Millions of sports fans are planning their Great American Getaway to Pennsylvania. Why? In 2026, the state will host the NFL Draft, the MLB All-Star Game, the PGA Championship and FIFA World Cup matches, making it a “historic” year for sports tourism in the Keystone State.
More than just visiting a city for an away game, sports tourism – how people vacation around their fandom – is the fastest-growing sector of global tourism according to The Institutional Relations and Partnerships Department of the United Nations. Ten percent of the world’s tourism dollars are spent by folks travelling as fans or spectators for sporting events.
Put me in that percentage. I have travelled to national parks in search of sports history, toured the locker rooms of professional football teams, and found excuses to root for the home team in faraway places.
TOUCHDOWNS
“Do not step on the logo,” said Dan Rooney, director of business development and strategy for the Pittsburgh Steelers, while we stood in the Steelers’ locker room before the start of the 2025 season. I did not divulge I was a Cleveland Browns fan nor how tempted I was to defy him. But Rooney was a great host and respect won out. After all, I was lucky to score a tour of the Steelers facility while in town to cover the U.S. Open golf championship at Oakmont Country Club.
After the facility tour, personnel from VisitPITTSBURGH led the group of writers down North Shore Drive, where a new countdown clock stood, ticking the days away until the city hosts the NFL Draft, which is being held April 23-25. The destination marketing organization expects 500,000 to 700,000 fans to descend on the Steel City for the event. “Pittsburgh is officially on the clock,” said Jerad Bachar, president & CEO of VisitPITTSBURGH. “The community’s enthusiasm for the event has been infectious.”
Details: VisitPITTSBURGH.com
Even a fan of the lowly Browns can get excited for an NFL Draft in Pittsburgh. Making pilgrimages to the hallowed grounds of NFL history was nothing new to me. When I visited Wisconsin in 2023, touring Lambeau Field was high on my To-Do list. It is an amazing feeling to walk into a stadium (even in the offseason) with such deep and historic roots. I learned several things – the grass is not to be stepped on by visitors, and Green Bay is a place I would easily call home if the opportunity arose. This brief stop on a long tour of the Midwest introduced me to a hardworking city busting out of its industrial shell to embrace a tech-savvy future with a standard of living high above other places I have visited. Just think, maybe I could become one of 500,000 shareholders who own the Packers!
HOMERUNS
I love to travel for baseball. Hot Springs, Arkansas, has seen me twice enjoying their ties to the early game and Babe Ruth. (FYI: the Sultan of Swing visited Lancaster County in the fall of 1919 as part of a Boston Red Sox exhibition game held at what was Klein’s Athletic Field in Elizabethtown. The Sox lost to the chocolate company’s semi-pro team. The event is recalled each Christmas season by The Train Guys’ set-up in the basement of the Elizabethtown Public Library.)
I attended the Whoopie Pie Game in Portland, Maine, when Reading’s Fightin Phils played the Seadogs. Last fall the family took a long weekend to Cooperstown, New York; here, the game can be the center of a vacation with a visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame, or part of a stay at the legendary Otesaga Resort, where you can enjoy a quaint, lakeside town filled with eateries, shops and outdoor activities.
A few years ago, I caught three baseball games at three different stadiums in three days. Home stands for the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Washington (PA) Wild Things, and the Altoona Curve all happened to coincide, so I packed the family into the car and headed west. Tickets to Pirates games are generally easy to get. And the Curve game at Peoples Natural Gas Field (the only baseball stadium in the USA to have a roller coaster as a backdrop) welcomed the Fightin Phils (the highlight here, beyond a Reading win, was the awesome entrance by the legendary mascot Al Tuna).
But the most spirited baseball I have ever seen took place in Washington County, when the Wild Things of the Frontier League eked out a win by swinging at nearly everything, stealing every base possible (including home!), and making Sports Center-worthy defensive plays. We would all attend another Wild Things game in a heartbeat! Now, if I could just get into one of those Savannah Bananas games.
The jaunt to western PA allowed us to ride part of the Montour Trail with Tandem Connection bikes, learn about the Whiskey Rebellion at the Bradford House Museum in Washington, PA, and taste a few brews at Rusty Gold Brewing in Canonsburg. We may never have visited this area without the draw of a ballgame.
This summer, Philadelphia will welcome baseball fans for the MLB All-Star Game on July 14 at Citizens Bank Park. An entire week of city-wide fan interaction will feature a concert by The Roots, appearances by Phillies legends, fan experiences and historic tie-ins with America’s 250th celebration. Just an FYI: editor Sue Long highly recommends taking in the Home Run Derby. “It’s probably the coolest sporting event I’ve ever attended,” she says of the derby, having attended in 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Bryce Harper, still a Nat at the time, won that year’s derby.) “You get to see all the players on the two teams plus the atmosphere is electric.” She also recommends getting seats that are high up … better to see the balls fly across the night sky.
Details: Visitpa.com/2026/mlb-all-star
GOOOAAALLLS!
My participation in soccer as a kid made me a World Cup and Premiere League fan, which led to my first taste of sports tourism in 1997, when I visited France and the country was gearing up for the World Cup. I bought a souvenir hat, which I still wear on special occasions.
The opportunity to grab some more souvenirs and be swept up in the excitement of the FIFA World Cup comes closer to home this year. Philadelphia will host six international matches, with the hot ticket coming on July 4 with a Round of 16 game. The big names coming to Philly include Brazil, Croatia and France. I will be at some of these games, so make sure to follow on social media!
Details: Phillyfwc26.com
TEE TIME
Golf fans will want to head for the Aronimink Golf Club in Newton Square for the PGA Championship being held May 11-17. It marks the first time in over 60 years that the tourney is being held in the region.
Details: Visitpa.com
Speaking of golf, Lancastrians do not need much of a primer on the importance of sports tourism after having twice hosted the U.S. Women’s Open at the Lancaster Country Club. Discover Lancaster is engaging in marketing and public relations initiatives to hopefully draw some sports tourists in Philly this way.
Director of Communications Joel Cliff goes on to note that youth sports tournaments provide quite a lot of visitation for our area, with Spooky Nook Sports leading the way. Sue shares a funny story related to that. Driving to North Carolina, she happened to tune into Tony Kornheiser’s D.C.-based sports-radio show just in time to hear a caller ask Tony if he’s ever heard of a place in Pennsylvania called Spooky Nook, as his kid had a basketball tournament in what he perceived to be “the middle of nowhere.” Tony happened to be knowledgeable about Spooky Nook, assuring the caller the facility is legit and even provided his dining recommendations for Lancaster.
NOTE: For Michael’s take on the World of Little League Museum in Williamsport, PA, check out “Nights for a Museum” in the October 2021 issue or learn how to pregame with Cylo in the August 2021 issue.
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