Unlocking the Economic Power of Youth & Amateur Sports in the Branson Lakes Area

A New Economic Opportunity for the Branson Lakes Area

For decades, the Branson Lakes Area has attracted visitors through entertainment, outdoor recreation, and family vacations. Now, youth and amateur sports are emerging as another powerful driver of the tourism industry. Already contributing tens of millions of dollars in annual economic impact, the sector continues to offer substantial opportunities for future growth and development. The planned sports-entertainment district in the Gretna Road and Town & Country Drive Redevelopment Area is poised to unlock the sector’s full potential by positioning Branson to host regional and national youth and amateur sporting events. These events will enable the Branson Lakes Area to diversify its visitor base and open a new pathway to long-term economic growth.

Equally important, youth sports tourism provides an opportunity to extend the region’s traditional tourism season. Tournament-driven sports events often occur during spring and early winter—periods when leisure visitation is typically lower. By attracting athletes and visiting families during these shoulder seasons, sports tourism can help transform a largely 10-month tourism cycle into a year-round destination economy.

Youth & Amateur Sports as an Economic Engine

The opportunity emerging in the Branson Lakes Area reflects a broader transformation taking place across the United States. Youth and amateur sports have evolved far beyond local recreational leagues. As one of the fastest-growing segments of the sports tourism economy in 2025, youth and amateur sports have helped propel spectator and participatory sports tourism to more than $249 billion in annual economic impact nationwide, while supporting 1.5 million jobs across hospitality, retail, event management, and other sectors.

The scale of youth sports participation underscores the sector’s economic significance. Industry projections indicate that the youth sports market alone could reach more than $154 billion by 2035. Families already spend tens of billions of dollars annually on travel teams, tournament fees, equipment, and training, reflecting a sustained rise in participation spending across the country. 

Youth sports generate tourism demand because competitions inherently require travel. Tournaments bring athletes, families, coaches, and spectators together for multi-day events, creating predictable waves of visitation that translate directly into hotel stays, restaurant spending, and retail activity. As youth travel sports have expanded nationally, destinations capable of hosting regional and national tournaments are capturing a growing share of this spending.

In response, communities across the country are investing in destination-style sports facilities designed to host large tournaments and attract traveling teams. Facilities that once served primarily local recreation programs are increasingly being developed as regional tourism infrastructure capable of driving sustained economic activity. These investments are reshaping how cities approach sports infrastructure and positioning youth sports as a powerful engine of tourism-driven economic development.

Proven Returns of Youth and Amateur Sports Infrastructure

There are many examples of destination-style sports infrastructure investments producing substantial economic returns, though it is vital to distinguish between the narrow niche of spectator sports and the high-volume world of participatory sports. While the public imagination is often captured by professional sports with high spectator draws, data from 231 destination organizations in the 2026 Sports ETA report reveals that these marquee events are actually a minor segment of the industry, hosted by only 31% of destinations. In contrast, participatory sports tourism—where the athletes and their families are the primary travelers—is nearly universal, with 94% of destinations hosting youth events and 90% hosting amateur competitions. This confirms that the participatory model, rather than the spectator-driven one, serves as the industry’s most consistent and widespread economic engine.

By prioritizing this participatory segment, communities can move beyond the volatility of the spectator market to generate steady hotel demand, the capacity for large-scale regional and national tournaments, and recurring waves of visitor spending tied to reliable, annual event calendars. The following examples highlight how various localities have successfully leveraged youth and amateur participatory sports projects to expand their tourism economies, proving that this model is the most reliable path to sustainable, long-term growth

Rocky Top Sports World in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, demonstrates the long-term economic potential of destination-focused youth sports infrastructure. Since opening in 2014, the facility has generated more than $400 million in cumulative economic impact, including $76.3 million in the 2022-23 fiscal year, and over one million hotel room nights from sports tourism. By hosting tournaments year-round—including during winter shoulder seasons—the complex has become a national benchmark for sports-driven tourism development.

The Cornerstone Sports Complex in Starkville, Mississippi, demonstrates how even smaller communities can benefit from targeted investments in sports tourism infrastructure. During its first full year of operation, from 2023 to 2024, the facility generated approximately $9.3 million in economic impact for the local economy by hosting youth baseball and softball tournaments that attracted traveling teams and visiting families. The project highlights how strategically designed sports facilities can quickly translate tournament activity into measurable tourism revenue.

The AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships in Orlando, Florida, highlight the economic scale of major amateur tournaments. One of the largest youth volleyball tournaments in the world, the 52nd AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships generated $825.5 million in economic impact and more than 399,000 hotel room nights during its 24-day run in Orlando. This event took place within a broader regional sports tourism economy that has produced $2.4 billion in economic impact for Orlando and the surrounding areas over the past nine years.

These examples illustrate the growing role that youth and amateur athletics play in regional tourism economies. For destinations that already possess significant visitor infrastructure, sports tourism represents an opportunity not to reinvent their tourism model, but to diversify and stabilize it. In this context, the Branson Lakes Area is particularly well-positioned to expand into sports tourism in a way that complements its existing visitor economy rather than competing with it.

Why the Branson Lakes Area Is Well-Positioned for Sports Tourism

The Branson Lakes Area possesses several structural advantages that make it particularly well-positioned to benefit from the continued growth of sports tourism. Unlike many destinations entering the youth sports market from scratch, Branson already offers substantial hotel capacity, a well-developed entertainment district, and a large restaurant and retail sector that serves millions of visitors each year. This infrastructure significantly lowers the barriers to hosting multi-day tournaments that require coordinated lodging, dining, and entertainment for athletes and their families.

Geography further strengthens the region’s competitive position. Located within driving distance of numerous Midwestern population centers, the Branson area sits within a dense regional market for youth sports tournaments. Additionally, local assets such as Link Academy—which has quickly gained national recognition as a premier high school basketball program—demonstrate the area’s growing profile in competitive athletics and its emerging sports ecosystem. Existing recreational facilities, including the Branson RecPlex, and Ball Parks of America, also provide a local foundation for youth sports programming and community athletics.

Within this broader context, the proposed Branson Indoor Sports Facility represents a strategic extension of the region’s tourism economy. The opportunity is underscored by the scale of the youth and amateur sports tourism industry, as participatory sports tourism generated $149 billion in economic impact across the country in 2025. This figure includes $60 billion in direct spending, $39 billion in indirect sales within the sector's supply chains, and $49 billion in induced spending from more than 880,000 jobs the sector supports. Based on current plans, the multi-purpose indoor complex will be roughly 170,320 square feet, anchored by approximately 72,800 square feet of hardwood court space capable of accommodating eight basketball courts or sixteen volleyball courts simultaneously, with flexible configurations for other court sports such as pickleball. Telescopic seating for approximately 4,000 spectators would enable the facility to host amateur sporting events and large youth tournaments.

Attracting traveling teams and tournament spectators underpins the project's economic rationale, as spending by these visitors supports the broader economy. Because the majority of tournament-related expenditures occur outside the venue itself, primarily in hotels, restaurants, and retail establishments, this visitor activity would flow directly into the surrounding Branson tourism economy. Nationally, overnight sports travelers spent an average of $371 per person per trip in 2025, contributing $12.3 billion to the lodging industry and nearly $8 billion to recreation and entertainment. For the Branson Lakes Area, a regional sports facility positions the destination to capture a growing share of this spending, drawing visitors who extend their stays and patronize the local hospitality economy.

One of the most immediate economic opportunities created by sports tourism is its ability to extend Branson’s traditionally seasonal visitor economy. While tourism in the Branson Lakes Area has historically been concentrated in peak summer and holiday periods, youth and amateur sports tournaments are often scheduled during late winter and early spring—times when leisure visitation is lower. By attracting traveling teams and families during these shoulder seasons, sports tourism can help stabilize hotel occupancy, increase restaurant and retail activity, and support more consistent employment across the region’s tourism sector. Taking the visitation benefits one step further, the new visitors introduced to the Branson area through tournament travel may return later for leisure trips, reinforcing long-term tourism demand. 

Beyond Standard Economic Benefits

Investments in sports infrastructure promote more active communities. Active communities are associated with a wide range of measurable benefits, including youth achieving higher test scores and being more likely to attend college. There are also economic gains through reduced healthcare costs, improved health outcomes, and increased workforce productivity. In fact, increased youth physical activity alone could generate up to $80 billion in economic savings nationwide. The Aspen Institute’s Project Play initiative provides additional research and data on these outcomes.

Redefining the Branson Lakes Area

When approached strategically, the proposed Taney County Indoor Sports & Events Center represents a transformational opportunity for the region. Much like the development of Branson Landing helped redefine the area’s entertainment and retail economy, investment in tournament-scale sports infrastructure has the potential to expand and diversify the region’s tourism base for decades to come. By aligning existing tourism assets with a rapidly growing segment of the visitor economy, the Branson Lakes Area can strengthen its position as a year-round destination while supporting sustained regional economic growth.