Ben Huffman Named Executive Director of New Cincinnati Regional Sports Commission

As plans continued for months — even years — for a Cincinnati Regional Sports Commission, Ben Huffman watched the developments with interest.

In March, that interest became concrete and as of June 23, he has been working for the CRSC as its first executive director.

“Building something from the ground up is a great opportunity,” Huffman said. “To be able to direct the organization from the very beginning is really exciting.”

Huffman brings nearly two decades of industry experience to the role, most recently serving as Director of Sports Tourism for the Warren County Convention & Visitors Bureau. Huffman was instrumental in the development of Warren County Sports Park and secured numerous national and international sporting events. Huffman serves as Chair of TEAM Ohio Sports, a statewide initiative to drive athletic events to Ohio.

Prior to his work in Warren County, he worked as assistant director of the Alumni Association at Miami University, where he went to college. Huffman already lives in Cincinnati with his wife and their six children.

“The opportunity to do really large, impactful events with a community benefit is really the reason to move from the CVB to Sports Commission in this region,” said Huffman, who added that he saw the need as a regional CVB for a sports commission in Cincinnati and was further encouraged during the interview process when talking with the various entities about their experiences as youth sports parents.

Huffman will be responsible for developing and executing a roadmap to attract, retain and manage a portfolio of sporting events from youth sports to large-scale collegiate events like NCAA regional and national championships and potentially the NFL Draft.

The Cincinnati region has three Division I programs with facilities that could be potentially utilized in Cincinnati, Xavier and Northern Kentucky as well as professional venues with the MLB’s Reds, NFL’s Bengals and MLS’ FC Cincinnati, which has hosted FIFA Club World Cup and U.S. women’s national team games in the past month.

The commission’s mission, Huffman said, will be to drive economic impact and healthy lifestyles through sports “and we’re going to do that by youth and amateur sports, collegiate championships and then those one-off events if we can get it one every other year.

“We will absolutely go after those huge international events like the Rugby World Cup or NFL Draft,” Huffman said. “However, the biggest part of our pyramid is the youth and amateur sports portion where we’ll go out and recruit participant-driven events that come to town.”

Huffman will be hiring for an events person and a marketing/social media person for the commission and his initial work is a listening tour around the region to meet stakeholders before the new CRSC has its first big splash in October at TEAMS ’25 in Columbus, Ohio.

“The time is right for this bold move,” said Julie Calvert, Visit Cincy president and chief executive officer as well as a CRSC Board Member. “The sports events tourism industry is booming nationally and represents an important opportunity space for our region. Last year alone, sports tourism was a $128 billion industry nationwide, and more than 200 million people traveled for sports events of all kinds. With Ben’s leadership and our regional alignment in lock step, we’re ready to grow our share of that market.”

The creation of the Cincinnati Regional Sports Commission follows years of planning by a public-private partnership that includes the Cincinnati Business Committee, Cincinnati Regional Business Committee, Visit Cincy, meetNKY, city of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

“Our opportunity with the Cincinnati Regional Sports Commission has transformative potential,” said Gary Lindgren, Commission Board Chair and President of the Cincinnati Business Committee. “The successful launch is the result of a strong public-private partnership that’s committed to enhancing our region’s visibility and economic growth. It’s been a remarkable team effort that will deliver long-term impact.”