{"id":125878,"date":"2026-01-16T16:25:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T16:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/125878\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T16:25:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T16:25:16","slug":"why-fort-worth-sees-sports-as-a-major-economic-driver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/125878\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Fort Worth sees sports as a major economic driver"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, Fort Worth and Tarrant County have seen considerable economic growth from major industries such as aerospace and aviation, healthcare and finance. More recently, the city has also emerged as a hub for the film industry<\/a>. <\/p>\n

At a chamber of commerce event on Thursday, various business and civic leaders emphasized the importance of another local economic driver: sports. <\/p>\n

Sporting events booked during fiscal year 2025 will have a $180 million economic impact, according to Mitch Whitten, the chief operating officer of Visit Fort Worth, representing a 20% increase from fiscal year 2024. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe bring about 67, 70 events to town every year. Many of them are in Dickies [Arena],\u201d Whitten said. <\/p>\n

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The 2026 schedule includes multiple major cheerleading tournaments, the NCAA gymnastics tournament, the Professional Bull Riders World Finals and NCAA March Madness games. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s all before Arlington hosts nine World Cup matches in June and July, providing a regional economic boost \u2014 including for Fort Worth \u2014 that FIFA has estimated at $1.5 to $2.1 billion<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the envy of the country,\u201d said Whitten. \u201cAnd of course, we all know that people, when they come to our region, they look to Fort Worth for entertainment.\u201d <\/p>\n

The sports-focused event, held at the Kimbell Art Museum\u2019s Renzo Piano Pavilion on Thursday morning, was the first of the Fort Worth Chamber\u2019s 2026 economic impact forum series. Last year, the series included discussions on tariffs<\/a>, economic development, cyber security and other topics. <\/p>\n

One panel this week, moderated by the Billy Bob\u2019s co-owner and former Miss Rodeo America Pam Minick<\/a>, focused on the city\u2019s Western and equine sports heritage. Panelists represented the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, Cowtown Coliseum, National Reined Cow Horse Association and American Paint Horse Association. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you know it or not, whether you\u2019re a bank or a builder, your business is fueled in part by the equine industry,\u201d Minick told attendees. <\/p>\n

The morning also featured a discussion between Matt Homan, general manager of Dickies Arena, and Ethan Casson, who was named president of business operations<\/a> for the Dallas Mavericks in July. <\/p>\n

That discussion largely focused on the Mavs\u2019 experience in Fort Worth, where the team played a preseason game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in October. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a home run by all accounts,\u201d said Casson. <\/p>\n

Homan also emphasized the potential for more major events in Fort Worth, even as Dallas venues remained a draw. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think initially it started off \u2014 it was one or the other, but I\u2019ve always believed that the market is big enough for both of us,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, Fort Worth and Tarrant County have seen considerable economic growth from major industries such as aerospace…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[910,918,116,118,117,2256],"class_list":{"0":"post-125878","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-fort-worth","11":"tag-fort-worth-headlines","12":"tag-fort-worth-news","13":"tag-sports-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}