2023 Was a Winning Year for Seattle Southside Sports

(SeaTac, WA) Sports event planners have found a winning strategy by hosting their tournaments in Seattle Southside, and the results for 2023 show just how successful they've been. More than 24,000 athletes came through Seattle Southside in 2023 for sports events and tournaments for amateur and youth athletes. Add in the players who stayed in the region for Seattle Seawolves (Major League Rugby), the Seattle Thunderbirds (Western Hockey League), and for the soccer training facilities at Starfire Sports, and you're looking at a lot of sports talent using our region as a home base for their event.

Speaking of home bases, visitors for the 2023 MLB All-Star Game and the 2024 NHL Winter Classic found Seattle Southside to be the perfect spot to call their home base during the festivities. With our convenient closeness to the airport, wealth of affordable hotel rooms, access to public transit options, and tons of international dining and shopping, they found they could save money by staying in Seattle Southside instead of paying 20-30% more for downtown options. Combine these amenities with the world-class facilities at Starfire Sports, Weyerhauser King County Aquatic Center, and more, and you've got the perfect recipe for a successful sports event in curiously wonderful Seattle Southside.

Take, for example, the tournaments hosted by Starfire Sports, which brought about 900 teams and 13,000 athletes across 5 tournaments throughout the summer. While we may be known for our stellar soccer facilities, we're far more than just soccer. The BMX Super Qualifiers Weekend hosted at North SeaTac Park's BMX track brought 475 competitors for a weekend of races, while the Nike Reviving Basball in Inner Cities West Regionals brought 15 teams to play in our fields.

The professionals keep winning in Seattle Southside as well. The Seawolves had another successful season, making it to the Western Conference finals where they fell to the San Diego Legion. The Rugby World Cup also took place in 2023, with two Seawolves players making their national teams' final rosters. And the Seattle Thunderbirds, who play out of accesso ShoWare Arena in Kent, were the 2023 WHL champions. With so much success in Seattle Southside, it's small wonder that we're the region of choice for sports events.

About Explore Seattle Southside
Explore Seattle Southside (Seattle Southside Regional Tourism Authority) has a bold vision to reimagine the way people travel. Established nearly 25 years ago in 1999, Explore Seattle Southside is the destination marketing organization for the cities of SeaTac, Tukwila, Des Moines. Also known as the curiously wonderful destination for exploring the Pacific Northwest, Explore Seattle Southside showcases the Seattle Southside region with pride and imagination as an ideal travel destination for leisure and business travelers to explore Western Washington and as an idyllic place for meeting and event planners to hold their events. Explore Seattle Southside is funded by a Tourism Promotion Area (TPA) assessment and was recognized in 2023—thanks to a commitment to empowering employees and an ambitious vision for the future—as one of Washington State’s Top 100 Best Workplaces.

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For more information on hosting sports events in Seattle Southside, contact:
Cydney Marks-Nicholes
cydney@seattlesouthside.com