Fort Worth Ups Its Game to Attract More Sports Tourism

Athletics are big business, and Fort Worth wants to grow its slice of the pie.This weekend's NCAA women's gymnastics championship at the Fort Worth Convention Center is expected to bring more than $2 million to the local economy, but that's a tiny piece of the market. Fans spend more than $10 billion annually traveling for sporting events.Jason Sands, Visit Fort Worth's director of sports, thinks the city can tap in to a large chunk of the growing sports tourism market, especially with the 14,000-seat Dickies Arena opening this fall.The $540 million arena will play host to three years of the collegiate gymnastics finals as well as the first- and second-round games of the NCAA men's basketball tournament in 2022. Dickies will also host the American Athletic Conference men's basketball championships from 2020 to 2022.  Continue reading...