CINCINNATI (For Immediate Release) – The Board of Directors of Sports Events & Tourism Association (Sports ETA), the leading association for the sports event and tourism industry, today announced the three-year extension of the contract of Al Kidd, President & CEO of the organization.

“Under Al’s leadership, our association has seen tremendous successes and we’ve made great strides to be more inclusive to a larger segment of the industry,” said Janis Burke, CEO, Harris County – Houston Sports Authority and Board Chair of Sports ETA. “The Board of Directors and I are pleased to be extending Al’s contract for another three-year period. We have great momentum going into our next phase of the organizational vision and strategy, which the board has spent time developing, and with Al’s leadership at the helm, we feel fully confident that the best is yet to come.”

Kidd, who joined the organization in 2017, has led the organization through a transformation over the past three years, including a name change from National Association of Sports Commissions to Sports Events & Tourism Association that is more inclusive of the growing industry and the association’s membership. Additionally, Sports ETA has enjoyed membership growth and increased attendance at industry educational programs.

Additionally, under Kidd’s leadership, the organization realigned its education and research program under the acronym EARN (Education, Advocacy, Revenue and Networking), which has attracted record attendance at annual programs including the Annual Symposium, Women’s Summit, 4S Summit and CEO Summit as well as on-line curriculum offerings. Recently, Sports ETA also added a State Sports Tourism services and support community.

Kidd has also forged industry partnerships to raise awareness of the organization and the sports events industry with Safe Sport, Destinations International and Northstar Meetings Group, among others. Last year, Sports ETA and the U.S. Center for SafeSport entered a strategic alliance to provide abuse awareness and prevention training to its members working in sports commissions, major rights-holders, sports facilities and sport events owners, convention centers, visitors’ bureaus and multi-sports organizations and state tourism departments.

The Northstar partnership includes educational content from Sports ETA to be offered at Northstar conferences, including an educational track for members. The agreement also includes a joint “Annual State of the Industry” publication and research co-sharing with NMG.  

“I look forward to continuing the work of our association to serve our membership and the sports events industry during these exciting and growing times for sports and events,” said Kidd. “Sports ETA is poised for continued success guided by our engaged board of directors, our professional staff and renewed member support.”