If you ask the professionals at Visit Phoenix, hosting a massive citywide event with thousands of attendees is just another day at the office. In the last decade, Greater Phoenix has earned the nickname "Championship Valley" thanks to the legacy of nationally recognized sporting events hosted by the country's fifth-largest city.
Greater Phoenix welcomes the Professional Golf Association and Major League Baseball each spring for the Waste Management Open and Cactus League Spring Training. The destination has hosted the Super Bowl four times—most recently in 2023. And in 2024, the NCAA Men's Final Four basketball tournament joins the roster.
But it's not just the near-perfect weather that draws these mega sports events to Greater Phoenix.
In recent years, the city has made more than $5 billion in investments in its downtown corridor, improved transportation infrastructure such as expanding rail travel, and completed major renovations to Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport. These investments allow the destination to keep pace with the evolving demands of the massive events it hosts. In addition, the team at Visit Phoenix has the kind of bona fides that one can earn only from experience guiding mega-event clients to victory.
Revitalized Downtown Corridor
Arriving in downtown Phoenix, you'll discover a thriving, walkable corridor flush with reimagined hotels, retail space, and stellar cuisine.
Locals' favorite hotspots like The Duce (a warehouse-turned-bar with ping-pong, shuffleboard, and foosball) and the James Beard award-winning Pizzeria Bianco are just steps from event venues like The Footprint Center and Chase Field. Downtown hotels also upped their game, with properties like the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown and the AC Hotel by Marriott Phoenix Downtown completing major renovations. And finally, the city's rich heritage and culture are always on display in neighborhoods like the Roosevelt Row arts district, where the monthly First Friday art walks are a must-attend event.
Transportation Infrastructure
The City of Phoenix has invested more than $1.2 billion over three years on Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport renovations and improvements, including a new eight-gate concourse for Southwest Airlines, modern updates to Terminal 3, and a 2.5-mile PHX Sky Train extension to the Rental Car Center. The Wall Street Journal also recently ranked the airport as "The #1 Best Airport in the U.S."
Location
With more than 300 days of sunshine annually, Greater Phoenix is perfect for exploring the outdoors. Located in the heart of the Sonoran Desert, visitors marvel at the towering saguaro cactuses and breathtaking mountain ranges that provide endless recreation opportunities.
Walking through the Desert Botanical Garden is a great way to experience one of the world's most unique ecosystems. Other ways to experience the beauty of Phoenix's Sonoran Desert include kayaking along the Salt River or a hot air balloon ride through our desert sky. There's no sunset like the one you will experience in Phoenix, so make sure you jot that into your itinerary.
Of course, the first step to hosting a successful mega-event is to build a winning team, which Greater Phoenix has already done for event planners. Go to visitphoenix.com/meetings to start planning your next event in Championship Valley.
