I grew up playing, following and loving baseball. The 15-year-old me could name just about any starting nine across Major League Baseball, especially my hometown New York Mets and Yankees. I was all in.

In many ways, I’m still all in. I still love the game. But as an adult living in Denver — and with a 15-year-old son myself now — the local Colorado Rockies have not given us much to cheer about this season. On pace to be one of the worst — if not the worst — team in modern baseball history (they will shatter the run differential record for true stats geeks, even if they miss out on the all-time loss record by a game or two … ) it’s been a miserable season. But the funny thing is that my son, who has never much been interested in baseball, has become an enormous fan as the Rockies chase history for all the wrong reasons.

As a result, we’ve been to more games at Coors Field this season than any other season. While we’re having fun (tickets are cheap!), it’s for the worst possible reason. Losses feel like wins in this upside-down season where we are pulling to be part of history. But somehow, maybe thanks to us, the Rockies are also in the top half of MLB attendance, despite their miserable season. That’s not so much a testament to the team as it is to their fantastic ballpark, where on a beautiful summer night it’s nice to take in the sunsets and watch other teams win. Nonetheless, while there have been surprisingly good crowds at Coors Field this year for such an awful team, it’s generally been a lifeless, joyless experience at the ballpark this season.

Which brings us to the Savannah Bananas.
Much has been written in sports media about the rise of this franchise that has tweaked the game in such a fun fashion that it’s hard to turn away. Are they goofy? They do seem that way. Do they play loose with the traditional rules of baseball? You bet. Do they have the best interest of baseball fans at heart? Absolutely, yes. I reached those conclusions after attending my first Bananas game, the front end of a two-day stand at Coors Field that sold out, more than 50,000 fans each — an attendance record for the team for any game held at an MLB stadium.

So, what’s going on here?

The Bananas brought joy to the joyless Coors Field and it was infectious. At a Rockies game, the concourses are full of wandering refugees looking for any kind of fulfillment through a beer or a hot dog or any of the ballpark’s specialty dishes. Since fans aren’t missing anything on the field, they fill the concourse. At the Bananas game, where the game itself has a two-hour time limit? It’s not that the concourses were completely empty, but let’s just say you never had to risk bumping into anyone ahead of you. That’s because people were by and large in their seats. The entire time.

The experience underscored some realities that event organizers of all kinds can learn from, and not just those in sports. After my night with the Bananas, here are five things I think they are getting absolutely right:

Know Your Brand, Stay Loyal to It

This is an enterprise that is relentlessly on brand. The whole evening was bathed in yellow and banana-themed imagery, starting with the kid who peeled and ate a banana on the pitcher’s mound before the game to determine if it tasted good, and thus the game would be good. To the baby brought forth in a banana costume and raised in the air “Lion King” style. To the bananas tossed from the crowd during the pregame festivities. To the fantastic banana mascot named Split. To the foam fingers shaped like a banana instead of an outstretched finger. All of it was on point.

And of course, this team’s other brand is joy. From my vantage point near the field, the players, the support staff, the auxiliary entertainment (a banana-themed princess anyone?), even the media handlers were all smiles. All night long. Yes, they are paid entertainers, but their fun came off as genuine and it showed in every aspect of their production.

Their other motto: “Fans First.” The team’s holding company is even named that. Every piece of the game itself was designed to give the fans the best experience. The rules of Banana Ball include no bunting. Because, as is stated in that rule: bunting sucks. Ask any baseball fan and they’d probably agree. This brand is all about stripping away the parts of their product — baseball — that most fans don’t like.

Build and Execute a Run of Show

A Savannah Bananas game is a tightly orchestrated affair, from the scene outside the stadium before the game, to the hours-long fun and antics on the field before the game, to the game itself, which contains a surprising amount of actual baseball interrupted on numerous occasions by tightly choreographed dance sequences by the players or even the umpires. Everyone is in on the act. And everything moves so fast and so tight.

Banana Ball has as two-hour time limit for games with the winner being whichever team is in the lead at that point. Was it a surprise that the game ended in the ninth inning at 1:59? Not really. Every minute felt deliberate. Every baby race, every fan contest, every piece of schtick throughout the experience was designed, thought out, and controlled even if the product itself was supposed to look chaotic. It was a brilliant use of time management and it came from what has to be an impeccable run of show. And somehow, the teams scored 31 runs on this night. Can you imagine how long an un-orchestrated MLB game would take with 31 runs?

And when it was over, the Bananas’ band was on stage outside the ballpark to keep the party going. All events can take a lesson from the thought put into the timing and flow of a Savannah Bananas game.

Incorporate Music Appropriately

If you are wanting quiet, come to a Colorado Rockies game. (Seriously, please come to a Rockies game. Tickets are on me!) But the Savannah Bananas experience was not that. Music is a constant presence during the entire show, often just in the background as play continues.

But the music never felt out of place. It never felt forced. It only felt additive.

And the music is such an important part of the experience that the home plate umpire is known as the “Dancing Ump.” I even saw one fan whose jersey was signed by the Dancing Ump, emphasizing the importance of music in the event and its stars — and how crucial it is to the brand.

Break the Rules if You Need To

From a baseball perspective, Banana Ball is completely bonkers and yet completely works. There are no walks. On ball four, the batter can start running and keep running until all nine players on the other team touch the ball. If a fan catches a foul ball, the batter is out. And don’t even ask about what happens if the game is tied, but let’s just say the pitcher has to do a lot of running to get any ball that’s hit. As we’ve established, there’s no bunting, because bunting sucks. And no mound visits, because who other than the ones involved in that visit want to waste that time?

This is not an experience for pure baseball enthusiasts. But the Savannah Bananas leaned into the types of angst that drew people away from baseball for years. They juiced out all the interesting stuff, put it in a blender and served. And it’s delicious.

Did they break the rules? Yes, they did. And sometimes you need to break the rules to get people to think different, regardless of what event you’re producing.

Bring Some Joy

Business meetings can feel, well, business-y. Even sports events can feel like more of a business experience, especially at the professional level where millionaires are playing millionaires in stadiums built by billionaires. Or in the case of our Colorado Rockies, events feel lifeless when the on-field product yields no joy — an experience that unfortunately spills into the stands. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t add some youth sports events to this list of experiences that feel all business as well.

The Bananas? All joy, all the time.

Your event doesn’t need to be on hyper joy for two hours straight like a Bananas game, but can’t you have a little fun in there as well? It’s important to remember that attendees, and people in general, can use a little break here and there. Lean into the joy if you can.

Jason Gewirtz is vice president and managing director of the Northstar Meetings Group Sports Division and the publisher of SportsTravel. 

Ever wonder how the most successful sports facility managers do it?

They seem to keep their fields and courts booked, memberships growing and operations humming without breaking a sweat.

Is it luck, or is there a system that sets them apart?

The youth sports industry is booming. This market, valued at $50 billion in 2024, is forecast to reach $114 billion by 2032. Still, sports facility managers face mounting challenges of rising costs, increased competition and persistently thin margins.

In a business where every dollar counts, thriving requires more than hard work. It takes smart, systematic sports facility management—habits that optimize usage, streamline operations and turn missed opportunities into predictable profit.

To help you meet the challenge, let’s reveal the playbook of high-performing sports facility managers and learn five habits to plug revenue leaks, create new income streams and turn small wins into long-term success.

1. Streamline operations

Many facilities juggle spreadsheets and a patchwork of apps. It may feel familiar using multiple tools to manage bookings, payments and communications.

But the cracks in that system widen as staff become overwhelmed by administrative tasks instead of focusing on members and programming.

This is where all-in-one sports facility management software shines. It combines scheduling, payments, memberships and communications in one place.

These solutions act as an operations command center. One dashboard tracks bookings, billing, staff, resources and engagement. No more switching tabs or bouncing between disconnected apps. Comprehensive solutions reduce errors, save time and improve coordination across your team.

What you can learn from this: Let all-in-one software replace siloed apps. You’ll automate workflows and free up staff for high-value activities, such as enhancing customer experiences and driving growth.

2. Optimize space

Every square foot of your facility should be earning.

Successful managers run back-to-back programs with minimal buffer time and offer special programming to fill traditionally slow periods. They also employ multi-use strategies: a court that hosts youth leagues by day may hold adult pickleball or fitness classes at night.

Another best practice is split-space arrangements. Modern sports facility management software enables you to divide an underused resource into multiple concurrent sessions. For example, break up a turf field into two half-field rentals for training sessions and manage it all through one interface.

What you can learn from this: Treat underused areas as revenue leaks and get strategic about how you fill them.

3. Boost usage the easy way

Unlike optimizing space layout, this habit focuses on filling every time slot.

Cancellations are a standard time and profit leak, but they don’t need to be.

Successful managers let automation eliminate dozens of back-and-forth phone calls daily. Auto-waitlists, real-time alerts and self-serve online booking handle cancellations, keeping your sessions booked and your members satisfied.

What you can learn from this: Use technology to fill gaps and improve customer experiences. You’ll boost efficiency and turn missed opportunities into steady income.

4. Simplify scheduling

Tired of last-minute changes upending your schedules?

Picture this: It’s Tuesday night, and storm warnings force you to reschedule practice on eight baseball fields. Calling hundreds of families at the last minute isn’t realistic.

Fortunately, sports facility management software solves this headache fast. Drag-and-drop tools let you rebuild schedules in minutes. Auto-conflict checkers prevent double bookings, and real-time text alerts keep everyone in the loop.

Scheduling software makes life easy for members, too. With mobile booking, users can register in less than a minute. Smart filters help them find the right class, time, and instructor, and the software remembers their preferences for next time.

What you can learn from this: Let technology lend a hand so your team can stay focused on delivering great experiences.

5. Make the most of data

One facility’s new reporting tool revealed that drop-in users weren’t converting to memberships. With that information, the manager launched a targeted promotion that quickly turned casual visitors into members.

Many facilities miss opportunities like this because they don’t track customer behavior, field/court usage or program performance. Without visibility, underperforming time slots and early signs of churn go unnoticed.

By contrast, savvy managers rely on data to make timely decisions. For example, they use forecasting tools to anticipate slow periods. Then, they introduce exciting new programs and special pricing before revenue starts to dip.

What you can learn from this: Use reporting tools to monitor performance and predict trends. With the right data, you can be more strategic about new income streams.

Make success a habit

Running a profitable business isn’t about working longer hours or chasing trends. The most successful sports facility managers adopt proven habits that plug profit leaks and drive more revenue.

Programs, pricing and people are all key ingredients in a facility’s success. But without the right systems in place, even the best-run operations can fall short. Tools like real-time scheduling, automated waitlists and data analytics not only save time; they also streamline operations and help you make smarter decisions daily.

Start with one or two of the habits described above and tailor them to fit your needs. When smart systems power good habits, success isn’t just possible — it becomes a predictable next step.

Billy Becher is founder of Playbook365, a leading event housing and tournament software provider. The technology offers tournament, club and facility management solutions. To date, it has powered more than 61,000 events for more than 1 million teams and contracted more than 21 million hotel room nights. Playbook365 is part of Travel + Leisure Co. (NYSE:TNL), the world’s leading membership and leisure travel company.

There were signs early on that I might be destined to become publisher of SportsTravel. One of those signs was that I always had a thing for sports events, even if they were ones I organized in my room.

While I didn’t play golf growing up, I at least played mini golf. And somewhere along the line, our family had acquired a golf putter, which was the only club we had in the house. As a kid of about 10 years old, I would use that putter to create “golf tournaments” in the upper floor of my childhood home, carving out a course with that putter, a golf ball and a Dixie cup as the hole. And to make it seem real, I would assign each stroke to a player on the real PGA Tour, keeping a spreadsheet of everyone’s score as I went along the course to see who won. It was nerdy sports stuff but I enjoyed thinking that Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Fred Couples or Bernhard Langer were playing my home course, including the signature Hole No. 5 from down the hallway, to the door of my bedroom to the tricky hole placement between my bed and dresser, a tough par-2.

Those childhood tournaments were in the back of my mind as I recently had the chance to spend the opening round at the USGA’s U.S. Senior Open at the historic Broadmoor hotel and resort in Colorado Springs. It was the venerable venue’s third time hosting the championship, which is open to golfers age 50 and above. And what a treat to see the actual Bernhard Langer — winner of two Masters, as well as a few of my childhood tournaments — tee off and putt in real life at age 67.

It’s that nostalgia that feeds the Senior Open, the chance to see former favorites still at it and on the course. But the event — particularly in Colorado Springs — has proven more than a step back in time. It’s a step up in economic impact, a great case study on a destination leaning into big moments to make the case for the economy of major sports events and a larger sports culture.

Steeped in History

The Broadmoor is no stranger to big events. In its 107-year history, the resort at the base of the Rocky Mountains has hosted nine USGA championships, including the 1959 U.S. Amateur where a 19-year-old Nicklaus won his first tournament (and years before his other crowning glory winning one of my childhood hallway championships …). The Broadmoor was also the site where LPGA Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam won the 1995 U.S. Women’s Open, her first LPGA victory.

But the U.S. Senior Open is also no stranger, having come to the mountainside resort in 2008 and 2018. In addition to the 2025 event, the USGA has announced it plans to return in 2031 and in 2037. That place in the rotation means a lot to the resort as Jack Damioli, the Broadmoor’s president and chief executive officer, told me during a chat in his office as the event teed off.

“Being in the rotation every six years is something that we would love to be able to continue and it’s just part of the golf history, the history of the Broadmoor and what makes the Broadmoor kind of special,” he said.

Hosting the event is no small feat for Damioli’s staff of more than 2,000 employees whose hospitality has become legendary in the travel industry. Combined with more than 1,700 volunteers on site for the events, the logistics of getting those people around was substantial.

“This takes a lot of coordination, a lot of behind-the-scenes efforts,” he said. “Three years ago, we started planning, selling sponsorships, getting the administrative pieces together with security and all those type of orchestrations that have to happen. That includes shuttling services, where volunteers park, where patrons park, how do we interface with a resort that has 784 guest rooms and all those type of things.”

Despite those logistics, the effort is worth it, even if the bottom-line impact is in the long term.

“Financially, this is kind of a break even for us,” Damioli said. “We may make a small profit, but this is not a windfall by any means. But it is something from a marketing perspective that’s priceless. If you think about 20 hours on television, Thursday and Friday on Golf Channel, and then 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. over the weekend on NBC — you can’t afford to buy that. As an independent hotel and resort, you can’t afford to buy that kind of TV time.”

While Damioli likes being in the rotation for the event, the USGA also likes returning for the built-in advantages the resort provides. As Julia Pine, the USGA’s director of championship communications and content, explained to me, while the USGA maintains “anchor sites” for the rotation of the regular U.S. Open, other championships like the Senior Open typically don’t work the same way.

“We don’t use that term officially for the Senior Open, but this is as close as we get,” she said of the Broadmoor. “Internally we will say the Broadmoor has turned into a bit of an anchor site for the Senior Open and we have this commitment to come back every five, six years.”

Driving that commitment are some efficiencies that a resort destination provides, including infrastructure the USGA doesn’t have to build anew as it would at other courses. Facilities are there to help with housing, food and beverage, even viewing areas.

“When we go to some typical country clubs or golf courses, we basically have to build a small city,” Pine said. “But at the Broadmoor, we’re able to utilize so many of their hardscape facilities that there are some cost savings from a build perspective for us, so that’s another benefit to being somewhere that has the sort of infrastructure that the Broadmoor has.”

And it doesn’t hurt that the venue has stunning views tucked alongside a mountain and provides a place that players and their families want to visit. Fans clearly want to visit, too. Of the 12,000 fans per day that came during the ticketed Wednesday through Sunday, less than half — 46 percent — came from Colorado Springs. Another 32 percent came from the Denver market with the remainder from outside of the region.

Overall, the tournament was expected to generate an estimated $24 million in economic impact.

An Event with Record Impact

Those numbers are music to the ears of the city’s hospitality community.

As players teed off on the opening Thursday, I got some time in the Broadmoor’s west lobby with Doug Price, the president and chief executive officer of Visit Colorado Springs. And one of the first facts he shared with me explains why a city wants this kind of business from sports: In 2018, the last time the U.S. Senior Open was in town, the week resulted in the largest sales tax generation the city of Colorado Springs has ever experienced for any event, sports or otherwise.

“Not only was the hotel occupancy up, but for a city that depends on sales tax, the amount of food and beverage and gasoline and all the things that get purchased that week, you couldn’t replace it,” he said. “For a city that’s not a tier one city — we’re not Denver who gets all these sporting events — for us, we see the spike in a big, big way. And then you factor in NBC and the Golf Channel and Peacock with 20 hours of live coverage, it just puts us in a different league for a week.”

Or put another way: “This is brand enhancement on steroids for us,” he said. “It’s terrific.”

In addition to the CVB, Colorado Springs has an active sports commission that was also involved in efforts during the week. Over breakfast in the Broadmoor’s main dining room — where the city’s power brokers have dined for generations — Davis Tutt, the senior director of sports tourism and Olympic engagement for the Colorado Springs Sports Corp, emphasized many of the same points.

“The USGA is an international brand and they are pushing out the Broadmoor to markets around the world,” he noted, “showing the landscape that’s here and the property that is the Broadmoor. They show our city very well.”

The announced return in upcoming years was also indicative of the trust the USGA has in the city’s approach to sports, he said.

“Obviously with it coming back in ’31 and ’37, the USGA recognized that ticket sales are good and solid,” Tutt said. “It’s a show that they want to keep bringing this back and putting it on.”

And with NBC being the broadcasters of the event as well as the broadcaster for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the United States, the chance was there as well to do some promotion for the upcoming 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games from the city that serves as headquarters of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

Promoting Around a Brand

While Colorado Springs has its traditional hospitality community to support big events such as the U.S. Senior Open, other efforts at economic development are at play in town as well, drafting off the success and impact that sports event like these have.

Colorado Springs has been investing in sports for years. Its original founder, William Jackson Palmer, even put an emphasis on health and well-being when the city was launched in 1871. In more recent times, Colorado Springs made the game-changing play in 1978 to attract the U.S. Olympic Committee to move its headquarters there. That move has produced an entire economy for the Olympic and Paralympic movement, which has more than 25 national governing bodies located in town.

But “Olympic City USA” as they call themselves has been expanding in recent years beyond that podium pedigree. The 3,400-seat Ed Robson Arena opened in 2021 at Colorado College, as did the 8,000-seat Weidner Field, a soccer stadium south of downtown that is home to the USL Switchbacks. Plans are in the works for a potential new indoor/outdoor youth sports complex.

With all that economy at play, the city also has a new effort to unite business forces to draft off the success of events such as the U.S. Senior Open, as well as those new venues. Source Colorado Springs is a new effort from the city’s chamber of commerce to unite different forces in the city for purposes of economic development, based on a similar program that has proven successful in Cincinnati to elevate its national profile.

Over lunch at the Broadmoor’s Golden Bee (where waitresses fling bee-shaped stickers at patrons who wear them proudly during their meal and the rest of the day), Jayne Mhono Dickey, the group’s executive director, explained what’s happening. While “Olympic City USA” is one brand the city promotes, it also wants to position itself as friendly for the outdoors, as a place for business, as a destination that supports technology and more.

“We established Source Colorado Springs to help tell the Colorado Springs story nationally,” she said. “The program is structured in a way that collaborates with all organizations that are locally based be it Visit Colorado Springs, the Colorado Springs Sports Corp, the arts industry, key primary employers like aerospace and investment, manufacturing, cyber security — we’re trying to work as a link to all these entities. We want to harmonize all these brands, find a common brand that truly represents us as a region, so we can be able to sell ourselves nationally and globally. And the Senior Open is one of those elements.”

That kind of coordination and partnership may pay other dividends locally as well.

From his office in the Broadmoor, Damioli said groups such as the USGA take note when they see the local community support a bid and the execution of a sports event.

“As we think about what goes into a decision to return or to book a location, the city government, the state government is very important,” he said. “So, support from the Colorado Tourism Office, support from El Paso County, support from the city of Colorado Springs is very important and the USGA looks at that, and they want to make sure that they’re welcome into the city that they’re going into and that everybody’s aligned with the vision that this is something that’s going to be good for the community.”

The Master Plan

All of which brings us back to the golf.

When all was said and done, Irishman Padraig Harrington took home this year’s U.S. Senior Open crown, securing the win on the final hole on the final day over Stewart Cink. Asked at the end what he thought of the experience, Harrington put an exclamation point on what local leaders were hoping would be the case.

“I just really enjoyed the experience here at The Broadmoor,” said Harrington. “Right from the start, you’d be surprised … sometimes we stay in very average places because it’s near the [event]. Here we’re staying in a beautiful hotel. It just settles you down for the week. Everything about it, being on site, which made it very easy, it just was a very nice, comfortable week.

“Look, I’m here working this week. I think there’s nobody that wouldn’t come here on a holiday.”

For leaders like Price, that kind of sentiment put a cap on the reason sports events and sports tourism are so important to destinations like Colorado Springs.

“I just have to remind myself that when General Palmer founded this city, it was it was on health and wellness,” he said. “It was for people with tuberculosis to come here for the sunshine and to get healthy. So, before there was a term called medical tourism, General Palmer already knew that this would be a place that people would come to enjoy themselves and to get healthy. And so the way it’s worked out, you know, 154 years later, it’s kind of remarkable how the master planning for this city continues.”

For sports fans like me, the opportunity to see our childhood heroes was an added bonus as well. Seeing the impact an event like the U.S. Senior Open has on a city like Colorado Springs was as satisfying as sinking that par-2 putt in my hallway years ago.

And seeing the actual Bernhard Langer play in person? Even better.

Jason Gewirtz is vice president and managing director of the Northstar Meetings Group Sports Division and the publisher of SportsTravel. 

Las Vegas has many reputations. It’s known as the entertainment capital of the world, a gambling mecca and in recent years, a sports hub that’s seen several professional teams come to town and hosted events such as the Super Bowl and Formula 1.

However, Vegas veterans will tell you that before anything else, Jerry Tarkanian’s UNLV Runnin’ Rebels teams of the 1980s and 1990s ignited a passion for basketball in the desert. The Rebs were the hottest ticket in town for many years, as they went to multiple Final Fours and won a national championship in 1990, crushing Duke by 30 points in the title game.

The Rebels still draw decent crowds these days but without an NBA team in the city, there was a basketball void that needed to be filled. Enter the Las Vegas Aces.

“I think Vegas is a basketball town and has been for a long time,” said Steve Hill, chief executive officer and president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor’s Authority. “The Aces crowds today are probably the families of those people who went to those UNLV games in the ’90s. They just love basketball.”

When the WNBA franchise moved to Las Vegas from Dallas after the 2017 season, it marked the first professional basketball in the city’s history. And since 2017, the team has made quite a bit of history.

The Aces won back-to-back WNBA championships in 2022–2023, have revolutionized what a WNBA team facility should look like and have packed Michelob Ultra Arena at Mandalay Bay with loud crowds consistently.

Aces Set the Standard

SportsTravel got the chance to be a part of a Las Vegas experience centered around the Aces and the impact the team has on the community. The event included a tour of the Aces’ headquarters located next to the NFL Raiders’ home in Henderson, Nevada, and a VIP experience for the Aces’ 2025 home opener against the Washington Mystics on May 23.

“We are a city that supports excellence and we feel our presence has been able to bring visibility to women’s sports, while also helping drive economic activity within our community,” said Las Vegas Aces President Nikki Fargas. “Las Vegas isn’t just where we play, this is our home. And how this community has shown up game after game, parade after parade, means everything to us and it fuels our players.”

With the first pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft, the Aces selected A’ja Wilson from South Carolina. Wilson has been the best player in the league since that moment, amassing three MVP awards and leading the team to an overall win percentage of nearly 70 percent since it moved to Las Vegas.

After winning Las Vegas’ first professional sports championship in 2022, the Aces moved into their new $40 million facility before the 2023 season — the first complex built solely for the use of a WNBA team.

The 60,000-square-foot venue houses the Aces’ practice facility — complete with two courts that can be separated — offices, training room, weight room, hydrotherapy space, physical therapy area, locker rooms, a lecture hall, player and alumni lounges and an on-site daycare center.

The facility set the standard for a WNBA home. Since its opening in April 2023, several other teams have copied the blueprint.

“Obviously we want this across the board in the WNBA,” Fargas said of the facilities. “We want these players to have a place that they can call home. I’m proud of the work that we’ve been able to do with our team, with our business ops team in maximizing that space, but also knowing that we don’t ever displace our players. We’ll have tours come through and we’ll host community events there. We hold camps and clinics there. So not only is that facility for the players, it’s also for our community.”

And the community shows up for the Aces. The opening night game had a sellout crowd of 10,509, which stayed with the team the entire way, even though the first three quarters were a bit rough. The Aces trailed by nine points with four minutes left, but boosted by the large crowd, they rallied with a 16–4 run to close to game and beat the Washington Mystics, including a Jewell Loyd 3-pointer in the final seconds that sent Michelob Ultra Arena into a frenzy.

“It’s great to see what we’ve been able to build in such a short period of time, having back-to-back season ticket member sellouts — that’s so exciting,” Fargas said. “But also to hear how loud the arena gets. I’ve had so many people talk about not just the game itself, but all of the activations that we have around the game and how interactive it is with our fans. People really enjoy coming to the games to see not just the action on the basketball court, but what other cool things we’re doing to make that game day experience for the fans special.”

LVCVA Continues to Raise the Bar

You’d be hard pressed to find a CVB anywhere that supports its local teams as diligently as LVCVA does with the Aces, Golden Knights and Raiders.

Before the 2024 season, LVCVA found a creative way to market its destination in a partnership with each individual Aces player on the roster. The premise is simple — LVCVA pays each Aces player $100,000 per season to essentially be social media influencers for the city. Players attend concerts, shows, nightclubs, etc., sharing their experiences with their millions of followers.

The idea, implemented a year ago, gave LVCVA more exposure and eyeballs on the city’s top tourist attractions, while the players benefitted from the monetary sum.

“We did it because we thought it was a smart and efficient marketing opportunity for us,” Hill said. “All of the players have a following. A’ja has a following that most athletes would envy. But everybody on the team was a star in college, was a star in high school and has a hometown fan base. We get them out in the community to experience everything that Las Vegas has to offer and then talk about it.

“We use influencers on a very regular basis and they’re basically influencers, and it’s worked out really well for us. I think it’s worked out really well for them, too. We’re thrilled with the partnership and I think it’s worked well for Las Vegas.”

The win-win situation for LVCVA and Aces players drew attention from the WNBA, as the league announced an investigation as to whether the sponsorship dollars circumvented the salary cap. That investigation is a year old now, with no new updates and no conclusion.

Hill and others were questioned by WNBA investigators in 2024 and LVCVA has gone forward with year two of the sponsorship in 2025.

“We’ve not heard anything,” Hill said. “We’ve made a two-year commitment and we think it’s a great deal for us and a great opportunity for the players. So yeah, we’re just moving forward.”

On the court and in the community, the Aces’ relationship with the city has never been stronger. When the team arrived in 2018, the crowds weren’t as large. However, led by Wilson, Caitlin Clark and others, the women’s basketball explosion has led to big crowds across the WNBA. That also means more economic impact for CVBs.

“It’s just generally beneficial to the community from a tourism and economic standpoint,” Hill said of the Aces. “But the energy around the Aces and their integration into the community is important to locals here. It’s now a part of our culture, part of the sports scene and a part of our brand.”

F1 the Newest Addition to Vegas’ Infrastructure

In the past decade, Las Vegas has added two of the top arenas and stadiums in the world (more on those below) but the city has truly gone international with the annual Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix each November.

As the Las Vegas Grand Prix heads into its third year, the completion of the Grand Prix Plaza is bringing the world’s premier race circuit to life year-round in Vegas.

The F1 Experience is something that everybody will enjoy, whether they’re race fans or not. The F1 Drive provides a high-level go-kart activation for visitors, who then can go upstairs and get an immersive F1 experience, including learning the history of the sport, how the tires and pit crews work, the media/control center, creating your own team and car, and more. The F1 simulators provide a taste of what the Las Vegas Grand Prix circuit feels like to drive.

The Grand Prix Plaza is a signal of commitment between F1 and LVCVA and although their contract is up after 2025, all indicators point to their partnership going far into the future.

“We’re thrilled with Grand Prix Plaza and it’s a really fun offering for visitors,” Hill said. “Going karting is a fun thing to do, period. And to wrap it around Formula 1 elevates it. But it’s also something that I think helps fan development, and in the U.S. — and particularly around Las Vegas — we want to do that. The fan experience is a real opportunity to make that happen.”

One year before the Aces arrived in Las Vegas, the city welcomed its first professional sports team with the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights. To lure an NHL expansion team to the desert, the city built T-Mobile Arena, one of the nicest arenas you’ll find anywhere in the country.

In addition to the 2023 Stanley Cup Champion Golden Knights, the arena hosts basketball games, boxing, UFC, concerts and more. The arena contributes an estimated $125 million per year in economic impact to the city.

It has all the top hospitality spots, including 46 suites and two “party suites” that can each host 120 people. The Hyde Lounge in the upper portion of the arena offers standing room only areas in a nightclub setting. The Bud Light Lounge and Ghost Lounge located in the two center sections of the arena bowl provide premium hospitality and the best views in the venue.

Speaking of building venues to lure professional sports teams, the city did it again in 2020 when it opened Allegiant Stadium. The 65,000-seat venue helped relocate the Raiders from Oakland to Las Vegas, but it also has hosted the Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, college football, massive concerts and WrestleMania in 2025 (and potentially 2026). It will also be the site for the 2027 College Football Playoff Championship and the 2028 NCAA Men’s Final Four.

“The building of Allegiant Stadium was transformative for the state,” Hill said. “We wouldn’t have gotten Formula 1 if we hadn’t built Allegiant Stadium, because we didn’t have a venue where we could host the biggest events in the world. And now, with that stadium, we host events every few weeks and the world sees that we have this big capacity to do it over and over again.”

The Allegiant Stadium tour included a peek inside Raiders owner Mark Davis’ suite, a walk through the Raiders’ locker room — complete with a Charles Woodson hologram — and a chance to walk on the field for pictures. Standing at the 50-yard line, it’s easy to see why the venue is a favorite among sports fans, with its amazing natural light, giant Olympic-style torch in the end zone and views of the Vegas skyline looking out the northeast side of the stadium.

A trip to Las Vegas wouldn’t be complete without some top-shelf food and entertainment. LVCVA treated our group to some of the best dining in the city, including Mother Wolf, Gordon Ramsay Burger, Bourbon Steak at Four Seasons, Primrose at Park MGM and The Kitchen at Commons Club at the Virgin Hotel.

Virgin has emerged as a big-time player in the Las Vegas hospitality scene when it comes to sports, as the resort hosts NFL teams and is the headquarters for the NBA Summer League each July. Virgin also sponsors the Las Vegas Bowl, Formula 1 and the National Finals Rodeo.

For entertainment, some of the VIP experiences include Cirque du Soleil’s Mad Apple, a spin on the High Roller observation wheel, a trip to Atomic Golf, ziplining and live music at Caspians, the speakeasy inside Caesar’s Palace.

The old marketing slogan was, “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas.” But what’s happening in modern day Vegas is an influx of new venues, teams and training facilities in the sports world that have added a new element to a city that continues to entertain at all levels.

When Green Bay Packers President Mark Murphy took the stage April 24 to announce the team’s first round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, the crowd of over 200,000 people roared. When he announced the team had drafted a first-round wide receiver for the first time since 2002, the ground shook.

The emotion from the Packers fanbase was about more than the addition of Texas’ Matthew Golden to the franchise. It was also a celebration that the city of just over 100,000 people hosted Draft week for a global audience, proving it can host a massive event with the same success as larger cities.

It was also a win for the state of Wisconsin beyond the residents of Green Bay. All week, anybody asking about the impact of the state hosting the NFL Draft was met with smiles whether it was somebody from Green Bay, Milwaukee, Madison or Sheboygan.

“We want to be fly to country, not fly over country,” said Craig Trost, communications director for Travel Wisconsin. “We anticipate a $94 million economic impact for the state, with $20 million of that directly in the Green Bay area. So this is a major moment for our state and we’re just excited to shine on a big stage.”

The entire NFL Draft process was a team effort from those around the state, particularly Discover Green Bay and Visit Milwaukee. A four-day trip was centered around the NFL Draft at Lambeau Field — but there was plenty more to see and do.

“What our marketing team did such a great job with is capitalizing on this opportunity and utilizing our partners to really market ourselves as a great place to hang out, to visit, to experience all the attractions and restaurants while they’re in Milwaukee,” said Marissa Werner, director of Sports Milwaukee, a division of Visit Milwaukee. “Hopefully their experience here when they’re outside of the Draft, at our hotels and experiencing everything our city has to offer, will make them want to come back for an even longer trip.”

Green Bay Glows on Global Stage

Green Bay is by far the smallest market in the NFL, with about 105,000 residents in the city, and a total of 335,000 in its metro area. It regularly hosts more than 80,000 fans for Packers home games, but that was about a third of the crowd which showed up on April 24 for the first round.

Naturally, there were concerns about the area hosting the most people its ever had for an event. Parking, of course, was a bit of an issue, with people renting out their driveways, businesses and church parking lots for varying amounts that hovered above $100. But once parked, it was a seamless experience.

There were plenty of miles walked (close to a dozen to be exact) from the time SportsTravel left the bus in the early afternoon to the time it departed the Draft at nearly midnight. As expected, there were parties along the streets that led to Lambeau. Beers were flowing, with authentic Wisconsin cheese curds and brats everywhere.

Trost is hoping the state’s hospitality will have a future impact on those in attendance — there were an estimated 600,000 people over the three days — and those watching on TV around the world.

“It really is a dream come true for us here in Wisconsin to see an event this large come to our state and we’re able to introduce ourselves to a whole new host of visitors,” Trost said. “So we really think that regardless of what team you’re a fan of you’ll walk away a fan of the state of Wisconsin.”

NFL fans were able to go inside Lambeau Field in the hours leading to the beginning of the Draft, as the stadium hosted the Red Carpet for top prospects. About 30 minutes before the beginning of Round 1, it was announced the Draft area had reached capacity, but those left out were able to watch from inside Lambeau on the big screens. The Packers have one of the largest team shops in all of sports, which was packed all day with a line out the door. The Packers Hall of Fame inside Lambeau is also a must see for any football fan (except maybe a Bears fan).

“The storied history of the Green Bay Packers, dating back to Curly Lambeau and then Vince Lombardi and Super Bowl I — now to see the Draft at Lambeau is like the NFL has come full circle, which is really special,” Trost said. “The fans are what really makes this whole thing work here in Wisconsin.”

Milwaukee Continues to Host Major Events

When it was announced nearly two years ago that the NFL Draft would head to Green Bay, it was cause for celebration for many other cities in the state. With more than a half million people, Milwaukee is the biggest city in the state and partnering with Travel Wisconsin and Discover Green Bay was another addition to the city’s list of sports hospitality.

“We’re just excited that we do get some of that economic impact trickle down being the closest, largest city to Green Bay,” Werner said. “But being able to go up there and witness it firsthand was mind blowing — how they were able to create this whole experience in this smaller city, the smallest market in the NFL, and bring in over 200,000 people just within one night.”

Milwaukee has hosted U.S. Olympic Trials, as well as events for USA Gymnastics, USA Triathlon, USA Wrestling and recently saw the return of IndyCar action to the Milwaukee Miracle Mile. It will also host the 2025 U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills Golf Course from May 28 through June 1. Then there are the Milwaukee Bucks and Brewers, the city’s professional sports teams that have a strong following.

“Our hope is that there’s a lot of people who came for the Draft and loved it and just want to spend a little bit more time in this big, beautiful state of ours,” Trost said. “Maybe they came for the Draft and they didn’t have an opportunity to see many of our 15,000 freshwater lakes or go take a hike in one of our amazing forests or play some of the most elite golf in the nation. We want them to come back.”

Wisconsin has one of the best food scenes in the country. There were plenty of cheese curds and Spotted Cow at nearly every restaurant frequented. Do not go to Milwaukee if you’re on a diet.

Local Hospitality Shines Through

The Potawatomi Hotel & Casino is a renovated property that added a new hotel to the gaming areas in the past few years. For sports fans and those who like to bet on sports, the Potawatomi sportsbook is one of the nicest in the country outside of Las Vegas.

It has 2,100 square feet of LED boards that can be converted to up to 42 screens. The 90 betting kiosks offer the only place in the city where sports wagering is allowed. The casino has thousands of slot machines and table games as well, which were a favorite of Draft visitors.

It wasn’t just a football week, as our group also got to take some swings at X-Golf at American Family Field, home of the Brewers. Located on the Club Level, X-Golf features seven state-of-the-art, indoor golf simulator bays over two floors — with three bays that offer views of the field.

Another development in Milwaukee is the Baird Center, which recently underwent a $456 million expansion and modernization, doubling its size to 1.3 million total square feet. The venue opened on May 16, 2024, and now offers 52 meeting rooms, 300,000 contiguous square feet of exhibition space and the rooftop Baird Ballroom and Sky View Terrace.

The Baird Center will bring not only large conventions and events, including the TEAMS Conference & Expo in 2027,  but it also utilizes its space to host up to 30 sports tournaments each year including volleyball, basketball and cheer. Between the existing Hyatt and soon-to-be-completed Hilton, there will be nearly 1,000 hotel rooms connected to the Baird Center by skywalk.

On the final night of the trip, the schedule aligned as the Bucks were hosting the Indiana Pacers in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. Although the weather didn’t allow for the Deer District to be fully activated, the bar scene around Fiserv Forum includes several fun spots to pregame before tipoff.

There are a handful of bars and restaurants, including the Mecca Sports Bar and Grill (the cheese curd burger is recommended) and the New Fashioned, with dozens of local drinks on tap and bowling alleys with a unique twist on the sport.

The city is proud of its 2021 NBA champion Bucks and on this night the capacity crowd was treated to a comeback victory by the home team. After the game, fans can head over to Broken Bat Brewing Company for a celebratory nightcap, accompanied by an expansive bobblehead collection and live whiffleball.

On the final day of the trip, before heading back to Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, we stopped at one of the best brunches in the country at the Blue Egg. It was a fitting end to an exciting, calorie-filled trip to one of America’s most hospitable cities.

With the passage of time since the Dallas Mavericks traded their cornerstone player, Luka Doncic, to the Lakers, the deal remains universally incomprehensible. Sure, justifications have been offered such as Doncic’s defensive limitations, as well as his diet and conditioning habits that were thought to get in the way of his defensive abilities as well as to make him more vulnerable to injury. But the guy is a singular talent who, at age 25, led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals last year, was in consideration for league MVP, and is a generational force offensively.

He is also the face of the franchise and has been since he took the baton from Dirk Nowitzki after playing together with Dirk for a year. Luka viewed Dirk as a role model — a player who stayed with the same team for 21 years and led that team out of the NBA rubble to an NBA championship. A generation of Mavericks fans appreciated Dirk’s loyalty, and for kids who started their fandom at age 5, they would have never known a Dirk-less Mavericks team until they were 26. Luka would have taken them to age 46. There was a reason that Luka signed with the Mavericks at age 19. He hoped to emulate Dirk’s career arc. Luka was as popular a player as you could have (though yes, we sometimes had to overlook the whining to referees). If you are going to antagonize a fan base, you’d better be right. So far, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who agrees with the Mavericks move.

And that’s what saddens me about the whole deal — it seems that no value was put on Luka’s loyalty to the team and desire to be a lifer. Rather, it was something to be feared — that he would soon be eligible for a “supermax” contract extension that would have averaged about $69 million per year. It’s worth noting that Anthony Davis, the primary player for whom Luka was traded and who is 6 years older, is locked into a contract that averages $62 million per year. Davis is a superb player but with his own history of missing games due to injury.

I don’t know how you value the sort of mutual loyalty that kept Dirk and the Mavericks together for two decades and that most Mavericks fans were hoping would be the same for Luka. But the fans’ desires in that regard do not appear to be something that was valued by the Mavs’ front office. Jerry Seinfeld once observed that with the player movement in sports, what you are really rooting for is “laundry.” It’s the jersey that counts, and who is wearing it is interchangeable. As an aside, the Mavericks have been so cursed after the trade that they really may just be playing jerseys since they are hurting for healthy players to wear them.

I would have put a premium on a potential lifer rather than a shiny new, or in this case older, object. And I would have found ways to address Luka’s alleged conditioning liabilities. For instance, I might have brought in Colonel Nathan Jessup from “A Few Good Men” (played by Lakers’ fan Jack Nicholson) who rejected a suggestion from his subordinate officers that a sub-par Marine, Private Santiago, be transferred off the base at Guantanamo Bay. “Transfer Santiago? Yes, that’s the thing to do. Wait, I’ve got a better idea. Let’s transfer the whole squad. No, let’s transfer the whole division off the base. … Wait a minute. Maybe we should consider this for a second. Maybe it’s our responsibility to train Santiago! I think I read that somewhere once. And I’m thinking, Colonel, that your idea of transferring Santiago, while expeditious and painless, might not be quite the American way. Santiago stays where he is. We’re going to train the lad.” It will be interesting to see what Luka looks like in about six months if he follows the Lebron James fitness regimen.

If the training/reshaping of Luka by the Mavericks did not work, they could have resorted to the insight of the eloquent NFL coach Bum Phillips, who faced criticism of running back Earl Campbell’s fitness late in his career. When the press learned that Campbell could not finish the 1 mile run in training camp, Phillips was asked if he was concerned about it. “No,” he replied. “When it’s first down and a mile to go, we won’t give him the ball.”

The sad fact is that Luka was on his way to a statue someday being erected outside whatever Mavericks’ arena exists in the future. That seemed to be his preference, and it was certainly the preference of the fans — he would have complimented the Dirk statue very well. Instead, Mavs fans will have to adjust to the rotating cast of characters that fill the jerseys over the next 15 years.

Bob Latham is a partner at the law firm Jackson Walker, L.L.P., and a World Rugby board member. A compilation of his best columns titled “Winners & Losers: Rants, Riffs and Reflections on the World of Sports,” is available for purchase at amazon.com.

At SportsTravel and the TEAMS Conference, we are in the sports-event business. But we’re also just as much in the relationship business. Work acquaintances often become personal acquaintances. When you work in an industry long enough — and you enjoy the company of those with whom you work — it’s inevitable.

And in every industry, certain people always seem to be a friend to everyone. That was certainly the case with Corey Peterson.

I can’t recall exactly the first time I met Corey but it was most certainly at one of the first TEAMS Conferences I attended after I started working at SportsTravel. Corey was with the Hampton CVB in Virginia when we first met and later worked for Richmond Region Tourism. We began with a few hellos. And as things happen in any industry where you see people again and again, the hellos turned into small conversations, which turned into larger conversations. The next thing you know, you start to know someone.

In the case of Corey, our relationship evolved exactly on those lines.

One year not long after we met and after we had announced our SportsTravel Award nominations, we received a long and well-written letter from Corey. In the letter, he regretted that a major soccer tournament in the Richmond area, the Jefferson Cup, was not on our ballot. He walked through every detail of why he thought the event deserved recognition if not that year, then in the years to come. With nearly 1,000 youth soccer teams coming to town and filling hotels for miles outside of Richmond, it was a good case to make.

Not long after, he invited me out for a press trip to see the event and to show us what we’d missed. I took him up on the offer. On my arrival, Corey was waiting with his car and I was surprised to learn I was the only one on the press trip. When I got to my hotel room, he had left a gift basket that included a signed mini basketball from Richmond-based VCU. I learned later that the signature was just Corey’s, a bit of a joke to get things off to a light mood.

Over a few days in Richmond, I started to get to know him better. We had similar musical tastes. We both loved to talk sports and liked the same commentators. I gave him grief that the soccer club organizing the tournament had their offices right next to a restaurant we had eaten at the day before, so did everything in Richmond happen in this one block? He showed me more of the city and I grew to appreciate the destination and his work. And when we finally went to see the Jefferson Cup, and a coached yelled out “Nice cross!” to one of his players as we walked by, neither of us being terribly big soccer fans at the time were even sure what he was talking about. (I do know, now…) For the rest of our trip — and for years after — if something seemingly good happened, one of us would just say “nice cross.”

Shortly after that visit, when Corey came through on a work trip to Colorado where I live, he asked to meet up for breakfast. Unbeknownst to me, he brought with him his boss in Richmond at the time, Cleo Battle, now the head at Louisville Tourism. I’m a University of Colorado graduate and when Cleo saw the CU sticker on my car in the parking lot, he grinned that huge Cleo Battle grin and mentioned his ties to the university. As I watched Corey roll his eyes, I learned for the first time that Corey was somehow a fan of the University of Nebraska, and he learned that inviting Cleo to breakfast had been a terrible mistake. It was one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had — two against one — making an instant friend in Cleo and deepening the relationship with Corey at the same time as we gave him the hardest time possible.

That breakfast evolved to the inevitable next steps of texting on college football weekends. The Buffs did this, the Huskers did that. And it led to other occasional messages. I had put that VCU basketball in our basement so that my then very young son could play with it. One time my son was bouncing the ball and wanted to know if the guy who signed it was famous. I sent Corey a photo of the moment and told him that I told my son, yes, the guy who signed the ball was very famous. “I see no lies,” he replied.

On another trip through Colorado, Corey invited me to a Denver Nuggets game, on the condition I drive him to the airport to catch his flight after the game. It was a fair deal. We got to know each other even better. When the PA system played “Ghostbusters,” he mentioned how he didn’t appreciate the song or the artist, Ray Parker Jr. — someone whose other work I was quite familiar with and liked. It started a friendly argument, mostly because I had apparently opened a long-standing wound that already existed between him and his older brother, Pete, who shared my views. Before I knew it, I was sitting courtside at the Nuggets game talking to Pete on the phone because Corey said I’d like him better. On the ride to the airport, I cued up as much Ray Parker music as was sitting in my then iPod, which was a surprising amount. Corey just shook his head. Later on, I changed his contact picture in my phone to a picture of Ray Parker, which came up any time he called or texted, making me laugh almost every time.

Corey eventually left the bureau in Richmond, but we stayed in touch. He texted on birthdays, on Father’s Day, on game days, on some random music thing he thought I’d like. And in a gift to Corey, my son eventually — and randomly — became a Philadelphia Eagles fan. Corey was pretty much the only other Eagles fan I had ever known. I’d send him photos of my son in his Eagles gear and even though they had never met, they both ended up knowing everything about each other.

When I told my son recently that I’d take him to an Eagles game this season, and when the game ended up being the contest coming up October 20 with the New York Giants, Corey reminded me it was just a train ride away. So, we got tickets to meet up, excited to go with Pete Ciriello on our sales team — a massive Giants fan who got us seats near him and near the Eagles’ entrance to the field. I knew Corey and Pete would find each other amusing, and that my son would be on Corey’s side. The thought of it gave me considerable joy. I also knew I’d get considerable ribbing about Nebraska’s recent football win over Colorado, one that Corey and I had spent the better part of that evening texting about. The trash talk was going to come in person for sure.

Which is why it was so shocking on the night of our closing party during TEAMS ’24 this year to learn that Corey had quite suddenly passed away at his home in Virginia, at only 44 years old, of an apparent heart attack. Even more shocking in that he had just texted me and my other longtime colleague Yvonne Garcia, who was closer to Corey than I was, earlier that morning. The night before at our TEAMS VIP dinner, I had mentioned to yet another friend of Corey’s that we planned to go to the Eagles game in a few weeks. She texted him a photo of herself, me and Yvonne to show we were all together and that she had heard about the game. He texted the next morning to say he had gone to bed early and woke up to the photo. “See what happens when you go to bed early? You miss all the fun messages.” It was the last message he’d send me. His passing shortly after that text was sudden and a reminder of how fragile life, and relationships, can be.

As the news spread of his passing during our closing party, a few of our most veteran TEAMS attendees gathered offsite to reminisce. The bar we found was fairly empty and it was nice to share some stories even in the suddenness of the news. That his passing happened at TEAMS while many of his friends were gathered was perhaps fitting. As the night went on, and our official closing party ended, many of our attendees found their way to this bar as well. There were plenty of people there I knew, and many that I didn’t know. But they were there getting to know each other, sharing those common experiences after our events where some of the deepest relationships form — similar to the one I and many others made with Corey.

The thought dawned on me that somewhere in there, someone was meeting their own Corey, maybe starting with a casual hello, maybe continuing a conversation they started earlier in the week, maybe deepening a relationship that was already at that conversation stage. It’s what makes the sports-events industry so special.

From the beginning, when SportsTravel and TEAMS were created, seeming rivals in destinations fighting for the same business have been friendly, as have the event organizers pitching that business. Many have become and continue to be true friends. It’s not clear when that line crosses from business relationship to personal relationship, but you know when you cross it.

It’s one reason many of us that night and since have been surprised at the depths of the separate relationships we all had or are learning we had with Corey Peterson. For one person, he managed to make as many relationships as anyone could possibly make. And he had a way of making you feel like yours was the only relationship he had. I’ll deeply miss his company, as will many others. But it makes me grateful for the many relationships I have in our wonderful industry, and the ones that I have yet to make.

Jason Gewirtz is vice president of the Northstar Meetings Group Sports Division and executive editor and publisher of SportsTravel. 

There are a number of ways to honor retired athletes and their exemplary careers for which the criteria are generally understood. We sort of know a Hall of Fame player when we see one, though we can debate around the margins. We also recognize an athlete who has contributed to his or her team for a sufficient duration that the team retires their uniform number. There are state halls of fame and college halls of fame, in addition to national halls of fame. There are more bespoke displays like the Yankees’ Monument Park and the Dallas Cowboys’ Ring of Honor that are nevertheless somewhat comprehensible. However, there is one method of honoring athletes that seems to be proliferating but for which the criteria are much more murky — The Statue.

There really is no template for who gets a statue — no written or unwritten code. Some statues are obviously justified — Magic, Kobe, Shaq, Kareem, all outside the Crypto.com Arena. Jordan, Gretzky, Clemente, Willie Mays … the list goes on. All of them are honored at or near a stadium or successor stadium where their legendary feats took place, though the question of whether your statue is inside or outside remains a question of debate. Jordan was outside the United Center before he was moved inside. The statues generally honor a body of work and signature pose, though occasionally they capture an isolated play that was part of that body of work (e.g., Bobby Orr outside Boston’s TD Garden).

The above examples are non-controversial, both with regard to the athlete being honored and the location of the statue. But it can get very complicated very quickly. Should every Hall of Famer get a statute? Willie Mays outside Oracle Park? Yes. But if Buster Posey makes the Hall of Fame in three years, does he get a statue?

Outside the American Airlines Center in Dallas, there are statues of Dirk Nowitzki and Mike Modano on either side of the entryway — like imperial garden lions. Each led his team to one league championship and each spent several decades with the Mavericks and Stars respectively. If Luca Doncic leads the Mavericks to an NBA Championship and stays around for enough seasons, does he automatically get a statue? That would make for a lopsided imperial garden entrance.

Is it appropriate to erect a statue for performance over one season? The statues of Doug Flutie at Boston College and Robert Griffin III at Baylor University are examples of this. Should every Heisman Trophy winner get a statue at his alma mater?

There is also a danger in putting up statues prematurely. Banners, plaques and retired numbers are easy to reverse if something unsavory comes out about a player. Statues are a little bit harder to remove (see Paterno, Joe).

What are the rules as to who gets to erect such a statue and where? A Babe Ruth statue near the Orioles Stadium in Baltimore? OK, I can probably accept that. The Babe did grow up in Baltimore although he never played for the Orioles, and he has plenty of honors at Yankee Stadium. But should a Babe Ruth statue be anywhere other than the “The House that Ruth Built?”

In this category, there is the incomprehensible statue of Dave Winfield in Fairbanks, Alaska. Winfield’s Hall of Fame career is most identified with at least three MLB clubs — the Padres and the Yankees — which account for much of his career, plus the Twins in the town where he grew up and played for two seasons. Instead, he is honored where he once hit a 500-foot home run while playing minor league ball.

One of my favorites in the location category is the Allan Iverson statue at the Philadelphia 76ers’ practice facility. For an NBA player who, though known for his tremendous work rate during games, also gave one of the most famous quotes in sports history railing against practice, the 76ers’ choice is either odd or tongue-in-cheek — the equivalent of putting a statue in Hartford for a Broadway act, or a star on the Van Nuys Walk of Fame rather than the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

With rampant free agency in professional sports, and NIL money and transfer portals in college sports, the situation is likely to get worse before it gets better. “Yes, I will sign with the Giants in free agency as long as you promise me a statue that is reasonably adjacent to Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda.” “Yes, I will transfer to your school for one season to try to secure an NCAA basketball championship as long as you promise me a statue near the Student Union building.”

For anyone examining college majors that may pay dividends in the future, might I suggest: sculpting.

Bob Latham is a partner at the law firm Jackson Walker, L.L.P., and a World Rugby board member. A compilation of his best columns titled “Winners & Losers: Rants, Riffs and Reflections on the World of Sports,” is available for purchase at amazon.com.

The youth sports industry was estimated at $37.5 billion worldwide in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 9.2% until 2030. The number of youth sports-related events is increasing yearly and attendance is soaring. Event organizers are managing more fields and courts to accommodate thousands of young athletes and their families arriving in destinations every weekend.

As sports tourism grows, so do group housing needs. Many organizers are turning to third-party housing companies to ease the load. Housing companies help event organizers find and manage hotel needs for their events. Once contracted, they work with teams to manage hotel blocks, oversee compliance with stay-to-play policies and handle all customer service from parents and coaches.

If you’re thinking of working with a housing company, consider these best practices below to build a successful partnership that boosts profits and enhances the experience for players and their families.

Maximize revenue and savings: Effective housing companies have a background in hospitality and understand hotel contracts. They’re well-equipped to negotiate favorable room rates, concessions, and numerous other extras. Many event organizers miss opportunities to increase revenue and cut costs because they lack the time or bargaining power to secure better deals. Let your housing partner handle the details of hotel negotiations. Better rates and concessions drive bigger crowds to your events.

Push for proximity. Experienced housing companies have vast databases with family-friendly hotels near sports venues. Proximity means a smoother, more enjoyable experience for your players and fans.

Improve outcomes. Ask your housing company to track performance throughout the event lifecycle. Are families booking within the team block? Is housing on pace to achieve your goals? Do you need to add rooms to accommodate more teams? Let real-time data reveal potential issues and adjust on the fly to enhance event outcomes.

Prove economic impact. Your housing partner will provide a room pick-up report after each event. Use it to show economic impact and gain destination support for future events.

Ditch the back-and-forth. Managing team blocks and locking in room rates require  phone calls, emails and texts with hotels. Skip the back-and-forth and let your housing company handle the logistics.

Manage compliance. Do you have traveling team policy? Your housing company is equipped to manage compliance requirements. A great partner puts tremendous effort into matching room blocks with team lists and tracking reservations. The result? You save time and grow reservation capture.

Reduce risk. Anything can happen in sports, from injuries to bad weather. Housing companies know what to negotiate to mitigate or avoid stiff attrition and cancellation fees.

Maintain rate integrity. Housing companies work to guarantee the lowest available rate in hotel contracts. If a family finds a better offer, let your housing partner know. Good travel planners go back to the hotel to secure the best possible deal.

Present options. Some families prefer premium accommodations, while others insist on budgetfriendly rates. Ask your housing company to provide options. You’ll increase participation and customer satisfaction.

Make it easy. Empower parents to book faster with an intuitive booking platform they can use anytime, anywhere.

Streamline operations. With sports travel booming, the volume of housing requires professional organizations that have robust technology. You want a partner with tools to manage group blocks and provide hotels with real-time reservation data. Keep attendees and hotel partners happy with seamless check-ins.

Win with service. Families today are dealing with a lot, causing some to change plans and shorten or cancel their stays. As a result, teams must add or remove players from rosters, sometimes at the last minute. Attendees need customer service to answer their questions and ensure everything runs smoothly.

Other families extend their stays and turn sports events into fun getaways. They expect the same level of service during the event that they receive on vacation. Event organizers know it’s the experience that brings families back year after year. That commitment to service defines and grows their tournament business. Housing companies are in the business of customer service. Clearly define your vision so they check all the boxes on exceptional customer care.

Open communications, ease, and service are essential for successful partnerships. As sports tourism grows, so do group housing needs. If you outsource event housing management, consider these best practices. They’ll help you move faster and generate more revenue. Plus, you’ll deliver incredible experiences that make teams and families thrilled to come back.

As president of EventPipe, Mike Mason works with many third-party housing companies. EventPipe is a provider of event housing management software. The platform simplifies group housing throughout the event lifecycle, from room block management and RFP tools to fan housing, analytics, and reporting.

Several years back, my son opted to purchase EA’s FIFA video game. The decision intrigued me because he wasn’t much of a soccer fan at that point. But he thought the game looked cool and you could play as just about any team in the world — in their virtual home stadium no less.

I got into it as well, often playing on the same team with him until my apparently aggressive style caused too many star players to earn too many red cards too early in the match, which caused too much concern for my son to let me join his teams any more. He continued on, though, and got quite good at it. He also got quite good at identifying real teams, especially in the English Premier League and its lower divisions where teams fight to earn a right to compete in the top tier.

And he got to know players, too. One of his early favorites became Giorginio Rutter, whom he discovered played for Leeds United. Neither of us knew much about Leeds United, although I had vaguely heard the name in the past when people talked about soccer in England. But for my son, Leeds quickly became his team, in the video game world and, interestingly, in the real world as well.

Before we knew it, we were waking up early to watch Leeds play on the weekend, buying the ability to watch the competition off the team’s app and onto our television in Colorado. Even though Leeds had been relegated in recent years to the EFL Championship — one tier below the Premier League — my son was loyal. And when they came within a goal of moving up to the Premier League at the end of the last season, he took it in stride.

For a while, that was the extent of the fandom. But when he and my wife joined me in London a few weeks ago while I oversaw our TEAMS Europe conference, we decided to stay one extra day as a family to explore parts of London we hadn’t seen before. But my wife quickly came to the fantastic conclusion that it might be fun instead to take an adventure to wherever in the world Leeds was.

“Leeds? For the Day?”

It turns out Leeds is about two hours north of London by train. Once we began considering the idea, I asked a British friend here in the United States what he knew about the place. “Leeds?” he said. It’s fine, but it would be like someone overseas choosing to visit a mid-sized U.S. city that might not have the international profile of more popular destinations. That assessment only intrigued us more.

During TEAMS Europe, I inquired with some of our British attendees to learn more. The general reaction was similar to the first one we got. “Leeds? For the day?” Yes, Leeds, for the day. Outside of Elland Road — the home stadium for Leeds United and site of a merchandise superstore — what could we do in the city for an afternoon? A few Leeds natives in attendance gave us some great suggestions.

That’s how we found ourselves the other week boarding a train at London’s King’s Cross Station, Platform 6  — just 3 ¾ platforms away from Harry Potter’s famous embarkation point. (Which you can also visit at the station…)

Getting off the train in downtown Leeds, we booked an Uber that took less than 30 seconds to arrive. Off to Elland Road, please.

“Is there some sort of event happening there today?” our driver asked as we began the 15-minute drive out of town. “I usually get an alert when there’s something going on. There’s nothing going on today.”

“No, we just want to see the stadium.”

“You came all the way here just to do that? From America? … There’s no game today.”

Well, when you put it that way, I suppose that’s what we had done.

Despite our driver’s misgivings, he did indeed drop us off. The superstore met our expectations, with tons of merch that my son went to town on with money he had earned last winter shoveling snow for our neighbors: a hat, a sweatshirt, a scarf, a customized pin with his name and Rutter, a pair of socks and an amazing retro jersey of the 1992 squad. We took photos outside, looked at statues of players we mostly still don’t know much about, and marveled that we were standing at the place that from the outside at least, looked just like it does on the FIFA video game that had brought us there in the first place. We couldn’t talk our way into the stadium, which was undergoing some sort of internal project, but we got close enough.

And we had more to see.

A Corn Palace, Jerk Chicken and a Black Knight

From there, we went back to town to see the fabulous Corn Exchange building, constructed in the 1860s as a marketplace to trade corn kernels. Its innovative opening on the north side of the roof allowed natural sunlight in which to inspect the material. Today, the venue is filled with adorable stalls for merchants and coffee shops. It looked like the set of a period movie. We found some biscuits and jams for my brother, who we would see for his birthday after the trip.

We walked around the whole place, and then crossed the street to the Kirkgate Market, which was filled with interesting food stalls with just about every ethnic cuisine you could imagine. My son had his first taste of jerk chicken and it was a great rest stop before heading to Leeds City Square.

There, we marveled at the statue of the Black Prince. A QR code on the statue base allowed us to hear the explanation of how he was the military legend Edward of Woodstock from the 1300s, the eldest son and heir apparent of King Edward III. The Black Prince died before his father, allowing his son, Richard II, to ascend to the throne.

Next up was a 20-minute walk to the Royal Armories Museum, which like so many museums throughout England was free. There, we spent a few hours looking at armor through the years, saw a hands-on display of the substantial and decidedly less-substantial machine guns used during D-Day, marveled at the fantastic five-story Hall of Steel decorated with swords and other weapons, and shot cross bows for scores. (Turns out I’m not a bad shot…)

From there, we walked back to the train station to catch the train back to London, more than satisfied with a day of touring a city that like so many others in the world was full of surprises.

A Final Conversation

One coda on our trip. On the ride back to London, we sat in a four-seat portion of the train and were joined by a woman whom we didn’t start talking to until halfway through the two-hour journey. Realizing we were American, she asked what we were doing in Leeds. We explained the purpose of the trip only to get the now standard response: “You came all the way up here? Just to go to Leeds?”

But she was taken in by our sense of adventure. She had just come from visiting her aging parents “in the north” and it turns out she’s in the same industry of senior care that my wife is in back home. They had a terrific talk about how those industries work in each country, realizing that most people in different countries have more in common than they think. We told her about other things we had seen in Leeds (she had yet to be to the Armories Museum) and she was surprised by what we had to report and the photos we shared with her of the places we’d seen.

As the train rolled through the pretty English countryside, we talked about other things my wife and son had seen in London over the previous week, our interest in Tommy Steele, an original British rock-and-roll star whom she knew because her father had been in a band in the same era (a topic for a different column!), and where we were off to next when we returned to the United States.

And it’s of particular note that our entire travel experience began from a video game. It’s the kind of thing we talk about a lot at our EsportsTravel Summit — the power of video games and esports to draw visitation, sometimes in unexpected ways. I am positive we are not the only family that has found the benefit of tourism from this emerging industry.

But our train ride back to London — and the day overall — was everything travel is supposed to be: exploring new areas, meeting new people, trying new things, making new memories. Our day there will be a lasting memory.

Jason Gewirtz is vice president of the Northstar Meetings Group Sports Division and executive editor and publisher of SportsTravel.