Sporting event cancellations cost Rocket City over $4M

The Huntsville Sports Commission’s primary role is to identify, recruit, promote and stage sports events and meetings in Huntsville. As COVID-19 infiltrated the U.S., sports across the country came to halt including tournaments scheduled to take place in facilities across Huntsville.

Huntsville Sports Commission reported at least 10 event cancellations or postponements since the start of COVID-19. Combined, these events had a projected economic impact of approximately $4,004,503 translating to a loss of approximately 8,191 hotel room nights. These numbers do not include projected economic losses from the Huntsville Championship postponement.

“The cancelation of events has had the greatest impact on our partners in the hospitality industry,” Ralph Stone, Huntsville Sports Commission executive director, said. “Each event canceled correlates to hundreds of people not staying in our hotels, eating in our restaurants and shopping in our stores.”

The events canceled or postponed include the CCSA Volleyball Championship, Tennessee State Water Polo Championship, AHSAA State Soccer Playoffs, National Fast Pitch Tournament, AAU Girls State Basketball Tournament, Adult Alabama 3.0 & 4.0 State Championships, Andy Jackson Softball Showcase, Huntsville Invitational Lacrosse Tournament and the Rocket City Basketball Invitational.

While there is no definitive timeline for the return of sport events in the Rocket City, the Huntsville Sports Commission continues to monitor the situation to ensure Huntsville is well-positioned to leverage the safe return of the sporting event industry when the time is right.