Broward County amassed an estimated 700 million dollars in economic impact from sports and entertainment events in 2025, according to data collected by Oxford Economics, Simpleview, and the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau.
"In case you were wondering, the economic impact on sports tourism in @browardinfo county is really powerful. Adds jobs, dollars and quality of life," Broward County Commissioner Michael Udine wrote on social media. "Well done @visitlauderdale. Keep up the great work."
According to a post shared by Udine, the results of Broward County's revenue are the following:
- 128 events
- $695 million impact
- 347K incremental room nights
- 337K event attendees
- 50% pct of convention room nights
- +20 expected impact in 2026
South Florida, including Broward, had several high-impact events in 2025 and into 2026. More events are also expected to impact the county's revenue later this year.
Events include:
- College Hockey South Battle at the Beach: Oct. 25 - 26, 2005
- Pickleball World Cup: Oct. 7 - Nov. 2, 2005
- Columbia vs New Zealand (soccer) FIFA Friendly: Nov. 15, 2025
- U.S. Women's National Team (soccer) vs Italy FIFA Friendly: Dec. 1, 2025
- World Sevens: Dec. 4 - 7, 2025
- Heritage Fire Festival: Dec. 7
- Messi Cup: Dec. 9 - 14, 2025
- USA Artistic Swimming Junior National Team Trials: Jan. 17 - 19, 2026
- College Football Playoff National Championship: Jan. 19, 2026
- College Hockey South Division I, II, III Women's Playoffs: Feb 26 - March 2026
- World Aquatic High Diving World Cup: May 15 - 17, 2026
- Balling on the Beach Girls Tournament: June 19 - 21, 2026
- AAU Diving National Championship: July 14 - 24, 2026
Another related event, the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (FLIBS), is expected to bring nearly $1.8B in economic impact to Florida later this year. The event includes over 100,000 boat attendees, 1,300 boats on display, and 1,000 exhibiting brands.
FLIBS is set for Oct. 28 to Nov. 1.
Adding to Broward's sports atmosphere, soccer's Inter Miami, which plays its home games at Chase Stadium (formerly DRV PNK Stadium) in Fort Lauderdale, just became Major League Soccer's (MLS) most valuable franchise at 1.45 billion dollars.
The club sits ahead of Los Angeles FC ($1.4B) and the Los Angeles Galaxy ($1.17B) out of 30 MLS teams in the rankings.
Inter Miami is led by soccer star Lionel Messi, who joined the club in 2023. Messi signed a contract extension with the club in 2025.
