Sports Salt Lake’s Clay Partain explores what’s to come for Utah’s sports tourism — and it’s related to youth sports

Rebecca Olds 
Salt Lake Business Journal 

Sports Salt Lake is entering its fifth year in 2026 and has seen major growth, particularly in its numbers at its annual Sports Tourism Summit in early October, where leaders and local experts in the state’s sports tourism industry gathered to discuss what’s next in the state’s sports tourism industry. 

In 2020, a year before Sports Salt Lake was officially organized, its team hosted what they called a “networking” event for sports tourism leaders. Just over 100 people attended. Now, the annual summit is in its fourth year with 270 people attending.

The growth, Sports Salt Lake Executive Director Clay Partain said, reflects a major shift to sports statewide and especially in Salt Lake City.

“We’ve seen very, very strong growth over the last decade in sports tourism-related business,” Pertain said. “There’s that whole saying of ‘Small Lake City.’ We’re really a city that’s punching above our weight class in terms of economic activity [and] events we host, but we’re a city that does business deals like a small, friendly town.”

In 2026, 95 events are already in the books, with several large ones in the final stages of confirmation, Pertain said.

“There are some that we’re not allowed to talk about today, that I would say are in the advanced stages of us confirming,” he said. “There’s a lot of excitement around some of the groups that we have already confirmed.”

Early 2026 will feature major events such as the USA Fencing World Cup in January and the USA Volleyball Salt Lake City Showdown in April, which is expected to draw 30,000 attendees over two weekends.

“These aren’t events that are necessarily on some worldwide stage or national stage, but it’s the direct impact that these events have on our community directly, and that’s ultimately what [Visit Salt Lake] is chartered with, and that’s what we love,” he said.

Pertain said that “literally every month,” significant events will take place, especially during the winter and spring, with the above-mentioned ones having a major impact on the state’s economy and the impact is growing nationally, according to research by Wintergreen Research. The report projects that globally the youth sports industry will reach $77.5 billion by 2026.

In Salt Lake County alone, KSL reported, visitors for sports tourism brought in $194 million, with a large boost from youth sports.

While the number and level of events are important, the Visit Salt Lake team measures its success throughout the year in hotel stays.

In 2025, of the 1 million hotel stays goal, sports tourism accounted for more than one-third of the amount, at 330,000 stays.

Pertain has some guesses as to what is to come regarding Utah’s sports tourism industry, both having some drive from youth. For him, the gap lies in two things: a lack of ice and baseball.

The move of the Mammoth to Utah has been a big push for ice sports’ popularity, and the lack of ice is not in the limelight.

Smith Entertainment Group is working toward fixing the lack of ice sheets to grow Utah’s ice sports scene, with an announcement earlier this year to offer up to $500,000 to fund 20 rinks in Utah.

“The other big opportunity that I see that we fall drastically short in is youth baseball. … We have a huge volume of youth baseball players,” Pertain said. “Guess where they all go when they want to play in tournaments? They leave … because we are not hosting any large-scale baseball tournaments. That’s a direct cause, because we don’t have high-level youth baseball tournament facilities.”

Partain identifies this as a significant opportunity for Utah’s sports tourism industry, given that youth baseball tournaments are one of the top sports for driving economic impact in communities nationwide. He said that investment in a proper baseball complex could attract numerous tournaments and major economic benefits to the region.

He anticipates that a Major League Baseball team may be close in the future, maybe even before the Winter Olympics reach Utah in 2034.

“Salt Lake is a really intriguing destination because we are converging and moving in toward a tier-one city status with the types of amenities that we’re able to offer, and these are only going to get heightened as you look from here to 2034.”