Fans coming to the 2025 SEC Baseball Tournament on May 20-25 will notice significant changes to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium for the second year in a row.
The city has spent another $10.6 million since the 2024 tournament on a third phase of improvements to the Hoover Met, including new seating, concession concourse renovations, a new club suite built down the third-base line, and an improved entrance from the lower parking lot beyond left field.
The Hoover Met Complex in Hoover, Alabama, has solidified its position as a premier sports and events destination, driving significant economic impact and providing valuable community resources throughout 2024. This state-of-the-art facility, comprising multiple venues including the Hoover Met Stadium and Finley Center, has become a cornerstone of both local and regional development.
Economic Success and Visitor Numbers
In the 2024 fiscal year, the Hoover Met Complex broke its own record in generating $91.3 million in total economic impact, with major sports tournaments and events contributing to the local economy. The facility’s ability to host a wide range of activities, from sports competitions to cultural events, made it an attractive destination for visitors from the region and across the country.
In the competitive landscape of sports and entertainment venues, Sand Mountain Park and Amphitheater in Albertville, Alabama, continues to prove that it is a shining star with its success in 2024. This multi-use facility not only met but exceeded expectations, setting new benchmarks in attendance, economic impact, and community engagement.
As we look back on the year, it’s clear that Sand Mountain Park has become a model for how thoughtfully designed multi-purpose facilities can serve as catalysts for both economic development and community enrichment.
The Myrtle Beach Sports Center was renamed four years ago to the day, April 3, to the John T. Rhodes Myrtle Beach Sports Center. The name change honored the late mayor who played a huge role in its construction.
On Thursday, March 27, the John T. Rhodes Myrtle Beach Sports Center marked its 10-year anniversary. City leaders joined together to celebrate the facility and its positive impact on the community.
Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, in partnership with The Sports Facilities Companies (SFC), the nation’s leading provider of sports and recreation venue management, today announced a special Youth Clinic to be held Monday, May 19, at the Hoover Met Complex in Hoover, Alabama.
The clinic will welcome nearly 500 students from Birmingham City Schools and Hoover City Schools for a morning of instruction, games and inspiration led by five former Major League Baseball players: 13-year veteran Wes Helms, World Series champion Brett Myers, three-time All-Star reliever Tom “Flash” Gordon, All-Star slugger Ryan Klesko and seven-year veteran Jason Phillips.
A new event venue in Elizabethtown is starting to take shape.
The city promises the $40 million investment will be an attraction for both tourists and locals.
When Joanna Baker learned the city would be building a 10,000-seat event venue steps away from her porch on Commerce Drive, she wasn’t thrilled.
“We’re trying to look at the pros. Like the mayor said, the road was going through no matter what. So if it wasn’t the amphitheater that went in here, it would be businesses, apartments, houses,” said Baker and her husband.
Officials broke ground on the upcoming sports complex in Jonesboro and unveiled its official name in front of a crowd of about 200 people Friday morning.
The complex will be officially called the Ridge Athletics Center, or RAC for short.
Friday evening marks the start of an important time of year not just for the Sand Mountain Park and Amphitheater, but the city of Albertville as a whole.
Concert season is underway at Sand Mountain Park and Amphitheater in Albertville.
This is the fifth year that the venue will be welcoming top artists to their stage like Lil Jon, We the Kingdom, and more.
The accounting is all done, and the “Gateway To The West” robotics tournament this year earned Ohio County Schools enough profit to send all five of its qualifying teams to the world championships in Dallas this spring.
Totals provided by JoJo Shay, innovation coordinator for Ohio County Schools, indicated the event took in $29,250 through team registration fees, and another $45,000 in sponsorships for a total of $74,250.
Sometimes, what an event owner needs is a fresh start: A new destination and, of course, a new partner to help out with everything.
On the next few pages, SDM has compiled the definitive go-to guide with some of the most knowledgeable partners in the sports tourism industry who can help you meet your goals this season and every season thereafter.
In Pinellas Park, construction is underway on Sprowls Horizon Sports Park, a youth sports complex intended to boost the region’s sports tourism industry.
The approximately $23 million sports complex is under construction at 4100 66th Ave. N., the former site of the city’s Youth Park sports complex. Named for former Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls, the complex will have six youth baseball diamonds modeled after actual Florida Grapefruit League ballparks, a soccer field, an outdoor roller hockey rink, and a community plaza.
Ranking only behind Greater New York City, the Los Angeles metropolitan area—with a swaggering population of nearly 13 million—is home to more people than 45 U.S. states.
And a great swath of it, dubbed “The Inland Empire,” now ranks as the 12th-largest metropolitan area in the U.S., thanks to Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga, the largest cities of Greater Ontario. And the region is investing in its future big time.
