#19 Cleveland

▶ RÉSUMÉ: Annual events include the Union Home Cleveland Marathon (since 1978); Mid-American Conference men’s (since 2000) and women’s (2001) basketball tournaments; and WTA Tennis In The Land Open (2021). Other events include: 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships; 2019 MLB All-Star Game; 2021 NFL Draft; 2022 NBA All-Star Game; 2022 NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Championships; and last week’s NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships.

▶ RECENT WINS: 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball first and second rounds and 2026 Men’s Wrestling Championships; and 2026 NCAA Women’s Bowling Championships.

Three events this year will bring the city significant national TV exposure: Next month’s NCAA Division I Women’s Final Four (last year’s championship game averaged 9.9 million viewers); this summer’s Pan-American Masters Games (the city’s biggest sporting event ever) with its 10,000 athletes from 50 countries; and WWE SummerSlam at

Cleveland Browns Stadium in August.

▶ FORWARD PROGRESS: Since its $185 million renovation in 2019, Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse has hosted the NBA All-Star Game in 2022 (which brought in 121,641 visitors from 45 states and 24 countries); extended its decadeslong Mid-American Conference partnership through 2030; and will bring women’s college basketball’s best to town with the Final Four. A $49 million renovation at the Huntington Convention Center, whose sports résumé includes national fencing and volleyball tournaments, will be completed in a few weeks. The adjacent 600-room Hilton Cleveland Downtown will host next month’s Women’s Basketball Coaches Association convention. Progressive Field is undergoing a $203 million renovation. Cleveland State recently proposed building an on-campus $650 million mixed-use development that included replacing its 13,000-seat Wolstein Center.

▶ UNIQUE VENUES: Adjacent to the convention center, the 104-year-old Cleveland Public Auditorium, designed to resemble a grand opera house, has hosted events such as the 2018 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships. The 800-acre SPIRE Academy, among North America’s largest multisport complexes, has hosted multiple college and Olympic sport championships.

▶ STAY AND PLAY: Visitors can buy a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame (an hour south of downtown) combo ticket.

The WTA Tennis in the Land Open at Jacobs Pavilion is held the week before the U.S. Open and is the final women’s event in the U.S. Open Series.