SportsTravel Names Olympic Swimming Trials Best Amateur Event, Indianapolis Best Host City

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

SportsTravel Names Olympic Swimming Trials Best Amateur Event, Indianapolis Best Host City

The historic 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Indianapolis is still on the minds of swim fans and travelers across the country.

The event won the 2024 SportsTravel Award for best amateur event this week in Anaheim.

The awards were part of the TEAMS (Travel, Evens and Management in Sports) 2024 Conference and Expo honoring the best events, venues and host cities in the country.

The Olympic swimming trials took place at Lucas Oil Stadium, the first swimming event staged in an NFL stadium. During 17 sessions, the stadium saw an average of 16,000 fans per session, maxing at 22,209 on June 19 for the largest swim meet in history.

More than 250,000 attended fan events in and around Lucas Oil Stadium as well, including the AquaZone.

“We are proud of the work done to execute the world’s largest and most exciting swim meet in Indianapolis in June,” Shana Ferguson, COO and interim CEO of USA Swimming said. “We owe a depth of gratitude to the membership of USA Swimming, thousands of volunteers, and the community of Indianapolis for helping us execute a meet the best athletes in the world deserved.”

Indianapolis was also named Best Host City of the year. Since July of 2023, Indianapolis has hosted events that total an estimated $500 million in economic impact, including the 2023 Big Ten Football Championship, the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend, the 2024 NFL Combine, 2024 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball First and Second Rounds, and the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming.

The SportsTravel Awards are nominated and voted on by the readers of SportsTravel. Criteria for nomination and voting for the 2024 SportsTravel Awards program included events that occurred or venues that opened between August 1, 2023, and July 31, 2024.

“We’ve seen incredible developments in women’s sports in particular, which is indicative in our readers recognizing the largest sports event for women ever held and the first stadium built specifically for a women’s professional team,” said Jason Gewirtz, vice president of the Sports Division of Northstar Meetings Group, which publishes SportsTravel. “But all of our winners broke new ground in sporting events whether at the professional, collegiate or amateur level. The sports-event industry is strong, and our roster of winners reflects that extraordinary growth.”

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