The attendance and financial statistics for the 2024 Fusion Cup youth soccer event held from Friday, May 17 through Sunday, May 19 in the Triad are now in – and the numbers say that the event“ crushed’ expectations regarding how much money the tournament would bring in.
In High Point right now, pro soccer is the new hot thing, but when it comes to regional tourism dollars, youth soccer is knocking it out of the park.
Event organizers state in a press release that, even in the face of bad weather this year, the event was a success in both showcasing a lot of youth soccer talents and in bringing home the bacon: The Greensboro Convention and Visitors Bureau estimated that the 2024 Fusion Cup had a $4.5 million economic impact on the local economy. This includes nearly 2,000 hotel rooms filled with visitors at 40 different hotels.
Kids that play soccer have families that come watch them play, and those families, while in the area, eat at restaurants, fill hotel beds and do some shopping.
So, the event brought in quite a bit of money over that May weekend.
“Despite facing challenging weather conditions,” the press release reads, “the tournament exceeded expectations, drawing in more teams and visitors than ever before, and reinforcing the importance of youth sports tourism in the area.”
The 2024 Fusion Cup attracted 413 teams, up from 281 teams last year. Teams and players came from five states to the Triad – representing nearly 70 different clubs.
The tournament also included 230 referees from six states.
NC Fusion Tournament Director Gary Gartner said the tournament’s giant growth might be attributable to several factors: “The quality of our facilities and access to artificial turf fields if we have bad weather and need to pivot; the communication and organization by our NC Fusion staff; the reciprocal agreements that are vitally important due to the number of teams in our club that attend tournaments across the region; and the overall quality of our NC Fusion events—teams and clubs really enjoy them.”
The Fusion Cup matches were played at several top-notch venues across the region, including
- Truist Soccer Park at Bryan Park (Browns Summit/Greensboro)
- Springwood Park (Burlington)
- Zoo City Complex (Asheboro)
- Jamestown Athletic Complex (Jamestown)
- Northeast Park (Browns Summit)
- Truist Sports Park (Bermuda Run/Winston Salem)
- Salvation Army Turf Complex (Greensboro)
- Page High School Stadium (Greensboro)
- Davie County Park Stadium (Mocksville)
