Should Spartanburg consider changing its name? To Sport-anburg?
If this fall’s activities featuring athletics of all types are any indication, officials may want to consider it.
Just think about the slew of special sporting events that Spartanburg has hosted over the past four months, drawing thousands of visitors and competitors to town:
- The Adidas Uprising Gauntlet & Summer Havoc Basketball Tournaments : In mid-July, more than 200 teams from across the country participated in a huge basketball tournament for 15- to 17-year-olds at The Star Center and five other locations. The tournament brought to town basketball stars and 400 Division I college coaches, including Kentucky’s John Calipari, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski.
- Southern Conference Cross Country Championships: In late October, for just the second time in 90 years, Spartanburg County was host to the Southern Conference Cross County Championships, which drew 10 men’s teams and 10 women’s teams from across the Southeast to race across the grounds at Milliken & Co.
- Spartan Race: An estimated 10,000 racers descended upon Spartanburg in early November for the Spartan Race, a military-style obstacle race that drew participants from all across the region and country in the competition that was held near USC Upstate and Milliken & Co.
- Opening of Richardson Indoor Stadium: And a sold-out crowd was on-hand Nov. 10 to watch the Wofford Terriers open the new Richardson Indoor Stadium against recent Final Four competitor University of South Carolina Gamecocks. The 123,000-square-foot facility seats 3,400 for basketball games and about 350 for volleyball games. The venue can hold 4,400 for speakers and concerts.
What an exciting way to wrap up a busy 2017 that included: another successful year of professional football at the Carolina Panthers Training Camp at Wofford College, where more than 100,000 fans got to see NFL stars including Cam Newton up close and personal; and dozens of baseball and softball tournaments bringing thousands of players and spectators to Tyger River Park and other nearby facilities.
Kristyn Hawkins, the sports tourism sales director at the Spartanburg Convention & Visitors Bureau, said Spartanburg County has joined the list of top places to hold a sporting event because of a central location between several major population centers, a collection of great indoor and outdoor facilities, and community partners that work as a local organizing committee, also known as the Spartanburg Sports Alliance.
And more top events are on the way, including national-level USA Softball tournaments at Tyger River Park in 2018 and 2019. And Hawkins hopes the success of the Spartan Race will lead to more opportunities with that organization.
“We have been able to really leverage our partnerships to recruit and host national sporting events,” Hawkins said. “The collaboration between many community partners has been key.”
