#8 Houston
▶ RÉSUMÉ: Annual events include the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (since 1932); PGA Tour Cadence Bank Houston Open (1946); Chevron Houston Marathon (1972); and LPGA Chevron Championship (moved from Rancho Mirage, Calif., after the 2022 tournament). Other recent events: Super Bowl LI; 2019 and 2022 NCAA Division III Women’s Golf Championships; 2021 World Table Tennis Championships; 2023 NCAA Division I Men’s Final Four; USA Rugby 2023 College 7s Championships; 2023 Gold Cup (only city in the country to host matches at two pro stadiums); and 2024 College Football Championship Game.
RECENT WINS: 2024 Copa América; 2025, 2027, 2031 AAU Junior Olympic Games; 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Regionals; 2026 FIFA World Cup (seven matches); 2028 UCI BMX World Championships; and multiple major youth baseball and softball tournaments.
By 2031, Houston will have hosted the AAU Junior Olympic Games six times, more than any other city. The event generates 16,000 room nights, which fuels a critical revenue stream for the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, which owns Minute Maid Park, Shell Energy Stadium and Toyota Center and is responsible for NRG Stadium debt. The county owns NRG Stadium and leases it to the Houston Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Attendance figures for this year’s 20-day Western event, which ended March 17, were not available at press time, but last year’s event drew nearly 2.5 million. Additionally, teams from four countries generated significant lodging tax revenue during the inaugural Concacaf W Gold Cup, which concluded March 10.
▶ VENUES: Between the George R. Brown Convention Center (which in 2021 hosted the only World Table Tennis Championships in the U.S. in the event’s 95-year history) and NRG Park, planners have just less than 2 million square feet of exhibit space.
▶ FORWARD PROGRESS: Last year, the city logged one of its best years in hotel tax revenue, as the $38.6 million generated was 19% more than 2019. Houston added 1,600 rooms to its hotel inventory last year and 21 additional properties (950 rooms) are either under construction or in final planning, including one adjacent to Minute Maid Park as part of an entertainment center recently announced by the Houston Astros. A $1.43 billion project expansion of George Bush Intercontinental Airport that began in 2018 is on track to finish next January.
▶ STAY AND PLAY: Spend a day at the Johnson Space Center and Space Center Houston or at the city’s walkable Museum District, which features 19 museums.