Economic development also looks like this
by February 7, 2009 5:36 pm 53 views
Several thousand people visited the Fort Smith/Van Buren area this weekend (Feb. 7-8) to participate in the Battle of the Fort, a regional volleyball tournament sponsored by the Fort Smith Junior Olympic volleyball association.
The second part of the tournament is scheduled for Feb. 21-22.
Tournament officials expect no less than 3,000 people to travel with the 156 teams coming to the area. The economic impact of this tournament is estimated between $2 million and $2.5 million. (Link here for for the full report on the economic impact of regional tournaments like the Battle of the Fort.)
The Battle of the Fort began 10 years ago with just 14 teams and now hosts 176 teams from Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. That’s an annualized 10-year growth rate of 115.71%.
Below are photos of activity at the games held at the Fort Smith Convention Center. All photos were graciously provided by John Long.
