Is Spokane a sports town?
“Absolutely,” said Marit Jacobs, the Director of Partnerships and Impact at Spokane Sports. “Absolutely, yes.”
Originally known as the Spokane Regional Sports Commission, Jacobs’ organization works alongside private and municipal partners to attract sporting events, players and fans to Spokane. The nonprofit is celebrating its 40th anniversary this week.
The process of attracting a major event starts long before it’s set to happen, Jacobs said. Event rights holders — one example would be the NCAA — put out requests for proposals (RFPs) from cities interested in hosting events. Those RFPs contain requirements such as venue size, seating capacity and how many hotels should be nearby.
“Spokane has really invested in that infrastructure,” Jacobs said.
After Spokane and other cities submit bids that include available hotels, what facilities are available and volunteer capacity, the rights holder considers its options. If Spokane’s bid wins, then the event comes here.
That happens more often than you might think.
USA Wrestling’s Northwest Bigfoot Battle, the 2026 NCAA Division III cross-country regionals and the first two rounds of the 2027 NCAA DI men’s basketball tournament will all take place in Spokane or Spokane Valley within the next six months.
Although Spokane might be best known for homegrown competitions like Bloomsday and HoopFest, Jacobs said that these days, versatile facilities and out-of-state events are critical to Spokane’s status as a sports town.
“Prior to The Podium being built, prior to The Course being built, we could host state championships, regional qualifiers, that sort of thing,” she said, referring to two major sports facilities in Spokane and Spokane Valley. “But we're in a position now where we're hosting national and international championships, world championships, and we're competing on a way bigger stage than we were before.”
Jim Murphy, a retired Superior Court Judge who served as Spokane Sports’ first track and field commissioner, confirmed that venues like The Podium — a 135,000-square-foot facility that opened in 2021 — have helped draw sports tourism to Spokane.
“If you build it, they will come,” Murphy said.
Today, sports tourism generates a staggering $113 million in annual economic impact in the region. Jacobs said people who aren’t sports fans sometimes overlook that detail.
“I work with a partner of Spokane Sports who — their exact words were, ‘I don't care about sports,’” she said. “‘I care about Spokane, and what you do for Spokane matters.’”
Jacobs estimates that every $1 that Spokane Sports invests in sports tourism returns $17 to the city.
“The purpose of Spokane Sports is to strengthen our community through the power of sports,” she said. “And that really is focused on bringing outside visitors to our region — for sports, specifically. But what they're doing is, they're staying in our hotels. They're spending money in our restaurants and local businesses. And they are the people sustaining our economy in Spokane.”
Meanwhile, people who are sports fans get a whole world of top-tier competition in their backyard.
“You get a chance to see the great ice competitors, ice skaters,” Murphy said. “You get to see and engage in great hockey matches. You get to see Gonzaga basketball when it’s playing against Duke, or it’s playing against LSU. So I think it expands the horizon of opportunities for people's interest in either fulfilling their thirst for sporting events or in expanding their knowledge of what's available in the community.”
