Last week saw tens of thousands of golf fans flock to Northern Delaware for the BMW Championship at the Wilmington Country Club.
Organizers were expecting more than 100,000 people for the PGA event, which sold out on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Jennifer Boes, with the Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the economic impact of all those people could be huge for the region.
“It’s been referred to as our Super Bowl and I think that’s pretty accurate. I don’t recall there ever being a sporting event in Delaware of this magnitude.”
The BMW Championship was in the Baltimore area last year and Boes said that netted $30 million for the region and attracted 130,000 people.
Boes hopes the impact of this year’s tournament will be even greater for the Wilmington area.
“I think the economic impact was really far reaching. Immediately you think of restaurants and retail. The Uber drivers I know did really well. A number of people rented homes.”
Boes said the Wilmington visitors bureau is sending out surveys to members to gauge the impact of the tournament.
Data is expected to be available by the end of September.
