CALIFORNIA CONNECTIONS SERIES:
A CASE STUDY ON SPORTS TOURISM
Tourism is the second largest segment of San Diego’s economy, employing approximately 194,000 people and contributing over $19 billion in economic impact to the region annually. Sports events have been a pillar of the tourism industry in San Diego for decades, and the city has hosted some of the largest events and most iconic brands in the world including the Super Bowl, X-Games, MLB All-Star Game, U.S. Open, Breeders’ Cup, and more.
Join us virtually on January 24 as Colleen Anderson, Executive Director of the San Diego Tourism Marketing District, and Mark Neville, CEO of Sports San Diego, discuss how San Diego's sports commission was funded and established; the revenue it's generated since it began operating; and how this model can be replicated across the state.
Colleen Anderson is Executive Director of the San Diego Tourism Marketing District (TMD), a nonprofit, mutual-benefit corporation that improves lodging room night consumption in the City of San Diego. Prior to taking the leadership role with San Diego TMD in 2018 after serving four years as a TMD director, she was General Manager of the Omni San Diego and Omni San Francisco hotels.
Anderson draws on her three decades of hospitality industry experience to help the San Diego TMD board steward tourism marketing funds to produce the greatest return on investment for assessed hotels and the City of San Diego.
Mark Neville is CEO of Sports San Diego, San Diego’s sports commission that supports sporting events which drive visitation and tourism dollars to the City. The annual Rady Children’s Invitational, DIRECTV Holiday Bowl and California State Games are among the world-class events Sports San Diego hosts in the region. Neville has been with the San Diego Bowl Game Association for more than 30 years, starting as an intern in 1991 and now as CEO since 2015.
Neville recently led the association through a series of significant changes to ensure the Bowl Game continues to benefit the San Diego region, including negotiating the largest media rights contract in the association’s history and solidifying conference contracts with the Pac-12 and ACC that extend through 2025.
If you have already subscribed to the California Conversation Series, then this meeting should already be on your calendar. If you would like to be added to the distribution list, please click the button below or reach out to gabriella@caltravel.org.
Interested in sponsoring an upcoming event? Please reach out to Reena Evenson at reena@caltravel.org.
