The Rocket City is quickly becoming the City of Champions and that means economic dollars for the area.

Fourteen sports events over a three-month period generated an unprecedented economic flow into the city and area, based on calculations by Destinations International.

Sports tourism for the Huntsville area produced more than $10.3 million in that span, the Huntsville-Madison County Convention and Visitors Bureau announced Monday.

In April, the 2021 Coastal Collegiate Sports Association Beach Volleyball Championship was held at John Hunt Park with Florida State and LSU qualifying for the NCAA beach volleyball national tournament; the SEC held its gymnastics championships in March at the Von Braun Center and crowned the University of Alabama to end LSU’s three-year reign; the Southwestern Athletic Conference baseball tournament was hosted at Toyota Field in Madison last week and saw Southern University win to qualify for the NCAA baseball tournament; and the Gulf South Conference held its spring soccer series in April.

“Industry experts predicted that sports tourism would lead the way out of the pandemic, and that has certainly proved true here,” CVB President/CEO Judy Ryals said in a press release.

And the trend will continue. This month, the Rocket City Trash Pandas made their pandemic-delayed Minor League Baseball debut and drew about 40,000 fans to their first six-game home stand at Toyota Field in Madison. The team has 54 more home games ahead, beginning tonight with the Birmingham Barons visiting for six games.

Three other national competitions with an anticipated economic impact of more than $4.5 million are also on the way: the USA Swimming Futures Championship and USTA Girls 16s National Clay Court Championship in July and the National Club Swimming Association Championship in August.

One of the recent marquee events, the SEC Gymnastics Championship, landed at the Von Braun Center when the league decided that original host city New Orleans wasn’t practical during the pandemic. Other events moved here when cities were unable to host.

“We were well-positioned to host these events because of the teamwork between partners, like the Convention & Visitors Bureau, local governments, the Huntsville Sports Commission, the Von Braun Center and the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce,” Ryals said. “It’s also a credit to the foresight of our elected officials and civic leaders who have made investments in facilities that make us a world-class sports destination.”

Mark McCarter, convention sales manager for the CVB, gave some insight into the recruitment of these events. He has trips planned for later in the year around the country at trade shows to woe potential clients.

At these shows suitors, instead of setting up their lone tent, move from table to table courting representatives of various organizations.

“There’s everybody from the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association to AAU basketball to the PGA who all have these tables and you just go around basically five-minute speed dating,’’ McCarter said. “Over the course of three days you’ve got these five-minute meetings, seven-minute meetings and three-minute meetings, then you have to hustle to the other side of the conference for another meeting.

“You sit down with this person and tell them about Huntsville.’’

McCarter said the teamwork involving various entities has helped lift Huntsville’s sports hosting profile.

“What’s especially gratifying is how all these organizations that have placed events here for the first time, or had to do so in a pinch, initiate conversations with us about returning,” he said. “They have been so impressed with how we responded to their needs, to the area, the hospitality, the venues and the attendance, Huntsville is on their radar for future events and long-term partnerships.”