KANSAS CITY, Mo.— On the heels of the NCAA’s recent award of six sports championships to KC totaling $27 million, Visit KC today announces eight major convention bookings for future years. These groups represent the sports, military, religious, agricultural, multi-cultural and nonprofit segments. Together, these events will generate a combined total of more than $60 million into the local economy. Economic impact is based upon a combination of attendance and room nights.
Today’s largest announcement is Triple Crown Sports, which manages nearly 300 youth events across the country in baseball, basketball, drift car racing, fast pitch softball and volleyball selected KC for its Volleyball NIT President’s Day Weekend for multiple years. Starting in 2019, this group brings an estimated 8,500 attendees annually pouring an estimated $24.5 million over the course of five years.
“As with any national-scale event, it makes sense to use Kansas City as a central, crossroads-type location that will ease the travel burden for many of our teams,” said Sean Hardy, executive director of volleyball, Triple Crown Sports. “But more importantly, there’s the manageable cost of air travel to the city, and the fact our partner hotels and the Kansas City Convention Center are ideally located to make the event a graceful fit for the hundreds of elite programs we are fortunate to host. When we needed to find another location after our time in Salt Lake City, we found Kansas City to satisfy all of the priorities of our staff, and our customers.”
Another large group most recently secured is The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. (VFW). This group returns to KC in 2022 for its annual convention bringing nearly 10,000 veterans and generating an estimated $10.3 million into our local economy. In 2013, KC secured this group for its July 2018 National Convention, which will coincide with the centennial anniversary of the end of World War I. The last time this group held its convention in KC was 2007.
Other conventions announcing their selection of KC for future years include:
“Nine billion dollars and growing,” said Cori Day, Vice President of Sales and Services. “That’s the investment the city, attractions, hotels and other businesses have surged into our city and Kansas City is getting national attention as a result. Our walkable Downtown, Streetcar, renovated and new hotels, restaurants and entertainment near the convention center are leveraged in every sales discussion and our overall marketing approach to win more business repositioning Kansas City as a premier convention destination.”
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