Lethbridge played host to a number of major sporting events in 2024, resulting in millions of dollars entering the local economy.
From NCAA basketball’s Western Slam tournament, to the Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiaks hosting the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) women’s volleyball championships, there was plenty to do in southern Alberta.
According to a recent report, over $18 million was spent in Lethbridge last year. This, according to Dominika Wojcik of Tourism Lethbridge, is a positive that isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
“We know that those dollars are being spent in hotels and restaurants and local businesses. We keep seeing that number growing, which is fantastic for our city,” said Wojcik.
Despite Lethbridge missing out on bids for the 2026 Memorial Cup and the Scotties, Wijcik says the city is still on the up and up when it comes to bringing bigger sporting events.
“Lethbridge is really establishing itself as a premier sports destination. It’s great because we have the right facilities, we have the right volunteers, we have spectators, we have everything that people need in order to come do tournaments here and big, major sporting events.
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“We are actively seeking those big events for our city to bring those economic impact numbers here.”
In the Lethbridge Sport Tourism Impact report, only around 62 per cent of events, which means 214 in total, were counted. As a result, Susan Eymann, the executive director of the Lethbridge Sport Council, says the true economic impact is likely even larger.
“The number last year was just under $8 million. It wasn’t because there were fewer events that were taking place, but we collected less data. So, this year you can see the number is higher because we collected more data. It wasn’t for every event in Lethbridge, so we anticipate that the overall number would actually be over $20 million,” said Eymann.
She says the large events certainly make a huge impact, but smaller events shouldn’t be discounted either.
“Sport organizations host their events for other reasons. There may be a fundraising component, but it’s about that hometown advantage. Also, when all the costs are rising in sports and just in general, then having the ability to host an event in Lethbridge and cut down on those travel costs is huge.”
Already in 2025, Lethbridge has hosted the U Sports and Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association/Curling Canada championships, along with the Professional Bull Riders of Canada and many other events.
Later this year, Lethbridge Polytechnic has announced it will host the ACAC soccer championships as well.