HUNTSVILLE – When the sports tourism team in Huntsville started its chase to host the USA Track & Field Masters Outdoor National Championships, the genesis was built on of the idea of it making a major impact during a slow time in the summer.
With more than 1,100 athletes, coaches, officials, and spectators coming into the Rocket City, Huntsville reaped the reward of more than $2 million injected into the community.
“Knowing the impact that this was going to have on Huntsville made all the efforts by everyone in bringing this to life in less than nine months a very worthwhile initiative,” said Joel Lamp, sports development manager for the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau. “Despite a tight timeline, we delivered not only a successful major event, but one that is going to have a far-reaching impact.”
However, major events like these have an impact across the entire community – starting with Milton Frank Stadium.
The venerable venue underwent a transformation over the past two years to become a premier track and field venue. Beginning with the track resurfacing in 2023, the venue added a new throws area – enabling all four throwing events to be held at the same time, which allows for more entries into the field events.
“At the end of the day, Milton Frank Stadium is a community asset and the investments made to the facility not only enhance the competitive opportunities for our local students, but enable the venue to drive more dollars into our community,” said Huntsville City Schools Board President Carlos Mathews, who also participated in the meet. “Events like this bring more dollars into our community and ultimately lead to increased revenue for us to invest in our children’s education.”
Hosting a major event takes more than just a few staff members. It takes a committed team effort across departments to make an event of this magnitude come to life with a focus on providing a great experience.
The event quickly created a team between the Huntsville Sports Commission, Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Huntsville City Schools, and Huntsville Parks & Recreation along with volunteers to provide a memorable championship.
“We constantly talk about delivering a first-class experience for everyone attending our events and that was never more important than with the Masters Championships,” said Mark Russell, executive director of the Huntsville Sports Commission. “I’m very proud of how our sports tourism team came together to host a major event in our first time out, and not only hosting, but creating a championship experience for everyone there.”
The impact from Milton Frank Stadium made ripples throughout the city. For the lodging community, the event brought in more than 3,300 room nights over the course of six days as athletes and officials began arriving as early as Monday for the races that didn’t begin until Thursday.
That ripple was also felt at Huntsville International Airport. In July, more than 168,000 passengers passed through, setting a monthly record. The highest weekly traffic occurred during the week of the Masters Championships, with just more than 21,000.
“July was an exciting month for Huntsville International Airport as we experienced another record-breaking month for passenger traffic,” said Airport CEO Butch Roberts. “While there are many factors contributing to this growth, major events hosted in our community certainly play a role in bringing visitors to the Rocket City.
“We are grateful for the positive impact that these events have on our region and the opportunity to welcome travelers through HSV.”
That impact continues to create waves as interest for new events at the stadium continues to grow.
“One of the goals when we won this event was to generate interest in hosting more events in the future,” Lamp said. “Thanks to the team effort from everyone in hosting this year’s event, we continue to field more opportunities to host bigger events in the future that will extend the impact of this event well into the future.”
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