Sports tourism in the City of Myrtle Beach produced $174.2 million in direct spending during the 2023 calendar year. That’s up from $154.7 million for 2022.
Of the 2023 total, $16 million was returned to local governments (city, county and state) in taxes and fees, with Myrtle Beach receiving $4.2 million.
People come to Myrtle Beach to play sports, and they bring their families, too. Destinations include the Grand Park Athletic Complex, the John T. Rhodes Myrtle Beach Sports Center and the Cal Ripken Experience.
Sporting events in 2023 included the traditional activities, along with dance, fencing, cornhole, weight-lifting, pickleball, wrestling and kickball. Baseball again was the biggest economic contributor at $53 million, followed by dance at $37.6 million and fast-pitch softball at $21.4 million.
Other top revenue-generating sports for the city included basketball ($13.1 million), volleyball ($8.5 million) slow-pitch softball ($7 million), soccer ($4.8 million), cheerleading ($4 million), archery ($3.8 million), gymnastics ($3.7 million), World’s Strongest Man ($3.6 million) and football ($3.3 million).
July was the busiest month for sports tourism, with $42.5 million, followed by March ($33.8 million), June ($24.2 million) and August ($20.7 million). September – the back-to-school month for many – had the least activity, with just $3.7 million.
This year for the first time, Myrtle Beach will host a national outdoor track-and-field championship at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium. The NCAA Division III National Championship is here Thursday through Saturday, May 23-25, 2024.
By the way, “direct spending” means one dollar is spent one time in the local economy; it does not include any economic multipliers.