How Richmond is scoring big with sports tourism
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Richmond has zero major league sports teams — but sports is big business in the area regardless, thanks to folks coming to town for amateur and youth games.
Why it matters: Sports tourism generated $2.7 billion in direct spending across Virginia in 2022, up 12% from 2021.
- Trade association Sports ETA recently named Virginia one of the top states for sports tourism, which accounted for two-thirds of bookings in the Richmond area last year, according to the regional tourism agency.
How it works: For big cities like New York or Los Angeles, sports tourism means hosting Super Bowls or World Cup matches.
- But for midsize cities like Richmond, it mostly looks like weekend youth and amateur tournaments.
- They bring in athletes and their families, who spend big bucks at hotels, restaurants and shops. (CNN just named Richmond its top town to visit in 2024 broadly speaking, too.)
Zoom in: Henrico County, a suburban area surrounding Richmond, recently opened the crown jewel of its sports facilities portfolio: the Henrico Sports & Events Center, a $50 million, 185,000-square-foot building with room for 4,500 guests and 12 basketball or 24 volleyball courts.
- It's hosted 150,000 visitors so far this year, and is booked for nearly every weekend through New Year's.
- There's more development happening around the complex, too, with 400 condos or townhouses and hundreds of apartments under construction — plus new hotels and restaurants.
Follow the money: Sports tourism had a $70 million impact in Henrico last year — more than double the figure from about a decade earlier, according to the Henrico Sports & Entertainment Authority, which the county launched in 2022 to help attract leagues and events.
- "It's very similar to economic development, but we do it from the sports and entertainment side," the authority's executive director, Dennis Bickmeier, tells Axios of the agency's work.
Meanwhile, the city of Richmond is investing in its own $2.4 billion arena-anchored district, with hopes of opening a baseball stadium at the heart of it in 2026.
- Chesterfield County, just south of Richmond, plans to expand on its 115-acre River City Sportsplex, adding four new synthetic turf athletic fields.
What's next: Henrico is aiming to host even bigger events with a $2.3 billion, 110-acre eco-friendly GreenCity development in the works near I-95.
- It's anchored by a 17,000-seat arena expected to open around 2026.
- "That's going to be a complete game changer for our entire region," Bickmeier says.
