2025 Sports Tourism Trends

10 Emerging Forces Shaping a Milestone Year Ahead

This year marks the 10th edition of our annual Sports Planning Guide trends article. So, we brought our “A” game this year to celebrate such a grand milestone. Let’s get right to it! Here are the 10 sports tourism and events trends we are following as we launch into the new year.

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Statewide Alignment – Our team at Huddle Up Group (HUG) has seen a lot more intentional involvement in sports tourism from the state level across the country. There is a lot more strategic thought and political influence than in the past. Seems like state tourism leaders have figured out that a majority of those they serve (DMOs and CVBs) count sports tourism as their top priority. Good to see the higher ups leaning into our industry.

National Leadership – One year into the role as the leader of our national sports tourism association, John David is coming up aces. His vision and engagement of people and organizations across our industry has made for a stronger SportsETA and has set the table for long-term success. It’s no secret that John and I have been friends for a long time. That said, his energy is contagious and his team has exceeded even my wildest expectations. We believe that even greater things are to come.

Transitions – There are a lot of great sports tourism leaders that are nearing the end of their careers. A few have retired recently and there will likely be more to come soon. Given the migration of these historically important figures to our industry, we will be looking to see how each of their organizations transitions into their next iteration as these leaders phase out.

Facility Development – There are new and creative funding models out there today that have historically not been available in our industry. Those that are leaning into these mechanisms are delivering tourism driving facilities faster and more effectively than those that use traditional voter-approved bonding mechanisms.

The Portal – As the NCAA recently announced their future event sites, what will the destinations that don’t fare well do for future business? The tea leaves say the NCAA portal is also about to change, which is worth monitoring in 2025 and beyond.

“Favored Nation Status” – Those that have worked with our team have this term ingrained in their brains. If you are a tourism driving entity and can’t get access to college or high school or parks venues, there are ways for you to move your way up the food chain. We are experiencing a larger number of intentional partnerships revolving around using tourism dollars for facility development, usually between a CVB/DMO and a parks district or academic institution (athletics).

External Partnerships – If you are a small CVB and you want to build your sports presence without adding headcount, a few solutions have popped up this past year. Airstream Ventures out of Jacksonville has been the lead in this space. If you don’t want to add head count with payroll and benefit costs, a third party may be a good option to handle your business development (sales) and event execution needs.

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The last three are carryovers from last year…

Overflow – Our country is about to host two of the largest events the world has to offer (World Cup and the Olympics). You may say, “Our destination isn’t in the mega events game.” However, the spillover of these major events offers opportunities for international visitation for communities both large and small. What is your destination doing to be part of these legacy events?

Data – There has never been more research and data specific to the sports tourism industry than there is today. Those that lean into it will be able to make intentional and intelligent decisions on where they invest their time and money. What sources are you using in your sector of our industry? If the answer is “nothing” let’s rethink things.

Highest Best Use – The three biggest parks/city trends we see across the country on the facility side are: (1) get pools off our books, (2) get golf courses off our books, and (3) convert tennis courts to pickleball. The theme here is what is our highest and best use of the real estate and facilities we have?

Best wishes for an awesome 2025.

Yours in Sport,

Jon

About the author:

Jon Schmieder is the Founder of the Huddle Up Group LLC, a sports industry consulting company led by award winning executives. Schmieder has 28 years of experience in leading sports tourism and events organizations through strategic growth and increased community collaboration. The Huddle Up Group has worked with more than 450 sports organizations and destinations since its founding in 2012. In 2017 the Huddle Up Group was given the Superior Service Award, the highest honor a consulting firm can earn from the National Association of Sports Commissions. We can be reached at Jon@HuddleUpGroup.com or 602.369.6955. To receive the weekly “Monday Huddle Up” visit www.HuddleUpGroup.com or sign up at www.tinyletter.com/JonSchmieder.