GREENSBORO, N.C. — A series of sports events this summer will bring about $70 million in revenue to Greensboro. 

What You Need To Know

  • The YMCA Long Course Nationals, the AAU Junior Olympic Games and the Wyndham Championship are expected to have $70 million in economic impact to Greensboro this summer

  • The AAU Junior Olympic Games will bring 18,000 participants and 40,000 attendees over the two-week tournament.

  • Sports tourism in Greensboro draws business to hotels, restaurants and museums in the Triad and across the state

The AAU Junior Olympic Games returns to Greensboro for the first time since 2019. The Junior Olympic Games is the country’s largest multisport event, drawing in 18,000 participants and 40,000 visitors. Athletes will compete in nearly a dozen sports until Aug. 6.

The track and field competition, which starts Friday at N.C. A&T, is the largest track event in the world, according to the Greensboro Sports Foundation. 

“They come here, and they fill up hotels and restaurants, they fill up our museums … it’s just a huge impact across the city,” Greensboro Sports Foundation President Richard Beard said. 

The Junior Olympic Games is expected to bring $38 million in economic impact for Greensboro, commonly known as Tournament Town. Despite speculation of the ACC moving its longstanding headquarters from Greensboro to Charlotte, Beard believes the Tournament Town nickname will still stand. 

“It’s an opportunity to showcase Greensboro for potential business owners that might decide that this is a community that they want to set up their business,” Beard said. 

In addition to the Junior Olympic Games, the YMCA Long Course Nationals brought 600 swimmers to Greensboro last week, with $2 million in economic impact. August will bring the 83rd Wyndham Championship to Greensboro. It is expected to add another $30 million to the city. In total, this series of summer sports events will bring an estimated $70 million for Tournament Town. 

David Makupson is a wrestler with the School of Hard Knocks team in High Point. He’s wrestled for 12 years and will continue his career at Queens University of Charlotte, but competing in the AAU Junior Olympic Games is an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. 

“It’s not just the winning, like the lessons that go with it, the people you meet and the places you get to go following the sport,” Makupson said. 

With tournaments like the Junior Olympic Games coming to Greensboro, Makupson and other young athletes have the chance to compete at a national level.

Beard sees expansion and recruitment of bigger sports events in Greensboro’s future.