to have professional level facilities in drawing events but having the right type to match the needs and wants plus having a staff capable of keeping a full schedule is key.
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A good example of finding the right match of events and facilities can be found 5 hours northeast of Charlotte in Virginia’s Chesterfield County just outside of Richmond. With a 115 acre site featuring 12 synthetic turf fields the River City Sportsplex hosts numerous soccer, lacrosse and field hockey events including those sanctioned by the IWLCA and CCL. Like Charlotte, having adequate hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues plus access to major interstates and an airport helps keep the schedule full.
With the Charlotte Sports Foundation having an economic impact on the region of over $77 million in 2022 that should be enough to indicate that whether it’s AAU events, college or professional events the return on investment with sports tourism is clear cut.
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