Dickies Arena lands more big-time college sporting events. What’s the economic impact?
Dickies Arena has been awarded more prominent collegiate sporting events in the coming years, the NCAA announced Wednesday.
The year-old arena and TCU have been selected to host the Regional Rounds (Sweet 16, Elite Eight) of the 2026 NCAA women’s basketball tournament. The NCAA also announced the women’s gymnastics championships would be held at Dickies Arena in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. On the men’s side, the arena is scheduled to host first- and second-round games of the 2022 NCAA basketball tournament.
Fort Worth estimates these events will bring in more than 114,000 visitors to the city, occupying 17,700 room nights and making more than a $14.7 million economic impact.
“We can’t wait to welcome back student-athletes, coaches, fans and families who will travel to Fort Worth and experience our world-class city,” Jason Sands, director of the Fort Worth Sports Commission, said in a news release. “Sporting events like these create a significant economic impact to our city by bringing business to our restaurants, hotels, shops and attractions.”
The NCAA gymnastics championships will be held in Fort Worth for eight consecutive years. The 2019 gymnastics championships at the Fort Worth Convention Center were a hit, breaking single session and overall attendance records for the last five years.
The 2020 gymnastics championships that were scheduled to be held at Dickies Arena in April were canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Dickies Arena hosted its first college sporting event in December with men’s basketball games between TCU-USC and Texas-Texas A&M. TCU and Texas A&M are scheduled to play there this December. TCU will serve as host for the NCAA Tournament games that will be played at the arena.
“This is an incredibly exciting and historic day for Fort Worth,” TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati said in a statement. “With great pride, we look forward to welcoming universities and their fans from across the country to Fort Worth and sharing with them how much our city and community have to offer in addition to enjoying March Madness in a new world-class venue.”
AAC awarded men’s regional
Along with the Fort Worth news, the NCAA announced additional sites for upcoming tournaments. The American Airlines Center in Dallas was among the venues awarded a Regional Final (Sweet 16, Elite Eight) for the 2024 men’s NCAA Tournament.
The Big 12 is listed as the host for that event. The Big 12 will also serve as host for sites awarded to Kansas City (2023 Regional) and Oklahoma City (2026 first and second rounds).
“The Big 12 and its host organizations have a long, rich history of hosting NCAA championship events,” Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said in a statement. “The cities and arenas have been exceptional partners and we look forward to remaining a part of March Madness in the upcoming years.”
This story was originally published October 14, 2020 at 5:18 PM.
