While big name events such as the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and the Dew Tour skateboarding competition capture the headlines, the real economic boost to the region comes from the dozens of smaller events that descend on Central Iowa each year.

And the construction of sports venues, such as the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex in West Des Moines, are helping draw those events to the region, event organizers said.

Earlier this year, Catch Des Moines touted that 2023 would be a banner year for sports in the region, whether it be the NCAA tournament in March, the AAU Junior Olympics scheduled for late July, the Savannah Bananas visiting in August, or the National Veterans Golden Age Games set for late May. And those only scratch the surface.

If you speak with Shayne Ratcliff, the general manager of the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex, the region attracts many more events that may go under the radar, but ultimately bring in crowds and dollars to Central Iowa.

That includes soccer, basketball, softball and hockey tournaments, plus other special events and activities that draw teams and families from around the Midwest. There are also women’s weightlifting tournaments, gymnastics and volleyball, among others. The MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex also has an esports room for gaming tournaments and activities.

Last year, the city-owned and -operated facility had 61 of those events. This year, that number is already over 70, causing it to have to turn away some events on days and weekends that are already booked, Ratcliff said.

That doesn’t include the city leagues, open times for the public and smaller activities that happen in the RecPlex, which is open 364 days a year. Ratcliff said those are considered just part of the daily business of running the RecPlex, which also has conference and meeting space.

“It’s finding that balance of local user groups that rely on us everyday for practice year after year and then the special events that want to come in and fitting them in,” he said.

Last year, the RecPlex, which employs eight-full time staff and about 80  part-time employees, generated at least $12.4 million in economic impact, he said.

“We get calls from all the restaurants up by Jordan Creek wanting to  know our schedule because they’re swamped when those things are in town,” Ratcliff said. “The hotels, it’s been a whole new source of people using their facilities because of us. It’s been a game-changer.”

One of the quarters in 2022 saw the highest level of sales tax receipts for West Des Moines since the presidential caucuses in 2016, he said.

“We were number four in the entire metro for visitors behind Jordan Creek Town Center, the airport and the Events Center downtown,” Ratcliff said.

Greg Edwards, president and CEO of Catch Des Moines, said the RecPlex has become an “incredible economic generator” for the region, particularly with its ability to bring in sporting events, which now make up about 45% of Catch Des Moines’s bookings each year.

The RecPlex and other facilities being built in Grimes, Johnston and Ankeny, as well as improvements at the Iowa State Fairgrounds have opened the doors to more events coming to the metro, he said.

“We go after stuff we never would have gone after 15 to 20 years ago,” Edwards said. “If we didn’t have the venues, we couldn’t go after them.”

Edwards said there remains a lot of competition for those events, but Des Moines’s location is a selling point.

He said while Des Moines is very driveable, it sees a lot of people come in through the airport.

“We’re so convenient to get to, and with the cross-section of  Interstate 80 and Interstate 35, that’s a big selling point, too,” he said.

The events coming to the metro also broaden the geographic range from where people are traveling, Edwards said.

“We’re seeing people from all over the country now coming in,” he said.

Edwards said the economic impact of some events, such as the AAU Junior Olympics which draws 14,000 people to the area and generates more than $25 million in economic activity, is felt well beyond the metro in places like Ames, Newton and smaller communities in the region that have hotels.

Some of that is what Edwards described as “compression compact,” which is when people who may be visiting the area anyway have to seek hotel rooms elsewhere because hotels in the metro are already booked with guests  in town for those events.

By comparison, this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament was estimated to have pumped at least $8 million into the local economy.

According to Catch Des Moines, the projected economic impact for sporting events in Greater Des Moines that are already booked for 2023 is $67 million. Conventions are projected to pump around $40 million into the region this year.

Officials with Catch Des Moines said traditionally those numbers are reversed, so the flip shows the impact the sporting venues are beginning to have.

Although they don’t track traffic and data for specific venues, officials with the Iowa Tourism Office said smaller venues are important to drawing visitors to the state, and that state has initiatives in place to support sporting events and tourism.

Each year $500,000 is allocated through the Regional Sports Authority District program to be awarded for the promotion of nonprofessional sporting events in Iowa, and the Enhance Iowa Board’s Sports Tourism Marketing fund provides financial assistance for projects that market or promote sporting events in the state. Nearly $263,000 has been awarded to seven projects since February 2022.

According to the Iowa Tourism Office, tourism generated $9.4 billion in total economic impact in 2021 — the latest year that data is available — with total spending in Polk and Dallas counties topping $1.7 billion that year.

Edwards said that Catch Des Moines reaches out to other communities across the state when events are scheduled in the metro, giving them a heads up that they may see residual effects of that activity.

“Things like NCAA or Junior Olympics that bring thousands of people in, those people are driving and they may just be stopping for gas, but they may be stopping to do shopping, stay in a hotel or take a historical tour somewhere, so there is money flowing everywhere,” Edwards said.

Chris Connolly, general manager of the Iowa Events Center, said the growth of the local sporting business has been “huge” in recent years, and he expects it to only increase with the construction of venues that can accommodate those events.

“Tournaments are big,” he said. “When people look at the business, they focus on Wells Fargo Arena and concerts and things like the NCAA tournament and high school tournaments, but in Hy-Vee Hall and Community Choice Convention Center, on the youth sports front, we’re hosting AAU wrestling, we hosted the girls high school regional wrestling tournament, Nike Basketball, All Iowa Attack, volleyball, Chow’s Gymnastics, numerous dance competitions. So the youth sports piece is huge.”

Connolly said the growth in other venues is providing opportunities for the Iowa Events Center to co-host events with those facilities.

“It’s fantastic and has given us more opportunities at some of those bigger events and using some of those facilities as complementary facilities, so it’s big for us,” he said.

He and Edwards are optimistic about the future of sporting events in Des Moines.

“I see things continuing to climb and attract more people to town, more tournaments. It’s fantastic, and I think it’s only going to keep improving,” Connolly said.

Edwards said some of that growth is the result of a change in the country’s health culture.  

“Just the healthiness of America and the world, people are saying they need to stay healthy and stay active so I think sports is going to continue to grow, and these venues help do that,” he said.

Besides the ability of venues like the MidAmerican Energy RecPlex to continue to bring in events that drive dollars into the community, Edwards said the proposed Pro Iowa Stadium and Global Plaza will be a game changer when it’s built.

“It would not only show some diversity in the community, but it would also help us bring in — and I’ve talked to the NCAA about this — it could bring in lacrosse tournaments and rugby tournaments and other niche, smaller sports that would use a stadium like that,” he said. “I think there’s just a ton of opportunity out there.”

And it all results in the ability to help attract and retain top talent, as well as companies looking to relocate to the region, Edwards said.

“Our message has always been before you move somewhere you’re going to visit somewhere,”  he said. “People come here and see a $300,000 home that would cost $2 million somewhere else, and the quality of life and the pace of things here. When we bring in some of those major sporting events and our conventions, they say they don’t want to stay in the suburbs and we tell them we’ll pick them up at 8 a.m. and we’ll drive them to West Des Moines, Altoona or wherever and show them it’s no more than 20 minutes.”

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Here is a list of sports and events venues being built in addition to the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex, which fully opened in early 2022.

Grimesplex Sprawling 40-acre outdoor complex aims for a fall of 2023 opening.

Ignite Johnston Slated to open in 2023, it will have the state’s largest indoor track and soccer field.

Prairie Trail Sports Complex Stage 2 to open in October.

DMPS Community Stadium Future home to four Des Moines high school football teams and Drake soccer games, it is slated to open in August.

Pro Iowa Stadium Iowa’s first professional soccer stadium (home to a USL Championship team) aims to transform a long-dormant section of downtown Des Moines into a bustling 65-acre development project. 

Source: Catch Des Moines

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Here is a list of some of the events coming to Central Iowa this summer. 

This list isn’t exhaustive and may not include all sporting events and activities coming to the metro in 2023.

MAY 7 – 8 NetLynx youth volleyball tournament, May 5-7, MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex.

MAY 20 – 25 National Veterans Golden Age Games, 400 55+ athletes compete in 18 sports ranging from cycling and golf to swimming and track and field.

JUNE 1 State high school esports championship, MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex.

JUNE 3 – 4 CDL youth soccer tournament, MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex.

JUNE 11 Ironman 70.3, returns as a 70.3 after last year’s Ironman North American Championship.

JUNE 24 – 25 All Iowa Attack tournament, MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex.

JULY 12 – 16 Junior Olympic Archery Development National Championships, more than 700 archers aged 8- 20 at James Cownie Sports Complex.

JULY 13 – 16 Speedo Summer Sectionals, USA Swimming returns to Wellmark YMCA pool after the success of TYR Pro Swim Series.

JULY 15 – 16 All Iowa Attack tournament, MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex.

JULY 21 – 23 Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend, three-day race series returned last year with more than 80,000 attendees in Newton.

JULY 26 – AUG. 5 AAU Junior Olympic Games, the largest youth multisports event in the country, returns to Des Moines for the sixth time with some events moving to the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex.

AUG. 18 – 20 Vision Soccer Outdoor Tournament, MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex.

AUG. 25 – 26 Savannah Bananas, popular traveling baseball team added a second game at Principal Park due to high demand.

AUG. 26 – 28 Major League Quadball, formerly known as Major League Quidditch (the sport popularized by the Harry Potter series); the championship will be held at MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex. 

SEPT. 9 – 10 Sporting Iowa Outdoor Soccer Tournament, MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex.

SEPT. 29 – 30 Special Olympics of Iowa, MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex.

OCT. 14 – 15 Iowa Lacrosse Association indoor/outdoor tournament, MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex.

OCT. 28 – 29 Vision Soccer indoor/outdoor tournament, MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex.

NOV. 18 – 19 Central Iowa Sports Indoor Softball Tournament, MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex.

Source: Catch Des Moines and MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex.