CINCINNATI (January 5, 2022) – Sports Events & Tourism Association (Sports ETA) has named William Knox to lead Facilities Program Development. He will oversee the Sports Facilities membership and programming, a growing segment of the general membership.
Knox earned his bachelor’s degree in Sports Marketing with a minor in Business from Indiana University in 2000. After completing his undergraduate career, he accepted a position as the Director of Sports Marketing with the Bloomington Convention and Visitors Bureau. Later, he became the Director of the Hoosier Sports Corporation.
Knox moved to Hamilton County in 2009 to accept the Director of Sports Development position for Hamilton County Tourism INC, where he also served as the Director of the Hamilton County Sports Authority. Knox went on to become the Director of the Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield, Indiana where he oversaw the operations, marketing and business development of the 400-acre campus tha...
KANSAS CITY, Mo.—In partnership with Mayor Quinton Lucas, the boards of the Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation and Visit KC announced today that industry veteran and local community leader Kathy Nelson will serve as the leader of both organizations, effective Jan. 1, 2022.
Serving as the President & CEO of the KC Sports Commission and Foundation for the last 10 years, Nelson will now provide strategic oversight to both regional organizations in the newly expanded role, helping to generate economic development for the destination through meetings, conventions, sports and tourism.
“Kansas City is thrilled to announce today that Kathy Nelson, one of sports’ most respected names locally and around the country, is expanding her role and will now oversee both the Kansas City Sports Commission and Kansas City’s tourism arm, Visit KC," said Mayor Lucas. “Kathy’s steady leadership, efficiency and kindness when assembling sizable sport...
The latest edition of the Sports ETA Playbook is now available. Download your copy.
Inside this issue:
2022 Event Calendar
Life in the Front Office Podcast
Symposium Recap
Sports ETA Hall of Fame
Sports ETA Member Awards
View Playbook
We encourage members to share information with their peers. Contact Meagan Grau to learn more about how you can contribute to a future edition of The Playbook.
- The Sports ETA Staff
Smart Cities & Sport 2021
Building Partnerships: IFs Have The Floor!
Cities are the treasures chests where most sports events are organized. Hosting sports events implies high-level facilities as well as a thoughtful events strategy linked with tourism, economic development, mobility policies, environment concerns, and legacy objectives. But nothing is possible without strong partnerships with sports federations and event organizers. The recent period has deeply disrupted both the existing benchmarks and the anticipated schedules.
What is the future of major event bidding and hosting? Are rights holders increasingly tending to have a “Continuous Dialogue” with the cities rather than launching a bidding process?
This session aims to answer the above questions by providing concrete examples and best practices from the perspective of IF’s, as well as the cities.
Al Kidd, President & CEO of the Sports Events & Tourism Association
Mark ...
Are you the president, CEO, or executive director of your organization? If so, we want to see you in Las Vegas this January at the 2022 Chief Executive Summit!
What is the Chief Executive Summit? The CE Summit equips Sports Events and Tourism CEOs with the tools necessary to advance the mission of your organization. CEOs of sports destinations and sports events are invited to learn from industry experts addressing high-level topics including office culture, leadership and management, crisis management, achieving goals, and more.
REGISTRATION
Sports ETA Member Rate: $499
Non-Sports ETA Member Rate: $699 (contact info@sportseta.org to register)
The registration deadline is January 21, 2022.
Register Now
HOTEL
The Signature at MGM Grand
145 Harmon Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89109
The online reservations portal will open on December 1, 2021.
The hotel room block closes on December 27, 2022. Official accommodations for the 2022 Chief Executive&n...
The Pulse data dashboard is powered by EventConnect’s™ industry-leading tournament solution software. The Pulse is a part of the Sports Tourism Research Institute, a product of Sports ETA.
Data is drawn from the more than 4,000 sporting events in the platform, pulled together, and analyzed at a holistic level. The comprehensive data is then segmented into these eight data visualizations representing a snapshot of key sports events and tourism industry metrics reviewed year-over-year and month-to-month. Data ranges from number of events held in each state and events by sport to number of hotel registrations made by team and average length of stay.
View Full Report
Contact: Jackie Reau
Game Day
(513) 708-5822
jreau@gamedaypr.com
Sports ETA Wraps Up Successful Symposium
700+ Sports Events and Tourism Leaders Gather in Birmingham
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA (October 28, 2021) – Sports ETA, the only trade association for the sports events and tourism industry, held its annual Symposium here from October 25-28, 2021 with more than 700 sports events and tourism industry leaders in attendance. Keynote presentations were made by Civil Rights Activists Dr. Martha Bouyer and Lisa McNair, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and Erik Moses, President of Nashville Superspeedway.
“Sports events and tourism industry leaders convened from around the country in Birmingham for the Symposium designed to connect destinations to event rights holders for new business opportunities,” said Al Kidd, President and CEO of Sports ETA. “Birmingham was the perfect host for our largest annual event for our membership.”
Numerous education prog...
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA (October 26, 2021) – Sports ETA, the only trade association for the sports events and tourism industry, presented its member awards today to honor industry leaders at its Annual Symposium held here.
The eight award honorees included:
Ariana Tyler, STS, Senior Business Development Manager, Greater Columbus Sports Commission, was honored as Young Professional of the Year.
Luchie Javelosa, STS, Director of Tucson Sports, Visit Tucson, was honored as Young Professional of the Year.
Frank Lett, STS, Senior Associate Executive Director, Director of Sports Marketing, Visit Kingsport, was honored as the Trailblazer of the Year.
Bonny Bernat, STS, Senior Sports and Events Sales Manager, Visit Winston-Salem, was honored as Woman of the Year.
Adam Andrasko, CEO of USA Artistic Swimming, was honored as Rights Holder of the Year.
John David, STS, CEO of USA BMX, was honored as Rights Holder of the Year.
Additionally, Denny Gann, the longtime executi...
We’ve got a great line-up of education sessions in store for you in Birmingham! Check out these seven quick facts to maximize your education experience at Symposium.
Bye, bye “One Size Fits All” track sessions – Our new education session format will feature content specifically intended for cross-sections of our membership with common interests - these are called Community Groups. Here’s the schedule.
Something for Everyone – From young professionals, small/mid-markets and event impact calculator users to industry partners, large markets, and state associations, we’ll have 10 engaging sessions featuring a wide range of topics and speakers categorized by Community Groups.
Created by you for you – Leaders from each of our Community Groups were actively involved in designing the topic and content scheduled for their group’s session based upon feedback and input from you, our members....
Sports ETA Attendees:
Sports ETA would like to announce the following health and safety protocols for our upcoming Symposium in Birmingham, AL October 25 - 28, 2021:
All attendees must provide proof of vaccination showing the final dose received on or before October 10th or a negative PCR/Rapid-Antigen or home test taken between October 22nd and prior to your arrival in Birmingham.
Sports ETA is partnering with Fern Health Check for a digital portal to upload required documentation. You will receive an invitation to this portal, as well as additional details, in mid-October. Please note that admittance to Symposium, as well as ancillary Summit events, will only be allowed with this documentation.
Daily temperature checks will be required for entry into the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex.
Sports ETA is implementing touchless check-in for registration, which limits contact for all attendees.
Masks will be ...