Sports delivers for New York’s tourism industry

From the 2026 World Cup Final to youth hockey to horse racing, sports has become a key part of New York’s tourism economy.

The 2023 State of the Industry report from the Sports Events and Tourism Association ranked New York state seventh in the nation for greatest economic impact of sports tourism. This comes as the Capital Region sees an estimated $50 million economic impact from the hosting of the Belmont Stakes in Saratoga Springs this year, Oneida County sees hockey as the foundation of a sports tourism surge and cricket has overtaken Long Island. There is even talk of New York hosting select Olympics events in future games.

“Sports is an important category of travel in New York state,” said Ross Levi, executive director of tourism at Empire State Development. “That includes everything from spectator sports, i.e. people going to see a game, to participatory sports, usually amateur, for Ironman competitions or youth hockey tournaments.”

The state has been making inroads to market the state to sports leagues and companies. Visit Buffalo Niagara President and CEO Patrick Kaler told City & State that local and state tourism officials hosted an event in the spring to showcase the state to a number of niche sports groups. The groups were divided up to visit particular regions before everyone traveled to Albany for a statewide conference this past spring. Buffalo hosted officials looking to host ax throwing, Crossfit, knife throwing and disc golf championships.

“They have a big following and could have an economic impact,” he said of niche sports.

John David, president and CEO of the Sports Events and Tourism Association, told City & State that while the sports tourism industry has been growing for a number of years, the recent interest came after the COVID-19 pandemic showed that sports tourism was the most resilient part of the industry. He said statistics showed that while most of the tourism industry saw a huge drop during 2020 after the pandemic started, sports tourism had only a 42% drop since people would still travel to participate in a sporting event and then spend money on food and hotels.

David said private equity took notice of the resiliency of sports tourism and in recent years has been looking to invest in the industry. He said this investment has included helping to finance new venues for various sporting events as well as buying or financing various sports leagues. He said exact numbers were not available for the level of investment, since it is a new area of growth for the industry, but that it has been on the upswing. “It is unprecedented and has not happened in the past,” David said of the private equity interest in sports tourism.

A key area for sports tourism growth has been in Utica, where hockey has become the centerpiece of the industry’s rapid rise. The construction of Adirondack Bank Center in downtown Utica and the Nexus Center at Utica University has expanded the region’s available ice rinks and has been key to a hockey tournament explosion in the Mohawk Valley.

In April, the Adirondack Bank Center hosted the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Women’s World Championship and the city routinely hosts youth ice hockey tournaments drawing teams from throughout the Northeast. Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente Jr. told City & State that the growth in hockey competitions has been part of a larger strategy that has looked to make sports tourism a key economic driver.

“It has been the last 10 years with what we have done in Utica with the Adirondack Bank Center and Nexus, there are tournaments every weekend,” Picente said. “We have hundreds of people here every weekend.”

Utica boasts four ice rinks open at any given time, which Picente said leads the Northeast. He said the IIHF championship packed the city for four days, with the teams being based at nearby Turning Stone Resort Casino and spectators around the city. Outside of hockey, Picente said the sports tourism economy is bolstered by the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, both of which are close to the county but fall outside its borders.

Oneida County Tourism President Sarah Calero told City & State that hotels and restaurants are packed around Utica, with the hockey tournaments bringing in guests at normally slow periods. She said she has noticed that Utica has typically been a driving community, but it is now not uncommon to see out-of-town families walking around downtown to eat and shop.

Lake Placid has a strong sports history as the host of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics and the Olympic Regional Development Authority is a state agency that keeps the winter sports industry alive by operating the 1980 venues, including the recently renovated ski resorts and winter sports training grounds.

An ORDA economic impact study showed the agency has an annual economic impact of $341.8 million, including supporting 3,414 jobs in the region. This comes from a number of events the authority hosts annually, including the Empire State Winter Games, ski jumping and summer events like mountain biking.

ORDA Communications Director Darcy Norfolk said the Winter Olympics could return partially in 2026. With the host site in Milan, Italy, facing issues with a century-old bobsled track, Olympic organizers have developed a backup plan in case a new track is not completed. Lake Placid joined St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Innsbruck, Austria, as finalists to host the bobsled, luge and skeleton contests if needed. The Lake Placid plan would actually be statewide, with a proposal to host the medal ceremony at Rockefeller Center before athletes return to Italy for closing ceremonies.

“New York gives the displaced athletes a high-tech track in Lake Placid and grand ceremonies in New York City,” Norfolk said.

Long Island could also be a partial Olympic host. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman told City & State that he has had preliminary conversations with organizers of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles about the possibility of hosting some competitions on Long Island. Blakeman said that West Coast organizers are interested in the possibility of doing an event or two on the East Coast, but he stressed these are still preliminary conversations.

Long Island is coming off the International Cricket Council World Cup, which brought the popular international sport to a temporary cricket stadium in Nassau County. Blakeman said the cricket championship was on track to bring a $150 million economic impact to the county, and he has seen many downtown areas crowded with spectators, who are also taking in other tourist attractions.

Blakeman said Nassau County has a history of hosting sporting events, including the Belmont Stakes, which is scheduled to return in two years after renovations at the racetrack, and the county will be hosting the Ryder Cup in 2025. He said the cricket championship showed that the region can host international competitions.

“We demonstrated that we are more than capable of having a world-class sporting event,” he said. “This has been our most ambitious project. This is a template for future major events.”

Horse racing has long been a key driver of sports tourism in the state, with the annual Belmont Stakes as part of the Triple Crown, regular Belmont Park races and the annual 40-day race period at Saratoga Race Course. This year’s Belmont Stakes, held in Saratoga Springs due to the renovations at Belmont, generated an estimated $50 million in economic impact for Saratoga County.

Those in the racing industry stressed that horse racing has a tiered approach to generate tourism and economic impact. Najja Thompson, executive director of New York Thoroughbred Breeders, said he has been working to showcase to fans that the industry is not just what you see at the track. Thompson said his group has launched a “Breakfast and Breeding” initiative in Saratoga that brings fans to various horse farms to see how the horses are raised. He said these programs also highlight various economic aspects, including the agricultural jobs created on farms and the jobs created in other sectors, including in the veterinary and hay industries.

Saratoga economic officials said the annual 40-day racing window brings in $371 million a year to the local economy and is the key revenue period for many small businesses. They said they also look for ways to showcase the region’s other traits so that racing fans come back for leisure and heritage tourism. Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce President Todd Shimkus compared the racing industry to professional sports at Madison Square Garden.

“(The New York Racing Association) and the race course is our professional sports franchise,” Shimkus said. “It is a million people for 40 days. It rivals the Rangers and Knicks.”

In New York City, tourism officials tout the fact that the city hosts two of every professional sports team and many major sporting events, including the New York City Marathon and the U.S. Open in tennis each year, plus the region will host the 2026 World Cup Final in northern New Jersey. Nancy Mammana, interim CEO of NYC Tourism + Conventions, said her organization does not keep track of specific sports tourism data but that sports remains a key part of the tourism picture.

Mammana said the city is committed to sports tourism and cited the coming professional soccer stadium in Queens that will build out a sports hub with the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and Citi Field that will complement the city’s existing sports offerings.

Regular sporting events are a key driver to tourism, both in terms of visitors and the conference industry. Rochester Community Baseball President, CEO and COO Naomi Silver said that the Rochester Red Wings minor league baseball team generates a fan base that draws many natives who move out of the area to return to enjoy a game with friends and family. Silver also said the presence of the team serves as a boost for drawing conferences to the region, since event organizers can add a night at the ballpark to their agenda.

In Buffalo, Kaler is gearing up to be a host city for the first two rounds of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, which Buffalo has hosted before. He said a key for college athletic championships has been working with local colleges to make inroads with the NCAA.

Kaler said a key for Buffalo, a city packed with sports fans, has been looking at ways to grow both professional sports and amateur sports tourism. He said that with the Buffalo Bills reaching the top ranks of professional football, their performance has drawn competing team fans, including Kansas City Chiefs superfan Taylor Swift, from around the country to Western New York. The key, he said, is then to showcase the region’s many tourist attractions from chicken wing joints to Niagara Falls.

In terms of amateur sports, Kaler said that having hosted March Madness and various hockey events, including the NCAA Frozen Four, the city can showcase why it is suited to host anything from skating sports to ax throwing. At the same time, Kaler said sports tourism is a solid investment for any community from an economic standpoint.

“Amateur athletics prove themselves to be recession-proof and pandemic-proof,” he said.