Young athletes and their families contributed as much as $41 million of spending to the Hampton Roads economy during the Amateur Athletic Union's Junior Olympic Games this summer, according to one estimate.
The Games, held from July 29 to Aug. 7, drew 14,733 athletes from the United States and several other nations. The athletes participated in 18 events at venues in Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
The Hampton Roads Sports Commission, which hosted the event, commissioned an economic impact study by Sportsimpacts, a Missouri-based company specializing in sports-related economic research. It spent $10,000 on the study.
The $41 million is Sports-impacts' "aggressive estimate" of increased regional spending. The conservative estimate was $35 million, said Jack Ankerson, executive director of the Hampton Roads Sports Commission.
Made in the U.S.A.