Women's basketball has never been more popular, this March Madness has been great for the economy as well, especially in Albany. Discover Albany officials projected over $8.5 million spent in the region over the weekend. While they won't know exact numbers for about a month, they say that's a glimmer of how much of an economic boost March Madness brought. University of South Carolina Head Coach Dawn Staley said, "It means that women's basketball is in a really good place and for the people of Albany to embrace us." Discover Albany says hosting the men's tournament last year helped prepare the city to give spectators and the teams the best experience possible this year.
Mayor Kathy Sheehan said, "This is about the region, people were staying in hotels on Wolf Road there were people who were able to see and engage in this entire region and I think most people, the overwhelming majority walked away with a positive feeling about it." Jill Delaney also said: "We really got a playbook by doing that last year, we put in so much work and everything that we did for the men's team last year we would ask ourselves are we ready to do the same exact thing for the women or better because we, of course, want to make sure they are getting an equitable experience for their tournament and so the answer was always a resounding yes.
5 comments:
I think it's super interesting how much sports can benefit a city's economy. I wonder if certain cities that consistently do well actually learn to depend on team success to continually help their economy. And if they do, what happens when the teams don't do well?
Would love to learn more on the effects of sports on a area's economy. Not pertaining to events like march madness, but I know that building stadiums with taxpayer money has been a heating argument for decades now from two sides claiming the opposite of each other.
It is great to see this large jump in output by women's sports. One question that I have is, is this boost limited to only women's college basketball, or is it falling over into the professional world (WNBA) as well?
At this point, it is beneficial to stay in the NCAA as long as possible especially with the NIL implications some athletes are able to receive. Why give up steady money for potential complications going pro?
It must be interesting for Albany to see the impacts of this on their local economy for two years. I am also curious to see this impact of other types of sports events rather than a big event like March Madness
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