College Football's Big Score for Local Tourism
Skift Take
They say college football is like a religion. Its worshippers are creating a whole new category of tourism across the country during the fall.
In one of the most highly anticipated college football rivalries this season, the University of Florida Gators will take on the University of Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon. Along with their teams, thousands of fans will trek to a neutral playing site in Jacksonville, Florida, booking hotels and Airbnbs, eating in restaurants, and spreading cash around wherever they can — before, after, and during the nationally televised game.
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) possesses some of the most rabid fans in all of college football who never miss home or away games. Saturdays are sacrosanct, held high as a ritual whose beneficiaries are the small businesses throughout the Southeast United States playing host to the throngs every weekend.
College football is a boon to local tourism, pouring tens of millions of dollars into college town economies. Consider that in 2017, more than 47 million people attended college football games, according NCAA figures for all divisions.
Sometimes fans find cheap flights to watch their teams, but more often than not it's about the good old trip. Visiting college football towns in the fall is now a regular marketing pitch, with big media brands like the Travel Channel picking up on the trend. And tour operators offer packages specifically catering to the traveling college football fan like Golden Sports Tours of Plano, Texas.
No division exemplifies this growing phenomenon better than the SEC.
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