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Volume 7 // Issue 1

Sports Tourism Business & Lifestyle

FIELD NOTES Fall has a way of filling every calendar in our industry. Bids are due, budgets have been or are being set for the fiscal year ahead, site visits are stacking up, and the conference season is in full swing. Amid all that activity, this issue steps back to look at the decisions that shape how we work, how we invest, and how we take care of ourselves along the way. Our PUSH Money feature, “The Price of the Bid,” looks at one of the most important conversations in sports tourism today. As destinations rethink cash incentives and rights holders face rising costs, the gap between what an event should cost a host and what it costs to deliver is growing. Our take is that the answer isn’t less investment but smarter investment. That means having honest financial conversations earlier, offering in-kind support that delivers real value, and building relationships as partnerships rather than transactions. That idea of value runs through the rest of the issue. In “Beyond the Ballroom,” we look at why destination choice can make or break a conference. Attendees aren’t just buying sessions and receptions. They are buying an experience and deciding whether the total cost of the trip is worth it. The best host cities combine personality, easy access, and reasonable costs, and they give people a reason to come back. On the marketing side, “The Sports Tourism Marketing Mix” asks a question every sports commission and CVB faces at budget time: where should the next dollar go? Conferences, site visits, FAM tours, advertising, sponsorships, activations, public relations, and content all have a role. What matters most is how they work together, and whether we measure them honestly enough to know what’s working. Finally, our PUSH Mindfulness piece offers six small habits for protecting your time, energy, and sanity during a busy stretch of the year. It’s a reminder that taking care of yourself isn’t separate from doing your job well. It’s part of what keeps us all effective, present, and enthusiastic about the work we love. Few events bring these themes together like the TEAMS Conference, and it’s right around the corner. Our PUSH Magazine team is looking forward to seeing everyone in Birmingham, AL, a city known for its southern hospitality. If you see us in Birmingham, please stop and say hello. Tell us what’s on your mind, what you’d like to read more about, and what’s working in your corner of the sports tourism industry. Your stories and insights are what make PUSH what it is. Thank you for reading, and safe travels. We’ll see you at TEAMS.

x Matt Dunn 3

Contents Volume 7 // Issue 2

PUSH industry spotlight - Serge Babenko, Fastbreak AI

PUSH health - The Daily Three Why Zinc, Magnesium and Vitamin D Deserve a Place

PUSH human resources - Sports Tourism is Hiring for a Game that has Changed

PUSH money - The Price of the Bid The Growing Divide Between Sports Destinations and Event Rights Holders

PUSH travel - Beyond the Ballroom Why Destination Choice Can Make or Break a Conference

PUSH marketing - The Sports Tourism Marketing Mix Finding the Right Balance for Maximum Impact

PUSH mindfulness - Six Small Ways to Protect Your Time, Energy, and Sanity This Fall

Industry Conﬁdential Our Guest Writer Explores What Comes After the Biggest Decade of Sport the United States Has Ever Hosted

Editor-in-Chief: Matthew Dunn * Design: raconteurs LLC * Sales: raconteurs LLC Contributing Writers: raconteurs staﬀ writers Volume 7 // Issue 1 * raconteurs.us * info@raconteurs.us * © 2026 raconteurs, LLC 1417 Sadler Rd. #349 Fernandina Beach FL 32034 904-303-0552

PUSH industy spotlight

Serge Babenko Vice President of Partnerships, Sports Tourism

You helped build one of the industry’s leading sports travel technology companies and are now helping to shape the future of sports tourism at Fastbreak AI. What inspired this next chapter, and what excites you most about where the industry is headed? In 2012, my co-founder and I started EventConnect because we were living the chaos of youth sports travel as parents. Building tech to help bring order to that chaos, for operators, cities, hotels, and families alike, was deeply fulfilling. I look back on that period as Phase 1 of modern amateur sports technology. Youth and amateur travel sports recovered well post-COVID, but the software in the market completely stalled. Although what we built was a big step forward at the time, these legacy systems are still running on technology stacks from a decade ago, boxed in by basic booking tools and manual administrative tasks. The technology stack available in 2026 allows us to solve real operational headaches that those older platforms just can’t touch. When I saw Fastbreak AI initiatives such as adapting its pro-sports engine to automate complex scheduling, as well as a focus on connecting the stakeholders in the sports tourism ecosystem to create transparency and efficiencies, I was thrilled to be able to be a part of the next phase of amateur sports technology. 6

Looking ahead, as a firm believer in the positive impact youth sports have on our youth and communities, what excites me most is how better technology directly creates better experiences. We can drive clearer communication and optimize schedules to account for travel time and costs for families. When you look at technology through that lens, simplifying the heavy lifting so everyone can focus on the memories being made is exciting to be a part of that evolution. Fastbreak AI brings artiﬁcial intelligence into nearly every aspect of sports operations. How do you see AI transforming the way destinations, rights holders, and event organizers make decisions over the next ﬁve years? For a long time, destinations and event rights holders have had to make massive operational decisions based on spreadsheets, educated guesses, or basic historical data. We’re moving toward a world where an event organizer can instantly

model complex scheduling scenarios that balance surface constraints, official availability, and team travel preferences in minutes instead of weeks. For sports commissions and destinations, having visibility into event activity and data pre, during and post events will allow it to work with its venues and hotels at a higher level to maximize revenue and track true economic impact data. Ultimately, AI is going to strip away the overwhelming operational noise. That gives operators and destinations the bandwidth to focus on what actually matters: scaling their business, maximizing ROI, and delivering unforgettable event experiences. Our industry is fortunate. AI is already allowing us to make better decisions and to get more done with less, however we are in the business of hosting people and the relationships that make it all work will never be replaced by AI.

Data has become one of the most valuable assets in sports tourism. How can destinations better leverage technology and analytics to prove economic impact and win more events? How each destination leverages technology and analytics varies as widely as its hosting setup. Because every use case and reporting requirement is different, there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy. In our work with destination partners across the country, we’ve built our tech to flex around those exact needs. Capturing, analyzing, and telling the event story used to only be possible with five-figure consulting contracts and enterprise data providers. We’ve developed tools to make those insights accessible to markets of every size, and we’re continuing to build out DIY solutions that make enterprise-level reporting simpler and far more affordable. No matter the destination, the common denominator is clear: evidence-based funding is the new standard, and real-time, verified data is non-negotiable. Harnessing that data is how you actually win more events. First, data is marketing. Knowing exactly where visitors come from helps cities pull sports into their broader tourism strategy. When presented properly, that data helps unlock the funding needed to go after more events, or perhaps secure better operators for the same number of events.

This may surprise some people, but one of the biggest opportunities is technology is optimizing the tournament schedule. It has been a massive undertaking for event operators to factor in the massive amount of coach, team, venue and destination constraints into a schedule. Many in the industry treat scheduling as pure logistics, or an administrative part of the event, rather than as a strategic lever for tourism ROI. For example, when it’s possible to optimize the schedule so teams who request it can catch a college or pro game or have a proper window of time to visit some other local attraction, everybody wins. Operators who can build better schedules garner trust from their teams and are a huge factor in the tournament experience. Though it’s really hard to do this consistently at scale without the technology. That connects to a second gap I’ve seen firsthand: data fragmentation across the guest journey. Hotel block pickup, event scheduling, and destination marketing usually live in three different systems that don’t talk to each other. Back in 2016, we built one of the first CVB portals with real-time hotel block tracking specifically because DMOs were flying blind. They’d find out how an event actually performed weeks after it ended, not while they could still act on it. A decade later, that’s still more the exception than the norm.

Second, verified data creates real transparency with event operators. It lets you reward, retain, and incentivize the best event producers while walking away from events that just don’t hit your goals. Whether stakeholders care about classic “heads in beds” numbers, visitor surveys, or geofenced spend-lift tracking for restaurants, retail, and hotels, having the right data proves value and gives destinations a real competitive edge.

And the opportunity that ties it all together is the return-visit pipeline. Everyone fights hard to win the bid, but far fewer treat the players, families, and officials who show up for a tournament as leads for future leisure travel. We spend so much energy on customer acquisition for the event and almost none on retention for the destination. If you actually connected scheduling, real-time data, and post-event follow-up, sports tourism could work a lot more like a flywheel instead of a series of oneoff wins.

You’ve spent years working at the intersection of sports travel, hospitality, and event management. What’s the biggest opportunity you believe the industry is still overlooking?

As destinations become more competitive, what advice would you give sports commissions looking to differentiate themselves beyond simply offering great facilities? 9

Dedicating resources to the experience around the event, not just the event itself. Connecting local sponsor offers that help families keep costs down. Curating things for families to do when they’re not at the facility so a weekend tournament doesn’t just mean a hotel and a gym, it means the kids remember the water park or the downtown they got to explore. Any edge a destination can deliver on that experience matters, because at the end of the day, you’re trying to be top of mind for the coach or the team parent when they’re picking next year’s travel tournaments.

Destinations that do this well have a game plan built through great communication with their event operators. We see the best plans being a blend of digital and on-site strategies. The commissions that get this are playing a completely different game than the ones just competing on square footage. They’re not asking, “how do we win this tournament?” They’re asking “how do we make sure this

family wants to come back?” They then tell three other families to come with them. Looking back on your career, what’s one moment that fundamentally changed how you think about sports tourism or sports technology? Early on, despite our due diligence, we worked on behalf of an event operator who convinced us they were moving a very large, successful tournament. We shared event projections with the city to help secure incentives, and we contracted the majority of the hotel rooms in the destination. It turned out none of it was real. The event was never moving; the operator was testing the market for a new event and didn’t care about the risk the destination was taking on. Fortunately, we caught it in time for the destination to bring in another event. Otherwise, venues

would have sat empty and hundreds of thousands of dollars in hotel revenue would have been lost. When you consider that people could have lost their jobs because of a lack of verified information, the problem becomes very real. From that point on, it was clear how much technology could help by giving cities and hotels real visibility into event activity. For years, that system simply didn’t exist. Fastbreak AI is the first to build it, connecting every stakeholder through one event management platform, and it solves exactly the problem we faced back then. My own focus at Fastbreak is economic impact intelligence, replacing guesswork with verified data. Outside the office, what sport or sporting event do you enjoy attending simply as a fan? My wife and I have two boys and for years we would base a summer trip around visiting a different city and catching a baseball game. My younger son became a Cubs fan because of that. There’s something special about a baseball game in summer. The pace of the game really makes it easy to chat and enjoy the whole atmosphere together. Although it is harder to do now that the kids are older, we try to make sure we gather for at least one game somewhere. This summer it was in Detroit as my older son became a Tigers fan. I’m a Jays fan. Which was tough this year after such a great run in 2025. If you weren’t helping shape the future of sports technology, what career do you think you would have pursued? If not a career specifically in sports technology, a business in events & tourism I’m sure. It started in high school where I coordinated 10 coach buses from my area to head to Daytona Beach for Spring Break, then air charters to Acapulco, and Cancun after that. The business of sporting events has given me the opportunity to go places I never would have, such as South Africa for the FIFA World Cup. I’ve always been passionate about sports, and as a self-proclaimed tech nerd, I feel fortunate to have

carved out a career that combines both. If Fastbreak AI could instantly solve one major challenge for every sports destination in the world, what would you want that challenge to be? I’d want it to be the industry’s reliance on assumption-based models instead of verified data. That reliance costs destinations leverage in budget meetings, grant applications, and bids for the next event. When destinations have verified answers to “what did this event actually generate for us,” they can make better decisions, and you’ll see a real shift in how sports tourism gets funded and prioritized. It’s no longer a wish-list item. That’s the problem we’re solving at Fastbreak AI right now. You’ve worked alongside countless leaders across sports, travel, and technology. Who’s someone you’d enjoy sharing a coffee (or something stronger) with, and what question have you always wanted to ask them? When I’ve seen Mark Cuban celebrating wins with fans, I’ve always thought he’d be a fun guy to have a beer, or two, with! He’s the type of guy you can love and hate at the same time. I’m sure he has some great stories as a tech pioneer, an entrepreneur, and a pro sports owner. Considering the polarizing views on AI right now, I feel like a discussion about all things AI with him over a drink would be super interesting. You’ve probably attended more industry conferences than you can count. What’s always packed in your conference survival kit? Business cards for sure. I’m old school that way. Lots of charging cables, because they definitely seem to grow legs. Gum, and absolutely Visine to survive that dry convention hall air! What’s the funniest or most unexpected thing you’ve witnessed while traveling to tournaments, conferences, or industry events?

We landed in Nashville for a conference and it was snowing. Our Lyft driver assured us he had lots of experience driving in snow. Minutes later we were doing uncontrolled doughnuts downhill on I-40. He recovered and immediately bragged about his skills. Later I asked if he also drove for Uber. “No,” he said. “You need six months of driving history for Uber.” If sports tourism had its own Olympic Games, what event would you conﬁdently win the gold medal in? If sports tourism had its own Olympic Games, I’d take the gold in arriving at the airport with the least amount of time to spare. It’s an activity that I’m determined to stop participating in! Every road warrior has a soundtrack. What’s the one song that’s guaranteed to get you ready for a full day of meetings, networking, and conference

chaos? Eminem, “Lose Yourself.” Cliché, I know, but I’ve played it a hundred times in the car as the last song before dropping one of the kids off for a hockey or baseball game. It’s the OG that never gets old, and it still works as a pick-me-up. Fastbreak AI is helping shape the future of sports tourism through innovation. If PUSH Magazine handed you a Times Square billboard for one day, what message would you put up to inspire the industry? Let the tech manage the chaos. Let the kids keep the memories. That would be the text, the visual would be icons to demonstrate the chaos of registration, travel, and communication.

PUSH health

The

Daily Three

Why Zinc, Magnesium and Vitamin D Deserve a Place

From supporting immune function and maintaining strong bones to helping your body recover from demanding days, three essential nutrients play an important role in everyday health. But is taking zinc, magnesium, and vitamin D together really the wellness strategy it is sometimes made out to be? For sports tourism professionals, endurance athletes, and frequent travelers, maintaining good health can feel like another item on an already crowded schedule. Early flights, long conference days, irregular meals, demanding workouts, and inconsistent sleep can make healthy routines difficult to maintain. That's why nutritional supplements have become a popular part of many wellness routines. The most commonly discussed are zinc, magnesium, and vitamin D. Each serves a distinct purpose in the body, and together they support several important physiological processes.

“

The goal isn’t to build the biggest supplement stack.

The goal isn't to build the biggest supplement stack or assume more nutrients automatically mean better health. It's to understand what your body needs, where these nutrients fit into a balanced lifestyle, and how to use supplements responsibly.

Three Nutrients, Three Important Roles

1. Zinc

Supporting Immunity and Recovery Zinc is an essential mineral involved in hundreds of enzyme systems and numerous processes throughout the body. It supports normal immune function, DNA and protein synthesis, cell division, and wound healing. It also supports normal growth and development, as well as taste and smell. For active adults, zinc’s role in protein synthesis and tissue repair makes it especially important for recovery. The immune system also relies on adequate zinc intake to function properly. But there is an important distinction between getting enough zinc and taking extra zinc. Supplementation can help people with inadequate intake or a deficiency; it does not guarantee fewer illnesses, faster athletic recovery, or better performance for someone who already gets enough. Food sources include oysters, beef, poultry, seafood, dairy products, beans, nuts, and whole grains. People who eat little or no animal protein may need to pay particular attention to their intake because some plant foods contain compounds that reduce zinc absorption. PUSH TAKEAWAY Zinc belongs in a well-rounded nutrition plan, but high doses aren’t a shortcut to a stronger immune system.

2. Magnesium

The Mineral Behind Everyday Function Magnesium supports more than 300 enzyme systems and is essential for energy production, normal nerve signaling, muscle contraction, protein synthesis, and healthy bone maintenance. It also helps regulate blood pressure and blood glucose. These functions make magnesium relevant to people with active lifestyles. Muscles and nerves depend on it, while cellular energy processes rely on magnesium to function properly. Maintaining adequate intake is therefore important for normal physical function. Magnesium is sometimes marketed as a solution for poor sleep, muscle cramps, stress, and post-exercise soreness. Although it has legitimate physiological roles, evidence that supplements improve these specific outcomes is mixed and depends on the person and circumstance. A supplement won’t necessarily resolve cramps or sleep problems caused by other factors. Good dietary sources include pumpkin seeds, almonds, cashews, legumes, whole grains, spinach, and other leafy green vegetables. Some fortified foods also contain magnesium. People with certain gastrointestinal disorders, type 2 diabetes, or long-term alcohol dependence may have a greater risk of inadequate magnesium status. Older adults may also be at increased risk. PUSH TAKEAWAY Prioritize magnesium-rich foods, consistent recovery habits, and adequate overall nutrition before assuming a supplement will solve a particular problem.

3. Vitamin D

More Than a Bone Nutrient Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium and maintain the calcium and phosphorus levels needed for healthy bones. Adequate vitamin D supports normal bone mineralization, and severe deficiency can weaken or soften bones. It also supports normal muscle function and helps regulate the immune system. These functions make vitamin D important throughout life, including for adults who participate in endurance sports, strength training, or recreational physical activity. Despite its importance, vitamin D can be difficult to obtain in sufficient quantities from food alone. Sources include fatty fish, egg yolks, and fortified milk or plant-based alternatives. The body also produces vitamin D when skin is exposed to ultraviolet B radiation from sunlight, although production varies with factors such as season, latitude, skin pigmentation, age, and sun-protection practices. Living in a sunny state doesn’t automatically guarantee adequate vitamin D levels. Nor does having an active outdoor lifestyle. Individual circumstances still matter. PUSH TAKEAWAY Vitamin D is essential, but high-dose supplementation isn’t automatically beneficial. People at risk of 16 deficiency may benefit from discussing their needs with a healthcare professional.

Why Are They Often Taken Together? The appeal of combining these three nutrients is straightforward: they contribute to different but overlapping aspects of normal health. Vitamin D helps regulate calcium absorption and bone metabolism. Magnesium participates in the biochemical processes involved in vitamin D metabolism and function. Zinc supports normal immune activity, protein synthesis, and tissue maintenance. Think of them as different members of the same team. Each has its own job, and adequate levels help the body carry out a wide range of normal functions. Magnesium is particularly relevant to vitamin D because the body must metabolize vitamin D before it becomes active. These processes depend on enzymes, and magnesium participates in many enzyme reactions. Adequate magnesium is therefore important for normal vitamin D metabolism. Zinc contributes to the broader picture through its roles in cell growth, immune function, and tissue repair. However, including zinc doesn’t mean it directly boosts vitamin D absorption or that the three nutrients have a proven special effect when taken together. That distinction matters. There is a sound physiological rationale for getting enough of all three nutrients, but strong evidence that taking a combined zinc-magnesium-vitamin D supplement improves health outcomes beyond meeting individual nutritional needs is limited. The bottom line: You can include them in the same nutrition routine, but you don’t have to take them together. The priority is adequate intake, not a particular combination or supplement schedule. 17

Practical Tips for Getting the Most from Your Routine A sensible approach begins with food, then considers supplementation where needed. Build a nutrient-rich plate. Include leafy greens, beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, lean proteins, seafood, and fortified foods. A varied diet provides nutrients, fiber, protein, and other beneficial compounds that supplements cannot fully replace. Take vitamin D with a meal. Because vitamin D is fat-soluble, taking it with a meal or snack containing some fat can help absorption. Follow the product directions and your healthcare professional’s advice. Pay attention to supplement labels. Check the amount of each nutrient per serving, not just the front-of-bottle claims. Also check multivitamins, fortified drinks, and other supplements to avoid accidentally doubling up. Choose consistency over complexity. If supplementation is appropriate, a straightforward routine that fits your day is generally easier to maintain than an elaborate schedule. You can generally take zinc and magnesium together at standard doses, although high mineral doses can interfere with absorption. Don’t treat symptoms as proof of deficiency. Fatigue, muscle cramps, poor sleep, and frequent illness can have many causes. Taking these nutrients without identifying the underlying problem may not help.

How Much Is Enough?

Recommended amounts vary with age, sex, life stage, and individual circumstances. For generally healthy adults ages 19–50, the usual recommended daily allowance is 11 milligrams of zinc for men and 8 milligrams for women. Magnesium recommendations are 400–420 milligrams daily for men and 310–320 milligrams for women. Vitamin D recommendations are generally 600 international units (15 micrograms) daily through age 70 and

800 IU (20 micrograms) after age 70. These figures reflect total daily intake targets, not supplement doses everyone should take. For adults, the tolerable upper intake level for zinc is 40 milligrams daily from all sources. For magnesium, the upper limit is 350 milligrams daily from supplements and medications, excluding magnesium naturally present in food. The upper limit for vitamin D for most adults is 4,000 IU (100 micrograms) daily unless a healthcare professional rec-

ommends otherwise for a specific reason. Excess zinc can cause nausea and, over time, copper deficiency. Supplemental magnesium can cause diarrhea and abdominal discomfort; very high levels can be dangerous, particularly with impaired kidney function. Excess vitamin D can cause dangerously high calcium levels and kidney-related complications. Certain antibiotics, thyroid medications, and osteoporosis medications can interact with minerals. Ask a pharmacist or healthcare professional about appropriate timing if you take prescription medication or have a chronic condition.

A Smarter Wellness Strategy For professionals constantly moving between airports, meetings, events, and workouts, wellness comes from repeatable habits: balanced meals, regular movement, adequate sleep, hydration, and appropriate recovery.

Zinc, magnesium, and vitamin D can each contribute to that foundation. But supplements work best as targeted tools to fill nutritional gaps, not replacements for healthy habits or guarantees of better performance. Before adding all three, review your diet, existing supplements, and individual risk factors with a qualified healthcare professional. Depending on your circumstances, dietary changes may be enough; in other cases, targeted supplementation or testing may be appropriate. The best wellness routine isn’t necessarily the one with the most supplements. It’s the one grounded in evidence, tailored to your needs and sustainable over time. PUSH Health reminder: This article is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for individualized medical advice. Consult a qualified healthcare professional before beginning supplementation, particularly if you take medication or have kidney disease or another chronic condition.

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PUSH human resources

Sports Tourism Is Hiring for a Game That Has Changed The candidate who has done this exact job before is the easiest to defend and, increasingly, the wrong one to hire. The safest hire in the room Picture the final round of a chief executive search at a mid-sized sports commission. Two candidates are left, and the board packet makes the choice look easy. The first has run a commission in a larger market for eleven years. He has landed national championships, chaired a host committee, and sat across the table from every rights holder who matters. His résumé says, in effect, that he has done this exact job before. The second has never run a sports commission. She spent six years building a regional events business, three more building a data team at a hotel group, and the last two launching a tournament series that didn’t exist until she invented it. Half the board cannot work out which box she belongs in. Most boards hire the first candidate, and until recently most boards were right to. The scene is a composite, but anyone who has sat through a search in this business will recognize it, down to the relieved nods when the familiar name comes up. The right answer has now flipped. The best candidate on paper is increasingly not the best candidate, because the paper describes a job that is disappearing. The better question is whether this person can lead the organization through something they have never seen before. 23

The job the résumé described has moved Start with the scale. In April, Sports ETA put the U.S. sports tourism economy at $274.5 billion in total economic impact, with $111.2 billion in direct spending and 1.6 million jobs behind it. Its sports travelers totaled 339 million, filling 124.3 million hotel room nights. The more telling detail is how the trade association chose to count. For the first time, it measured participatory and spectator travel together, and the youth and amateur side proved the larger engine: $60.1 billion in direct spending versus $51.1 billion from fans traveling to watch. The report’s own framing is that this is now “a unified economic system, not fragmented segments.” That sentence should worry anyone hiring from a 2015 job description. The old role was a sales job with a civic title: fill hotels on slow weekends by winning bids for events that someone else owned. Success was counted in room nights, and the skills that produced it were relationships, persistence, and a good memory for who owed whom a favor. The new role runs closer to a portfolio business. Its leader negotiates facility financing, creates and owns events, sells sponsorship and media, reads demand data weekly and answers to elected officials who want a return on public money. The same report counted 3.6 million international sports travelers to the United States in 2025, so the competition is now global as well.

porting bookings below forecast, as Hospitality ON recounted in its review. Afterward, HVS estimated incremental room revenue during match weeks at about $680 million, compared with Tourism Economics’ projection of nearly $900 million for the tournament as a whole, according to The Roam Report. The two figures measure different windows, but the direction is clear. U.S. Travel data showed overseas arrivals down 7% in July, so domestic travelers did much of the work. The gains that did arrive came more from price than volume. Atlanta’s convention bureau reported fewer room nights than a year earlier and 15% more hotel revenue. The destinations that came out ahead tended to be the ones that had more than the old play to run. Philadelphia stacked its matches on top of the nation’s 250th anniversary and baseball’s All-Star Week, and its visitors bureau reported hotel revenue up more than 50% across six match days. Kansas City is the case worth studying. In May, it was the most disappointing U.S. host market, with 85% to 90% of hotels tracking below forecast. By the end, Bank of America’s card data singled it out as the host city with the strongest spending growth. The spring numbers gave no hint of that swing. It came from specifics that no prior tournament could have supplied: which teams made the city their base camp, and whose supporters traveled.

A candidate can have twenty years of the old job and none of the new one. On paper, those twenty years look like the strongest file in the stack.

That is the summer’s lesson for search committees. A long résumé offered no protection against a forecast that turned out wrong. What the tournament tested was the ability to drop a forecast and read what was in front of you.

What this summer did to the playbook

Five things no incumbent has done before

If you want to watch pattern recognition fail in public, look at the World Cup. The pattern said a mega-event fills every bed in town. The 48-team, 104-match tournament was sold to host cities on that logic, with Super Bowl comparisons attached.

The World Cup was one surprise. The next chief executive of a sports commission, a destination marketing organization or an event rights holder will face at least five standing ones, and nobody in the candidate pool has a track record in all of them.

It did not go that way. Before kickoff, an American Hotel & Lodging Association survey of more than 200 hotels in the 11 U.S. host cities found 80% re-

Disruption as the baseline. In that pre-tournament hotel survey, 65% to 70% of operators cit-

ed visa hurdles and geopolitical tension as a drag on bookings. Add weather, public health, and the reshuffling of college sports, and “a normal year” stops being a useful planning assumption. Decisions on a weekly clock. Demand that once built over months now turns on a bracket result or a viral clip. A destination that reviews its numbers once a quarter finds out a season too late. Planning used to be annual. The feedback now arrives weekly. AI on both sides of the desk. Travelers increasingly plan trips by asking an assistant instead of scrolling search results, changing how destinations get found. Inside the office, the same tools can draft bids, model economic impact, and build tournament schedules. Nobody has ten years of experience leading through this, so a decade of tenure tells you nothing about it. What tells you something is whether the candidate has already rebuilt part of their own working week around it. Owning the event as well as hosting it. Destinations now create and own events instead of only renting them. Private capital has moved into youth sports and facilities, and the organization across the table may be an investment fund with a return target. Revenue comes from sponsorship, streaming, real estate, and room nights.

public money. When a hire goes wrong, each of them has to explain it. “He ran a bigger market for eleven years” is an explanation that survives a bad outcome. “She learns faster than anyone we met” does not, at least not yet. So the incentive is to choose the candidate easiest to defend, which is different from the candidate most likely to succeed. A second, quieter reason exists. Board members built their own careers in the old model, and a candidate who mirrors that path feels like proof the path still works. Search firms feed the habit because no client ever questions a shortlist of sitting chief executives from comparable markets. None of this makes experience worthless. Relationships with rights holders still matter, and so does having run a budget in public view. A leader who has never been through a contested funding vote will learn it the hard way. Experience shows that someone learned the job the old way. The hiring question is whether they are still learning.

A staff of specialists. Today’s winning staff includes data analysts, content producers, and people who understand project finance. A leader raised in hotel sales has to recruit and manage specialists whose work they cannot do themselves, and has to know enough to tell good work from confident work. Experience answers none of these directly. It can show whether a person changed how they work when the ground moved, and how quickly. Why boards keep buying the pattern Boards are not foolish to like pattern recognition. It is the cheapest risk control they have. A sports commission board is usually a mix of hoteliers, venue operators, civic leaders, and elected officials, most of them volunteers, spending partly

Interviewing for the ability to learn fast The ability to learn fast sounds soft until you try to measure it, and then it becomes more testable than “seasoned.” It is the speed at which a person turns an unfamiliar situation into competent action. You can find it in a track record if you know where to look, and you can probe it in a room.

Three habits make those questions count Look at the slope of a career as well as its height. A candidate who has moved across functions, markets, or sectors and become effective quickly each time has shown you the thing you are buying. Eleven years in one seat may show mastery, or it may show one year repeated eleven times. Give finalists a live problem outside their experience and a week to work on it. You are grading how they learn: whom they call, what they read, what they admit they do not know. Change the reference call. Stop asking whether the candidate was good at the job. Ask how long it took them to become good at it, and what they were like in the months before they were. 26

The bet The United States will host the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, co-host the Women’s World Cup in 2031 and stage the Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2034, a run Travel Extra listed in its tournament recap. The people who will lead destinations through those events are being hired now, in searches where the packet still puts the longest tenure on top. By 2034 the tools will have turned over several times and the business model at least once. No candidate has seen that future, so no résumé can vouch for it. A board can check how each finalist behaved the last time their own assumptions stopped working. Go back to the two finalists. He offers proof that he can run the organization as it was. She offers evidence that she gets good at unfamiliar things quickly, three times over. Neither is a sure thing, and the honest way to frame the choice is as a wager on which kind of risk the next eight years will punish. Boards will keep loving pattern recognition. Right now, the bigger bet belongs to the candidate who learns fastest.

December 6-9, 2026 Punta Gorda, FL 2:1 Ratio of Destinations to Rights Holders Thought provoking Professional Development New Tracks for Technology and Facilities Dynamic Networking

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PUSH money

The Price of the Bid The Growing Divide Between Sports Destinations and Event Rights Holders As destinations rethink cash incentives and event owners face rising costs, sports tourism is approaching a turning point. The question is no longer whether financial support belongs in the conversation, but how each side defines its value. A Changing Relationship For decades, the formula was familiar. National governing bodies (NGBs) and event rights holders presented their events to destinations, outlined hosting requirements, and negotiated a financial contribution. In return, destinations expected hotel room nights, visitor spending, media exposure, and a stronger reputation as a sports destination. That formula is under strain. Since January 2025, more destinations have questioned traditional bid fees, demanded greater accountability, and explored alternatives to writing checks. Meanwhile, rights holders still face growing venue rental, staffing, production, insurance, sanctioning, marketing, and operations costs. 30

The result is a widening gap between what desti-

nations believe an event should cost them and what event owners believe it takes to deliver a successful competition. The debate isn’t new, but the pressures are more visible, and failing to find common ground is getting more costly. An Uneven Playing Field At the start of 2025, destinations were already weighing financial commitments against projected visitor spending, community benefits and the potential for repeat business. The issue was never simply whether a destination could afford an event. It was whether the event justified the investment and fit the destination’s broader tourism strategy. Grants and other assistance remained in the mix, but alternative funding is not equally available. Some destinations operate dedicated sports incentive funds. Others draw on annual tourism budgets, discretionary allocations or partnerships with municipalities and private facilities. Some have no meaningful cash program at all. For rights holders trying to build sustainable event portfolios, that patchwork makes planning harder. The stretch from January 2025 through October 2026 has sharpened a question the industry can no longer avoid: What happens when a destination’s definition of a worthwhile investment no longer matches an event owner’s cost of doing business? The Destination View: Prove It Before We Pay Destination marketing organizations (DMOs), convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs), sports commissions, and local governments face pressure to show they spend public and tourism-generated revenue responsibly. Their questions are reasonable: • • • • 32

How many room nights will the event generate? How much spending will stay in the community? Is repeat business likely? How much of the projected impact is truly incremental?

Destinations are also asking whether incentives match an event’s value. A tournament that brings thousands of athletes and families for several nights makes a compelling case. A smaller event with few overnight stays may struggle to justify the same commitment, however impressive its participation numbers look. As a result, some destinations are reducing offers, tightening funding criteria, capping cash contributions or declining bids that require large upfront payments. Others are steering rights holders toward venue discounts, hotel partnerships, marketing help, volunteers and other services that lower expenses without an equivalent check. Those approaches can be sensible. No destination should feel obligated to match every demand just because a competitor might. But demanding accountability is different from expecting an event to deliver substantial economic value without helping fund the product that creates it. The Rights Holder View: Events Have Real Costs To an NGB or event owner, a sporting event is not simply a block of athletes in hotel rooms. It is an operation with significant financial obligations and contractual, technical, and reputational risk. Depending on the sport and level, expenses may include: • • • • • •

venue rental and field-of-play preparation officials and timing medical coverage and security equipment and broadcast production sanctioning, staffing, and insurance marketing and athlete services

Some costs scale with participation. Others must be paid whether or not registration hits its target. Weather, cancellations, and sponsor withdrawals add more risk. For NGBs, event revenue often funds athlete development, coaching education, grassroots participation, and national team programs. Commercial rights holders must generate a return, meet contractual commitments, and keep their businesses

“The question is no longer whether financial support belongs in the conversation, but how each side defines its value.” going. Neither can assume a successful event will automatically produce a healthy financial result. When a destination declines cash support, the costs don’t disappear. They shift to registration fees, sponsorship, ticket sales, the rights holder’s own reserves, or a smaller event. Over time, that erodes the event’s quality and viability. The Incentive Paradox The industry is not moving uniformly away from cash. Some destinations have considered or approved multimillion-dollar packages to attract major professional properties. Others put more modest sums toward amateur championships, national-level competitions and specialized events. Destinations are simply making different choices based on their finances, tourism goals, political priorities, and expected returns. For rights holders, this creates a real contradiction. One destination may offer meaningful cash. Another may offer discounted facilities and operational help. A third may argue its market appeal is compensation enough. Each side is running its own math, and neither benefits when those calculations happen separately. The Hidden Cost of Saying No A destination has every right to pass on an event that doesn’t fit its strategy or budget. But refusing incentives without weighing the consequences has its own cost. Events are competitive products, and rights holders often have several qualified markets to choose from. A destination that consistently rejects reasonable cash requests may lose business to markets willing to pay, and its standing with event owners can suffer. The reverse is also true. Destinations that routinely

overpay without assessing incremental visitation, local benefits, or risk may divert money from other priorities. Large incentives don’t guarantee success, and projected economic impact is not the same as verified results. The goal isn’t to eliminate incentives or defend every bid fee. It’s to tell a sound investment from an unsustainable one. Beyond the Check The most promising path forward is a broader definition of support, with cash weighed alongside everything else a destination can contribute. Consider a destination that can’t offer a $50,000 bid fee but can secure favorable venue pricing, line up local sponsors, deliver meaningful marketing exposure, and streamline operations. Together, those commitments may cut the rights holder’s costs enough to make the event work. The caveat is that in-kind support must be real, measurable, and relevant. Promotional impressions don’t replace operating capital, and a venue discount means little if the venue is still unaffordable. A stronger model rests on five principles: 1. Establish the financial reality early. Rights holders should disclose bid fees and major hosting requirements up front. Destinations should state their funding limits before investing significant staff time in a proposal. 2. Separate essential costs from negotiable fees. Rights holders should explain which expenses are unavoidable, which are flexible, and how the requested contribution

supports the event’s sustainability. 3. Consider performance-based payments. Part of a destination’s investment can be tied to verified outcomes, such as agreed participation levels or documented room nights. Contracts should clearly define how results are measured and account for factors outside the event owner’s control. 4. Value in-kind contributions honestly. Both parties should agree on how to value discounts, services, and marketing, and avoid confusing estimated value with actual cash savings. 5. Build longer-term partnerships. Multiyear agreements give rights holders planning certainty. They give destinations room to negotiate better terms, plan for growth and set clearer expectations. What Comes Next Several trends look likely for the rest of 2026 and beyond. Stronger evidence of return. Destinations will keep demanding it, backed by better data and rigorous post-event evaluations. Sharper pitches from rights holders. A request backed only by participation estimates and broad impact projections will lose out to one that lays out the operating budget, financial need, audience profile, overnight visitation potential, and benefits to the host community. Competition beyond cash. Facilities, hotel partnerships, sponsorships, and operational expertise become real advantages for destinations when they address what an event actually needs.

More selective bidding. Rights holders may favor destinations that understand their business models, while destinations focus on events that fit their target mar-

kets. New funding partnerships. State tourism agencies, private sponsors, venue operators, local governments and regional destination organizations may join forces. Sharing the investment spreads risk and helps smaller communities compete with the largest incentive budgets. None of this will end the disagreement. Destinations want measurable community and tourism benefits. Rights holders must deliver events that meet financial and sporting goals. The opportunity lies where those interests overlap. From Transaction to Partnership The industry can’t assume destinations will keep writing checks simply because they always have. Nor can it assume rights holders will absorb rising costs indefinitely. Both sides have legitimate responsibilities. Destinations must protect public resources, weigh what else the money could do, and invest where the evidence is compelling. Rights holders must present realistic budgets, show their financial need, and accept that public funding comes with accountability. The next chapter of sports tourism will belong to organizations that treat the relationship as a business partnership rather than a transaction. That means having honest financial conversations earlier, measuring what each party contributes, and recognizing that the most attractive bid isn’t necessarily the biggest check. The best bid is the one that creates a viable event and real value for the host community. The future of sports tourism incentives doesn’t have to mean less cash. It’s smarter investment, shared accountability, and a clearer understanding of what each partner brings to the table. 35

PUSH travel

Beyond the Ballroom: Why Destination Choice Can Make or Break a Conference The Destination Is Part of the Product Every conference planning checklist looks familiar: room blocks, meeting space, audiovisual needs, transportation, food and beverage, sponsorships, and registration revenue. These are essential, but they are only part of the equation. The destination itself can be one of the strongest reasons someone registers. Picture two conferences with identical sessions. One is in a city offering little beyond the hotel and convention center. The other is in a destination with a lively food scene, distinctive neighborhoods, museums, live entertainment, and a welcoming atmosphere. The content is the same, but the perceived value is not. For organizations that depend on attendance, member engagement, sponsorship, and repeat participation, choosing a destination is a strategic business decision, not a logistics exercise. The question is no longer just “Where can we host this?” It is “Where will our audience want to go, what will the experience be worth to them, and can they afford to get there?” 38

Attendees Are Buying More Than Education

The Budget Reality

Conferences compete for limited time and money. Attendees must justify travel to employers, balance work and personal commitments, and decide which events earn a spot on their calendars. A compelling destination makes that decision easier.

Here is where it gets complicated. The most attractive destination is not always the most practical, and the city with the most attractions may not offer the best value.

A memorable dinner with colleagues, an afternoon in a historic neighborhood, or an evening of local music can mean as much to an attendee as any ballroom session. Those moments also build relationships. A city’s character encourages informal networking that a packed agenda can’t. For associations, that matters because community is central to membership value. For media organizations, it builds audience loyalty and sets their events apart. The destination becomes part of the content. Bringing local restaurants, artists, museums, and neighborhood businesses into the program creates authenticity and a real sense of place. The result feels less like a series of meetings and more like an experience worth traveling for. Destination Appeal Starts Before Registration Opens An appealing location can boost a conference long before anyone arrives. It can nudge prospects to look at the agenda, register, and request travel approval. It also gives employees another selling point when they make the case to their supervisors. For conferences built on repeat attendance, a fresh destination gives attendees one more reason to return. So, market the destination alongside the program. Highlight dining districts, suggest pre- and post-conference activities, or offer curated itineraries.

Still, no destination can make up for weak programming or poor organization. The strongest conferences combine relevant content, meaningful networking, and an attractive location into one experience.

Airfare, hotels, registration, meals, local transportation, parking, and incidentals add up quickly. For attendees paying their own way, cost can decide whether they come at all. For employers, it determines how many staff they can send. The challenge is sharpest for government employees. Public-sector professionals work within travel policies, per diem limits, procurement rules, and departmental budgets. Even when a conference offers exceptional value, expensive hotels, transportation, or meals can keep them from attending. A high-cost city can also limit how many people an agency can send. That matters for any association whose members include municipal, county, state, or federal employees, or professionals at publicly funded organizations. An attractive but unaffordable destination can unintentionally shut out the very people a conference is meant to serve. Finding the Sweet Spot The goal is not the cheapest destination. It is the one that delivers the strongest overall experience at a price attendees and employers can reasonably support. That means looking at the total cost of attending, not just hotel rates or convention center fees. One city may offer low room rates but require pricey flights, rental cars, and long transfers. Another may have slightly higher hotel rates but easy air access, walkable neighborhoods, affordable dining, and free attractions. The second may be the better value, even though it looks more expensive at first. When comparing host cities, organizers should weigh: •

Accessibility. Airfare from key attendee mar-

• •

• • •

kets, nonstop flights, driving times, airport transfers, and public transit. Hotel affordability. Room blocks at several price points, with options beyond the headquarters hotel where practical. Dining options. Food halls, casual spots, and affordable local favorites give attendees control over daily spending, which matters when reimbursement is limited. Walkability. A compact destination cuts rideshare, parking, and car rental costs, and makes it easier to explore during free time. Attractions and culture. Museums, public spaces, historic districts, and community events offer meaningful experiences at little or no cost. Overall travel economics. Estimate what a typical attendee will spend across the whole trip. Model several kinds of attendees rather than assuming one budget fits all.

Design the Experience for Different Budgets No attendee should have to spend far beyond the registration fee to enjoy the destination. Organizers can help by negotiating room blocks, sharing estimated travel costs early, and providing practical information on transit, dining, and nearby attractions. Optional experiences at different price points let attendees choose without pressure. Examples include a hosted reception, a guided cultural tour, or an informal gathering at a local restaurant. For government employees, early communication is critical. Sharing registration deadlines, hotel rates, and estimated daily expenses up front gives them time to prepare travel requests and secure approvals. Build affordability into planning from the start, not after the contract is signed. The Destination Must Work for the Organizer, Too Organizers have their own bottom line. Meeting space, food and beverage, production, staffing, sponsorships, and contracts all affect whether a conference is financially viable. A destination that draws attendees but drives up operating costs may not be the right fit. Planners should weigh hotel concessions, meeting

packages, catering minimums, sponsorship potential, destination marketing support, and contract flexibility alongside attendee costs. The best destination works for both the organization producing the conference and the people attending it. Think Beyond This Year’s Meeting Organizations that consistently deliver compelling, affordable experiences build attendance, deepen member engagement and create anticipation for future events. That doesn’t mean returning to the same city every year. Rotating locations can make the event easier to reach for different regions, introduce attendees to new places and broaden participation. It does mean setting clear criteria for evaluating destinations and measuring results after each event. Registration trends, satisfaction scores, travel-cost feedback, repeat attendance, and sponsor engagement show whether the strategy is working. A Reason to Come, and to Return The ballroom may be where the conference happens, but the destination shapes how it is remembered. Food, culture, neighborhood character, and genuine hospitality can turn a professional gathering into an event people look forward to every year. But inspiration must be balanced with affordability. The most successful organizers will find a destination with personality, convenient access, and reasonable costs. They’ll back it with a venue and hotel package that works for both organizer and attendee. The best conference destination is not necessarily the biggest city, the most luxurious resort, or the place with the longest list of attractions. It is the one that makes attendees feel their time and money were well spent. When people can afford to attend, enjoy where they are, and see the value, a conference becomes more than an annual meeting. It becomes a reason to return. 41

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The Sports Tourism Marketing Mix: Finding the Right Balance for Maximum Impact

Sports tourism marketing is a relationship business, a sales business and, increasingly, a data business. Destinations compete for events that generate visitor spending and build local reputations, but not on equal footing. Some have established brands and deep marketing budgets. Others are still building recognition, entering new markets, or earning credibility with national governing bodies (NGBs) and event rights holders. Regardless of size, every organization faces the same question: How should it distribute its annual marketing budget to generate the greatest return? The answer rarely lies in a single campaign, conference, or sponsorship. Success comes from a balanced mix in which awareness, relationship building, lead generation, sales, and reputation reinforce one another. Stop treating marketing activities as isolated expenses and start treating them as connected investments. 44

PUSH marketing Start With Strategy, Not Spending Before allocating dollars, leaders should set clear annual objectives. Is the priority recruiting new events, filling hotels in slow periods, promoting a new facility, expanding into a sport, or strengthening ties with existing rights holders? Is the goal national recognition, or converting a pipeline of qualified leads that’s already in place? Those objectives should drive the mix. A destination launching a new multisport complex may need more paid promotion, media exposure, and site visits focused on the facility. An established sports commission with strong recognition may get more from personal sales outreach, industry conferences, and hosting event owners. There is no universal formula. The right mix depends on goals, resources, target markets, competition, and where the organization is in its development. The Essential Elements Conferences and Trade Shows Industry conferences remain key for building relationships, finding prospective events, and staying visible to decision-makers. The cost includes travel, lodging, meals, and staff time, not just registration. Prioritize events by audience quality, relevance to target sports, and the likelihood of real business. Attending everything is rarely the best strategy. Set target meetings, priority contacts and objectives beforehand. Afterward, track follow-ups, qualified leads, requests for proposals, and event opportunities. The goal isn’t collecting business cards. It’s building relationships that lead to business.

Site Visits Site visits are among the most important stages of recruitment. They let rights holders see facilities, hotels, transportation, community support, and readiness firsthand. Customize each visit to the event owner’s needs rather than running a general tour. Include the people who will make the event work: venue operators, hotel partners, public safety, local sports organizations, and community leaders. Track visits against bids, hosting agreements, and confirmed events. Not every visit will lead to a booking, but organizations should understand why opportunities advance or stall. Paid Advertising and Digital Campaigns Paid advertising reaches people beyond an organization’s existing network through search, professional platforms, industry publications, and newsletters. Campaigns should target specific audiences with specific business goals rather than buying impressions just to be seen. One example: reaching tournament operators in selected sports to promote a new complex. Measure qualified inquiries, engagement, lead quality, and conversions, not just clicks. Advertising should create exposure that leads to opportunities for the sales team, not just traffic. Sponsorships Sponsorship can deliver visibility, access to decision makers, and a public commitment to a sport or industry segment. But packages vary widely in value. A logo on a banner offers exposure. A package with networking, speaking slots, or access to qualified prospects usually offers more. Before committing, define the audience, deliverables, and measurable outcomes. Choose sponsorships that match recruitment priorities, not just because they’re available.

Activations Activations turn passive visibility into an experience. Examples include a reception, a sport-specific networking event, a destination showcase, or an interactive introduction to local facilities and attractions. The best ones give prospects a reason to engage, reinforce the brand, and make follow-up easier. Measure participation, qualified contacts, meetings generated, and resulting opportunities. Creative activation succeeds only if it advances an objective. Public Relations and Press Releases A public relations effort helps organizations announce event wins, promote facility developments, and show community impact. Press releases still work when the news is real, such as a major championship, a significant economic impact result or a new partnership. Tie announcements to recruitment priorities, prepare spokespeople, and keep data accurate. The aim isn’t more releases. It’s meaningful news that builds credibility. Familiarization Tours FAM tours give selected rights holders, planners and influencers a firsthand look at venues, hotels, transportation, dining, attractions, and community support. The best ones are targeted. Invite participants whose events fit what the destination can host and build the itinerary around their interests. Track resulting inquiries, site visits, proposals, and bookings. A FAM tour is a business development investment, not just a hospitality expense. Content Marketing and Owned Media Destinations need content that proves they are credible hosts. Facility profiles, event success stories, community features, case studies, and short videos support sales conversations yearround.

Content should answer the questions rights holders ask: • • • • •

Can the destination accommodate the event? What makes the venue competitive? How does the community support organizers? What proves past success? Reuse strong content across your website, email, presentations, and social media.

Earned Media Earned media is editorial coverage earned through newsworthiness, relationships, and storytelling, not paid placement. Strong stories include major event announcements, facility innovations, measurable tourism results, and community partnerships. Good data and accessible spokespeople make coverage more likely. Because coverage can’t be guaranteed, judge success by relevance, audience quality, message accuracy, and referral traffic, not article counts. Analytics and Research Measurement belongs in every plan. Organizations need reliable systems for tracking spending, leads, conversions, and event outcomes, such as customer relationship management (CRM) tools, campaign tracking, and dashboards. Without measurement, budget decisions rest on anecdotes, or on how visible an activity is rather than what it contributes. Measure, Learn and Reallocate A marketing plan should not stand still. Monitor results throughout the fiscal year and do a full evaluation during budget planning. Connect spending to real outcomes: • qualified leads and bid invitations • event wins and contracted room nights • repeat business • cost per opportunity 48

Attribution takes judgment. An event win may come from many interactions over several years, not one ad or conference. Record meaningful touchpoints in the CRM and evaluate the mix. Then let the results guide the budget: • • •

If targeted conference attendance consistently produces qualified opportunities, it may deserve more money next year. If a sponsorship generates little engagement, you may be better off spending that funding elsewhere. If ads drive traffic but few relevant inquiries, refine the targeting rather than raising the spending.

Review performance quarterly, adjust when the evidence supports it, and use year-end findings to shape the next plan. Remember that not everything should be judged by immediate bookings. Public relations, content, and brand awareness take longer to influence decisions, so set both short-term and long-term indicators for each activity. The Best Plans Work Together No single channel can carry a sports tourism organization. Advertising creates awareness, media coverage builds credibility, conferences build relationships, activation deepens engagement, and site visits turn opportunities into business. The organizations that perform best will understand how these elements reinforce one another, invest according to their priorities, and measure results honestly. What works for a large metropolitan sports commission may not work for a smaller destination with a limited budget. The strongest plans balance near-term sales opportunities with the long-term work of building a recognizable, trusted brand. A marketing budget shouldn’t reward activity for its own sake. It should fund the mix of visibility, relationships, and sales opportunities most likely to deliver results, and change as the evidence does.

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PUSH mindfulness

Six Small Ways to Protect Your Time, Energy and Sanity This Fall For sports tourism professionals, autumn often means a packed calendar of conferences, trade shows, site visits, client meetings, and event deadlines. Protecting your well-being doesn’t require a lifestyle overhaul. Sometimes the smallest daily habits make the biggest difference.

When Busy Becomes Too Busy Fall is one of the busiest seasons in sports tourism. Add travel days, airport delays, networking receptions, email backlogs, and the pressure to follow up with new contacts, and it’s easy to feel as though every waking hour belongs to someone else. In an industry built on relationships, slowing down is hard. There is always another person to meet, and saying yes can feel like the price of staying relevant. But productivity without boundaries eventually backfires. Fatigue erodes concentration, and constant interruptions dull our work. An overloaded schedule also leaves little room for the people and activities that help us recharge. Mindfulness starts with recognizing that time and energy are limited. Protecting them isn’t a sign of disengagement. It’s how you stay effective and present. Here are six simple habits to help. 50

MAKE SPACE FOR THE WORK & LIFE YOU WANT

01 Put Your Priorities on Paper

Writing things down puts it back in perspective. Sort what needs attention now, what can wait, and what can be delegated. Break big projects into manageable steps and finish one meaningful task before starting the next.

The goal isn’t a longer to-do list. It’s getting responsibilities out of your head and into a system you trust.

02 Plan Breaks Before Your Calendar Fills Up Treat breaks as appointments, not extras.

Block time for lunch, a short walk, stretching or simply stepping away from your screen. Even a few minutes can reset your attention. You don’t have to be available every minute to be a valuable colleague or partner.

03 Build Small Personal Rituals into Every Day Mindfulness doesn’t require a long meditation session.

For frequent travelers, a consistent morning ritual offers stability when hotel rooms, time zones and schedules keep changing. Spend five minutes reviewing priorities, stretching or eating breakfast before opening your inbox. Consistency matters more than complexity.

04 Learn to Say No Without Feeling Guilty Attending everything is neither possible nor necessary.

Before saying yes, ask yourself whether the commitment fits your priorities, whether you can take part in a meaningful way and what you would have to give up making room for it. Boundaries aren’t about shutting people out. They’re about deciding where your attention will have the greatest impact.

05 Create a Plan for When Work and Life Collide

Decide when you’re available, what needs an immediate response and what can wait.

Build buffers into itineraries and avoid scheduling important commitments right after long travel days when possible. Know which tasks can slide if flights are delayed or meetings run over. You can’t control every disruption, but you can decide how prepared you’ll be when one hits.

06 Start and End the Day with an Honest Check-In Mindfulness means more than managing a calendar.

Before the workday starts, pause to consider how you feel and what would make the day manageable. At day’s end, ask similar questions. Did you eat properly? Did you spend the whole day reacting to other people’s priorities? You don’t have to wait until you’re overwhelmed to make a change.

Overwhelm rarely arrives all at once. It builds through small compromises; each seems minor. Repeated over weeks or months, they leave little time to recover. Your time and energy are among your most valuable professional resources. This fall, remember that taking care of yourself isn’t separate from doing your job well. It’s part of what makes lasting success possible.

Industry Confidential Check in every issue for the unfiltered thoughts of our guest writers and contributors as they discuss the hottest topics in sports tourism. In this issue, our guest writer explores what comes after the biggest decade of international sport the United States has ever hosted, and whether anyone is planning for the morning after.

When the Party Ends. Then what? I’ll admit something that may not be popular at the next industry reception: I’ve started worrying about 2035. Not because anything is going wrong. Quite the opposite. Our industry is in the middle of a run most of us never imagined we’d see in one career. The FIFA Club World Cup came first. Then this summer’s FIFA World Cup made its impact. Los Angeles hosts the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2028. The Rugby World Cup arrives in 2031 for the men and 2033 for the women. Salt Lake City has the Winter Games in 2034. Add the championships, qualifiers, friendlies, and test events that orbit those headline properties, and the United States has become the center of the global sports calendar. That’s worth celebrating. I’ve celebrated it. But a question keeps coming back to mind, and I need to get it off my chest. What’s the plan for when it’s over? Momentum is not a strategy. Every mega event comes with a legacy promise. Legacy is written into bid books, the press conferences, and the economic impact projections. And the people making those promises do mean them. But in my experience, legacy is often treated as something that will simply happen. The global spotlight will put our cities on the map, the visitors will come back, and the facilities and partnerships will keep paying off. We assume momentum will carry itself. It won’t. Momentum is energy, and energy fades without something to sustain it. The real question isn’t whether these events will leave a legacy. It’s whether we’re intentionally building the systems that turn a once-in-a-generation moment into a lasting advantage for everyone in this industry, not just the host cities. Who owns the morning after? Here’s what keeps nagging at me. Mega events have clear owners. Organizing committees, host committees, governing bodies, government partners, and security agencies each have a defined role and a firm deadline. When an organizing committee finishes its work, it winds down. That’s how it’s designed. Staff who learned to deliver at a world-class level take their expertise to the next job, often in another city or industry. The volunteer network scatters. The relationships with international federations and global media, built over years, can quietly lapse. So, who picks up the thread? Is it the local sports commission, already busy with youth tournaments and amateur championships that pay the bills year-round? The state tourism office? The national governing bodies? Our industry association? I don’t think the answer is any one of them. 56

But I’m not sure we’ve had an honest conversation about which combination of us should do it, or what it would cost. There’s a less obvious quiet risk I want to name, too. During this stretch, a lot of attention, talent, and money will flow toward the marquee events. That’s natural. But the backbone of American sports tourism has always been the weekend volleyball tournament, the regional swim meet, the youth baseball championship, and the collegiate event that comes back every few years. Those events don’t make international headlines. They do fill hotels on ordinary weekends in communities that will never host a World Cup match. If some rights holders and smaller destinations feel overlooked in the rush, or priced out of venues and hotel inventory during peak years, we could leave this golden era with stronger global name recognition and weaker relationships at home. I’m not saying that’s happening. I’m saying it’s worth watching. I don’t claim to have the full answer, but I have some ideas worth discussing for what a plan might look like. First, we could start capturing knowledge before it walks out the door. The operational lessons from these events, from crowd management and transportation to volunteer recruitment and accessibility, are enormously valuable to every destination that hosts events of any size. Industry-wide debriefs, shared case studies and mentoring between people who worked at the big events and people running smaller ones would spread that expertise further than any single city. Second, we could use the international spotlight to recruit what comes next. Every federation official, broadcaster, and rights holder who visits during these events is a potential future client. Destinations that follow up with genuine relationship building, rather than a one-time brochure, will have an edge long after the closing ceremony. Third, we could protect the year-round business while the spotlight burns brightest. That means communicating early with regular rights holders about peak-year availability, being transparent about pricing, and remembering who was loyal before the cameras arrived. Finally, we could treat facilities and infrastructure as the start of a strategy, not the end. A renovated stadium, a new training site, or an upgraded transit line creates opportunity, but only if someone has a calendar and a business plan to fill it in 2036, 2040, and beyond. None of this is criticism of the people doing extraordinary work to deliver these events. They have more than enough on their plates, and frankly, they shouldn’t carry the post-event strategy alone. That’s the point. The future of this momentum belongs to all of us: destinations large and small, rights holders, governing bodies, associations, hoteliers, venue operators and, yes, the media that covers this industry. So, here’s my challenge. At the next conference, at the next board meeting, or over the next late dinner with colleagues, ask the question out loud: what’s our plan for after? Not for 2028 or 2034, but for the year after the last medal is handed out, when the international visitors go home, and the cameras move on. If we start that conversation now, while the energy is high and the world is watching, we have a real chance to make this golden era more than a highlight reel. If we wait until the party’s over, we may find we’re the only ones left cleaning up. 57