The Delaware Tourism Office contracted with Tourism Economics to complete the first comprehensive economic impact analysis of sports tourism in the First State.
The sector’s direct spending impact of $258 million generated $400 million in total business sales in the local economy, which supported more than 3,000 part-time and full-time jobs and generated $20 million in state and local taxes.
Delaware Tourism Office director Jessica Welch says the office wanted some data to back-up their funding requests when they go to state legislators or discuss sports tourism in the “real world.”
“In the past, we thought the number was a lot smaller than it turned out to be. So we're really excited that we did this study and we can finally have a real benchmark," she said.
Through the Sports Tourism Capital Investment Fund, established in the FY24 Bond Bill, the office was able to fund a $2 million indoor pickleball facility in Rehoboth Beach, and Welch sees more investments like this in the future.
“I think building more facilities, kind of like this — the Chase Fieldhouse — that has indoor opportunities. The beaches stay pretty busy throughout the summer, and we really kind of want to draw people to Delaware during the off season.”
In addition to Midway Pickleball, which will consist of 12 indoor and 4 outdoor pickleball courts meeting American Association sanctioning requirements, three other facilities were chosen to receive funding across the state.
Wilmington Sports, LLC received $6 million to construct a new indoor track facility adjacent to the Wilmimgton’s Chase Fieldhouse.
DE Turf in Frederica was awarded $3 million to triple current stadium seating and construct a new tournament facility, and STATS Tournaments in Bear will install stadium lights at two of its fields and build one additional baseball field and softball field with its $300,000 grant.
The office is now in the process of considering a new round of requests with the $10 million appropriated in the FY25 Bond Bill — it received 17 applications totaling $47 million in requests.
The report found in 2023, 1.1 million sports travelers attended a sports tournament, race or other event — either as a participant or spectator — in Delaware.
The global sports tourism industry is estimated to be worth $128 billion.
