Upcoming sporting events to bring more than $9 million in economic impact to Evansville
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The first half of 2024 will be busy in Evansville as the city hosts a range of sporting events totaling more than $9 million in economic impact.
Brandon McClish, executive director of the Evansville Regional Sports Commission, said the calendar of events aligns with the Evansville Regional Economic Partnership’s mission to drive economic growth and elevate quality of life.
“We want the community to come out and show up for all of our events,” said McClish. “But it’s not always about the attendance. It’s about the return on investment.”
From February to June, the city will host championship events in high school wrestling, college swimming and diving, college basketball, college baseball and softball and U.S. figure skating. McClish said diversity in sports is one of the sports commission’s objectives.
“It’s kind of cool to put in perspective with so many different conferences who want to be here and host their championships,” he said.
Explore Evansville, Ford Center, Deaconess Aquatic Center, the University of Evansville and the University of Southern Indiana are preparing to host the varying sporting events. Scott Schoenike, executive director of the Ford Center, said his venue’s role is more about bringing people into the community than profit.
“The Ford Center’s job isn’t necessarily to make as much money as we can, but more to be an economic engine for the city, for the hotels, for the restaurants,” he said.
High school wrestling
The Indiana High School Athletic Association state wrestling finals will be held February 16-17 at the Ford Center, with the largest estimated economic impact of $3.3 million.
“Some will come down Thursday, and then Friday night, which is packed, the whole area will be packed. The hotels will be packed,” said Schoenike.
This is the first time Evansville has hosted any IHSAA state championship event. The wrestling finals are usually held in Indianapolis, but the capital city is hosting the NBA All-Star Game on the same weekend this year. Alexis Berggren, executive director of Explore Evansville, said her organization is seizing the moment because the wrestling event will return to Indianapolis next year.
“We see this as an opportunity to introduce and reintroduce the community to people that may not have been here for a very long time and certainly haven’t been here for anything like this,” she said.
Since the Ford Center must be cleared of spectators between the morning quarterfinals session and the afternoon semifinals session, Explore Evansville plans to create a festival atmosphere on the streets nearby.
“We’re bringing in some food trucks and activities like a climbing wall and a zip line,” said Berggren. “We’ve got a giant pong activity. A couple of the establishments downtown will have beer gardens.”
Berggren said there will also be shuttles from Main St. to Franklin St. so people can visit establishments in that area.
College swimming and diving
The Great Lakes Valley Conference Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships will take place Feb. 7-10 at the Deaconess Aquatic Center, with an estimated $580,000 in economic impact. The aquatic center also hosted the event last year.
“As soon as these student-athletes walk in there, they just get blown away by the murals of Lilly King and Mikaela Jenkins. We have two local gold medal Olympians, and their murals are everywhere,” said McClish.
The GLVC championships will return to the Elkhart Health and Aquatics Center in 2025 and 2026.
The Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships will also be held at the aquatic center on February 21-24, with an estimated $750,000 in economic impact. This is UE’s first time hosting the championships.
“To bring an event of this caliber to the Evansville swimming community has been our goal since the Deaconess Aquatic Center became a reality a few years ago,” UE head swimming coach Stuart Wilson said in a news release.
In 2026, USI will host the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at the aquatic center.
College basketball
The Ohio Valley Conference Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships will be held March 6-9 at the Ford Center, with an estimated economic impact of $500,000. The venue has hosted the event since 2018 and will continue through 2026 with an option for 2027.
“We’re the first teams at the Ohio Valley Conference in Evansville at the Ford Center that make the NCAA Division I tournament because our championships are on Saturday night. Most are on Sunday,” said McClish.
The NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Elite Eight will also be held at the Ford Center on March 26-30, with an estimated economic impact of $300,000. The venue has held the event for the past three years and will continue next year before it goes to Pittsburgh in 2026.
Though the Elite Eight isn’t as economically impactful as other events, Schoenike and McClish contend the publicity from the national broadcast and the excitement of the tournament are palpable.
“You can’t buy that kind of publicity,” Schoenike said. “It’s about getting the city seen nationally and getting money into the hands of the community.”
“Last year’s Division II national championship at the Ford Center was the best, most entertaining basketball game I’ve ever been to in my entire life, and I’ve been to Final Fours, I’ve been to national championships,” added McClish.
In the future, McClish wants to pursue the NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Elite Eight and the NCAA Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament, which will be held at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis in April.
College baseball and softball
The Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship will be held May 21-25 at the University of Evansville, with an estimated $1.3 million in economic impact. McClish said the event’s duration and team sizes increase tourism dollars.
“Baseball teams have larger teams,” said McClish. “And they stay for the week. It’s a double-elimination tournament.”
Evansville hosted the 1998 championship at Bosse Field. The city secured the 2024 bid at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium following a complete makeover of the facility in 2020.
“The MVC is one of the premier baseball conferences in the country, and this was a collaborative effort … to bring this high-profile event to our city,” McClish said in written remarks.
“This has been many years in the making, and I’m grateful to all the people who helped make this happen,” added Wes Carroll, head coach of the UE baseball program, in a news release.
Evansville will also host an NCAA Division II softball tournament that moved from Owensboro, Kentucky, because of ongoing construction at its baseball park. The Independence Bank Blue Bridge Battle will be held Feb. 22-24 at Deaconess Sports Park, with an estimated $125,000 in economic impact.
U.S figure skating
The U.S. Figure Skating’s National Theatre on Ice Competition will be held June 25-29 at the Ford Center, with an estimated economic impact of $2.4 million. Like the baseball tournament and the Elite Eight, the figure skating competition is a 5-day event.
“They’re not coming just for one or two nights. It’s a group of people that are part of the figure skating world that stay from Monday to Saturday. They’ll have breakfast, lunch and dinner in Evansville,” said McClish.
The National Theatre on Ice Competition brings a different kind of sports crowd to Evansville with fans ranging widely in age.
“It’s not just young people,” said Schoenike. “It’s all the way from young girls to a senior team. So it’s not even an age group. It’s the whole span of figure skating groups.”
The figure skating event was also held at the Ford Center in 2017.
“To get something like that to come back in that short of a cycle when you’re competing against major markets, that bodes well from top to bottom, to the community, to the local figure skating group, to the building,” Schoenike said.