Saturday, August 19 marked the much-anticipated grand opening of the Fort Bend Epicenter, a day of celebration, community engagement, and an undeniable spirit of unity. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., residents of Fort Bend County and surrounding areas came together to witness the unveiling of what promises to be a cornerstone for the community.

The event was made even more remarkable thanks to sponsor support from Energy Texas, Southwest Mitsubishi, GFL Environmental, Bud Light, Pepsi, and Chick-fil-A.

For the third consecutive year, Rocky Top Sports World has set a new economic impact record. During their ninth year in business, the 80-acre multisport facility welcomed more than 143,976 athletes, coaches, families, and friends to Gatlinburg. The award-winning complex contributed $76.3 million in economic impact during the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
Rocky Top Sports World saw an increase in the number of events, as well as the number of registrations at returning tournaments. The best-in-class facility hosted nearly 100 tournaments, camps, clinics, and events this past year and was booked 49 out of 52 weekends.

After analyzing over 2,000 communities over the last 20 years, The Sports Facilities Companies has predicted that the $39.7 billion youth and amateur travel sports and the $218 billion parks and recreation industries are colliding. They also predict that local government assets that are currently being operated by the parks department will require new models of operation and management to keep up with the demands of the private sector. With a 33% increase in the number of studies conducted for facilities from municipal clients, the evidence of the shift is already clear.

After Sand Mountain Park and Amphitheater’s first full year of full operation, they have brought in an estimated $23.2 million in economic impact. The park has not only generated increased revenue in the area, but also increased interest in the area by developers in the retail, hospitality, and entertainment industries. The increased revenue and interest was generated by the more than 100 events held at the facility over the past year including 62 sports tournaments, 11 concerts, and numerous community-oriented events. The park and the events that it held brought in more than 1 million unique guests and 1,750 teams from the all over the country.

Rocky Top Sports World has signed a 3-year deal with Big Shots Basketball Tournaments which will last through 2025. The facility currently hosts 2 Big Shots tournaments every spring and they will continue to do so. The tournaments attract 235 basketball teams of boys in divisions 10U to 17U that have brought in over $2.3 million in economic impact in previous years. In addition to high quality basketball tournaments, Big Shots also offers recruiting services and scholarships for those in attendance. And they also have a partnership with BALLERtv to livestream the tournaments for friends and families that can’t make it in-person. The next Big Shot tournaments at Rocky Top Sports World are the Rocky Top Tip-Off happening April 1-2 in 2023 and Rocky Top Mayhem which is held May 20-21 in 2023.

Sand Mountain Park and Amphitheater is now home to the regions largest outdoor ice skating rink, after 18 months of work on the project. The rink is 100 feet by 40 feet and features real ice. It opened on November 18th of 2022 and it will remain open until January 14th of 2023. The facility isn’t normally open during the off-season but the ice rink and it’s amenities will now fill that gap. To accompany the rink there is a snack cart, a private tent for parties, and 4 igloos for adults to use. Admission to the rink is $12 and ice skate rentals are included in the ticket price, but if you bring your own skates you can purchase a ticket for only $6.

Elizabethtown Sports Park will be one of the four facilities to host the Ripken Experience in 2023. The event will be held from April to October and it will offer youth baseball and softball players to experience what it would be like to play in the major leagues. The event is expected to host 1,500 different teams and bring in over 100,000 people to the park over the seven months that it will be running. The Ripken Experience will be leaving a lasting impact on the players and family members of players who attend as well as making a huge economic impact on the Elizabethtown community.