Indianapolis takes 2 of 6 awards for best sports events, venues in US
ANAHEIM, Calif. (WISH) — Indianapolis on Wednesday took two of the six awards presented during a convention for business and sports organizers in California.
The readers of SportsTravel — a website, magazine and podcasts from Northstar Travel Media based in New Jersey — chose the best events, venues and host cities in the sports-event industry for 2024.
Indianapolis was named Best Host City. SportsTravel said, “Since July of 2023, Indianapolis has hosted events that total an estimated $500 million in economic impact, including the 2023 Big Ten Football Championship, the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend, the 2024 NFL Combine, 2024 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball First and Second Rounds, and the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Swimming.”
The Best Amateur Event winner was the 2024 U.S. Olympics Team Trials-Swimming, which put giant swimming pools in Lucas Oil Stadium for the first time. SportsTravel said, “Over 17 sessions, the stadium saw an average of 16,000 fans per session, maxing at 22,209 on June 19 for the largest swim meet ever held. Upwards of 250,000 attended fan events.”
Indiana Sports Corp, a nonprofit created to host sporting events in Indianapolis, said in a post on the X platform, “Thank you to everyone who helps make these events possible!”
The other winners:
- Best Collegiate Event: The 2023 Volleyball Day in Lincoln, Nebraska, brought together the largest crowd ever, 92,003, for a women’s sports event.
- Best Professional Event: The 2024 NFL draft in Detroit drew a record crowd of 775,000.
- Best New Event: The 2023 All-Ripken Games in multiple cities — Elizabethtown, Kentucky; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; and Aberdeen, Maryland — drew U.S. youth players and their families, and had a strong economic impact.
- Best New or Renovated Venue: “The 11,500-seat new home of the KC Current in the National Women’s Soccer League is the first stadium in the world constructed specifically for professional women’s sports. The privately funded $135 million stadium sits on a seven-acre site in Berkley Riverfront Park and will soon feature surrounding retail development,” SportsTravel said.