(Virginia Beach, Va., August 26, 2014) – The City of Virginia Beach was recently voted as the top destination in the nation for combining sports events and vacations by SportsEvents magazine.  This is the second honor for the Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) in the past year, having previously been recognized by SportsEvents Media Group with a 2014 Readers’ Choice Award in February. Polling online social media followers, SportsEvents magazine cited the city’s top-notch sporting venues and the wealth of available activities for participants and spectators as key factors to Virginia Beach ranking first in a field of 19 destinations. “We are thrilled to have this honor,” said Virginia Beach CVB Director James B. Ricketts.  “Sports marketing is a key player in helping to drive Virginia Beach’s tourism industry – which is Virginia Beach’s second-largest revenue generator – and positioning our coastal city as a year-round destination.  The combination of world-class beaches and top-notch sports venues gives Virginia Beach a desirable advantage in the sports event industry.” Data maintained by the Virginia Beach CVB Convention Sales & Marketing division shows that annually for the past five years, the CVB sports marketing sales team has generated an average of 100,338 hotel room night bookings, the majority of which occur between October and May. In addition to the state-of-the-art Virginia Beach Convention Center, which hosts thousands of athletes and sports enthusiasts each year, Virginia Beach lays claim to a growing list of exceptional sporting facilities and venues, including:  

  • -Virginia’s largest indoor sports complex, the Virginia Beach Field House, offering 175,000 square feet of indoor space for a variety of field and court sports;
  • -The Hampton Roads Soccer Complex, a 75-acre outdoor soccer mecca with 19 fields;
  • -A premiere tennis facility,  the Virginia Beach Tennis Center, boasting 10 indoor and 28 outdoor tennis courts and hosts numerous United States Tennis Association events and tournaments.
  • -The Virginia Beach Sportsplex, a multi-sport/multi-surface complex and stadium for athletic competition and home to the USA National Field Hockey Regional Training Center, and one of America’s most well-known field hockey complexes.

With 265 parks and facilities, Virginia Beach Parks & Recreation offers an array of athletic opportunities throughout the city. Earlier this year, Virginia Beach City Council approved a proposal to construct the Princess Anne Commons Youth Baseball Complex and Stadium in a portion of the Princess Anne Commons Athletic Village. This new venue is expected to offer a host of amenities including a 5,000-seat stadium, lighted sports fields and commercial office space for sports-related education and businesses. Groundbreaking is anticipated to occur in 2015.