SALT LAKE CITY (March 2021) – Due to the substantial growth of sports tourism in recent years, Visit Salt Lake (VSL) recently launched its newly-formed sports sales and marketing division, Sports Salt Lake, the focus of which is the continued growth of this multi-billion segment of the nation’s tourism industry and an ever-growing portion of Salt Lake’s visitor economy.

In collaboration with those who operate Salt Lake’s expansive collection of sports-related venues, VSL’s Clay Partain has actively pursued sporting events the past seven years and now moves into an expanded role as Managing Director of Sports Salt Lake. In the past decade, the sport segment of VSL’s sales efforts has grown from a relatively small market space to representing a significant portion of its total production, the last three years of which saw 88 sport-related events booked that are projected to attract 420,000-plus event attendees to Salt Lake with a collective direct spend of more than $151 million while in our community.   

In addition to Partain, VSL’s Sports Salt Lake team includes Chris Robinson, Sports Sales Manager, responsible for the southern portion of the Salt Lake valley and its multiple venues, working in tandem with the South Valley Chamber; Caryn Bradshaw, Sports Services Manager; and Kristen Hiester, Marketing Manager.

“We have used ‘Sports Salt Lake’ the past few months when referring to our sports marketing and sales efforts and on the sports page of our website,” said Kaitlin Eskelson, president & CEO of Visit Salt Lake. “Similar to our using a more customized approach to solicit other vertical market segments, Sports Salt Lake allows our team to approach the sports business with a consistent look and feel. The end goal is simple: we want to see more events and teams, along with their sizable support groups, come to Salt Lake for sports and athletic events alongside our many traditional conventions and meetings.”