Close to 2,500 female athletes (ages 12 to 18) from across the Northeast will travel to Greater Hartford this weekend for two volleyball tournaments. The event is expected to have a strong economic impact on the region.
Organizers say more than 10,000 people are expected to attend – including the players, their families and friends, tournament officials, college players, fans and spectators.
Both tournaments are projected to generate over $3.9 million in combined revenue for the Greater Hartford region during the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, according to the Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau. The bureau also reported close to a combined total of 5,000 room nights at 31 hotels from Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks down to Cromwell and projected sales tax revenue of $312,764.
The New England Region Volleyball Association will host the “2016 Mizuno New England Winterfest Volleyball Tournament” in the Connecticut Convention Center at 100 Columbus Blvd. in Hartford from Friday through Monday. Designed to showcase female volleyball players to college coaches and recruiters from throughout the Northeast, the tournament will feature 2,100 athletes on 209 teams.
The second, smaller tournament, the “Husky Sweet 16,” takes place in Windsor on Saturday and Sunday. The tournament was created in 2015 by Connecticut’s Husky Volleyball club to accommodate the overflow of athletes from the Winterfest Tournament.
