What makes our industry work? The venues that stand ready to welcome professionals and the experts that help produce excellent events. In this issue of Sports Destination Management, we examine and celebrate both of those. There’s a special double feature on equestrian and rodeo, and information on the facilities across the nation that are hosting volleyball and tennis. There are new trends in all these sports, and all those new trends will affect events, as well as destinations’ abilities to host them. And don’t miss our focuses on fitness competitions such as CrossFit, as well as on U.S. Figure Skating. What are the forces that are shaping those sports and how do they come together in order to create the best possible experience for athletes and spectators? You’ll learn about event merchandising and hotel negotiations. If you’ve been considering the development of an app to manage your sports event, this is a great issue for you. And here’s something you won’t want to miss: insights on how to keep an annual event fresh, year after year. There’s also a focus on the USA’s heartland, the Midwest, and all the great sports venues there. This issue, the last of 2016, also celebrates excellence with our awards program, Champions of Economic Impact in Sports Tourism. The learning starts here. Click and see for yourself.
In presenting our annual awards, Champions of Economic Impact in Sports Tourism, we reflect on our approaches to economic impact. To help understand and quantify that impact, we turned to renowned expert Dr. Andrew Zimbalist , professor of economics at Smith College. To help understand and celebrate those numbers, SDM contributor and writer Peter Francesconi offers further insights. more....