So I'm here with Clay Partain and Clay

has grown up in the ranks here and now

is running Sports Salt Lake. Is that

true? like is that give give us the

background of what's happening as visit

Salt Lake has grown up into Sports Salt

Lake and your role in that organization.

Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm actually entering my

12th year at Visit Salt Lake. So, I've

been around the destination marketing

organization for, you know, over a

decade now. I was hired on uh to um as

the director of sport market sales and

and back in 2014 when they hired me, it

was sort of this side gig that Visit

Salt Lake uh wanted to get more involved

in. They didn't really have much

experience in it. They were kind of

booking sporting events sort of as they

came along, but they weren't really

being proactive in it. Um and you know

the the de the the destination marketing

organization was widely known as a

convention centric uh organization. So

they do a fabulous job landing

conventions, right?

But they wanted to get more involved in

sport. So um came on board with them and

uh and you know it's it's uh this is a

relationship driven game. Um it is a

sales game. Uh and my background has

been in sales. uh in tourism sales. I

worked for a number of years for for

different hotel brands. Um but came on

board and um you know started building

those relationships, started learning um

learning the sports tourism business in

a more uh strategic way and we started

growing it. And so over the years we

just kept each year we kept booking a

few more events and getting a few more

room nights into the destination. And I

would say by about 2018,

we started looking at what some of the I

would say the the destination leaders

across the country were doing. So, uh

you know, some of our comp cities that

seem to be ahead of us,

right?

Pittsburgh was one of them. Visit

Pittsburgh uh was one of the first major

DMOs to launch a sports division. It's

called Sports Pittsburgh. They did this

a number of years ago,

right? Um, Milwaukee kind of followed

suit. Visit Milwaukee launched Sports

Milwaukee. So, we saw these things

happening across the other DMOs and we

we saw the effectiveness that they were

having by being more strategically

aligned with sports business, being able

to um

sort of talk the talk in the industry.

The the sports organizers can quickly

pick up if if you understand the

business or not. Um, so if you come at

it like it's just another meeting or

convention, you're not really speaking

their language. Um, and they can kind of

see through that pretty quickly. So, uh,

there was a lot to gain by us sort of

following that same model and expanding

Visit Salt Lake to include a sports

division. So, we started thinking about

it even back then. Um, I actually drew

up a business plan, had several meetings

with our leadership about it back back

then. Um, but for for several reasons,

we had paused it. Um and then of course

COVID happens.

Um during uh right at the beginning of

COVID, um our former CEO had left and um

the uh the county leadership had and our

board had hired on Caitlyn Ecklesen

who's Escen who's got um fabulous uh u

um experience in tourism in this tourism

industry. She she helped lead state

tourism initiatives. she's done um

marketing efforts for this not only the

state but actually formerly with Visit

Salt Lake, right?

Um so she understood uh she had a she

had a different perspective.

Um and so you know I'd say just a short

time after she arrived uh we reviewed

the opportunity again and um and she

didn't hesitate. She she said this is

what we need to do. Um, so we we

launched Sports Salt Lake in January

2021

and have really just been flying ever

since. We've had progressive

uh uh escalation of of bookings each

year. Each year we're we're each year

we're outperforming the year before. Um,

so we've been on this march and it's

it's been a wild ride and and I would

say uh I know I'm talking liar.

It's been great.

Um, you know, there's there was a lot of

things that aligned with our not only

were we doing a really good job

proactively and strategically chasing

sporting events, but Salt Lake was

entering and you know this, you've

you've been involved in the sports scene

around our destination. Salt Lake is

emerging as uh as a sports destination

leader in the US in many ways and this

is proof with you know the professional

teams that are now coming here. Um you

know we we have an NHL team now in the

market. We've got a future Olympic games

coming in in 2034. We've got all this

excitement happening. Um the world and

everyone is seeing the growth and the

vibrancy of Salt Lake expand as a sports

leader. Why do you think that is? Why?

What makes Salt Lake different? Brag

about Salt Lake because it's easy. It's

easy for us. Like I mean I go around the

country, you go around the country and

like what makes Salt Lake and Utah such

an incredible place to be for sport.

I came here during the 2002 Olympics um

when it was here and I wasn't an

athlete. I was was actually uh waiting

tables and I just graduated from college

and uh um was just out here literally as

a ski bum looking for looking for actual

work, right? Looking for actual work. I

was 24 back when you could be a ski bum.

24 years old. A good gig, right? Yeah,

exactly. Um I I I actually sold uh I

actually sold uh bootleg t-shirts during

the 2002 games. Uh,

probably shouldn't have been.

We won't get into that too much. And

statue limitations.

Well, and I actually I actually never

really sold many of them, but people did

offer me tickets. So, I actually traded

some shirts for tickets and I got to go

to some really cool events. One of the

most memorable ones was going to see

Peekaboo Street with her last race.

Yeah.

And getting to see that moment.

Um, but it was really cool coming into

the market and I've set, you know, I

I've stayed in Salt Lake ever since the

uh laid some roots here. I have children

here now. Um, salt Salt Lake and Utah

are home to me. Um, but I've watched

this city progress over the last 25

years. You know, when I moved here, it

it was not the city that it is now.

Absolutely.

There's so many things that have

changed. I mean, we've got this massive,

incredible airport. This has been

recently ranked as the number one

airport in the country,

uh, in many ways. And, um, we've got

these, uh, big developments downtown.

the Hyatt Regency

massive hotel headquarter hotel that's

now connected to the Salt Palace to have

all these restaurants and local

businesses that have moved in. Um we

have the livable population in the

downtown area is almost doubled just in

the last few years and it's expected I

believe to double again in the next few

years. Um, so the downtown scene, which

used to be sort of this commuter town,

um, a little sleepy on the weekends, is

now a really hot scene. It's um, as you

know, I mean, there's awesome places to

eat. There's so much entertainment and

nightife going on. You can go and catch

a jazz game. You can go over and catch a

Broadway show. There's just so much

going on. And we're just talking, we are

in a different city than we used to be,

in a different destination than we used

to be. So, I'd say the Olympics coming

in 2034 and hockey coming into the

market, I believe we're all pretty

confident that we're going to get Major

League Baseball. I I would not count out

Miller Sports and Entertainment. They

will make this happen. I firmly believe

that. Um, they know what they're doing.

They are leaders in the space. I think

we are ideally situated for Major League

Baseball. So, I I believe we will get

that. Um, and this city and then you've

got Smith Entertainment who is is

working with the city and the county and

state on a revitalization in this

entertainment district. This city is

just popping, man. It's popping. Now,

we're going to have some growing pains.

You know, it's not going to be easy to

go through some of the construction and

some of the things, but

um, when we come out of the other side,

we are going to be probably one of the

most desirable cities in the world to

come and have an event in.

Absolutely. And it's like I I travel,

you travel, I travel across the country

for events, right? We're live streaming

events, we're doing production.

It it is wonderful to come to the Salt

Lake City Upwork every time. Like you

you come home and you're just like, "Oh

man, this is such a nice place."

It is

in comparison, right?

Um talk about from a Salt Lake City

standpoint. We've worked together over

the last several years in the water polo

space and bringing water polo events.

Like you don't think of Salt Lake City

as like a main water polo destination,

but like Uh we have hundreds and

hundreds if not thousands of athletes

and hundreds of teams out there that

have come and like have fell in love

with it and like I travel the like I say

travel the country and talk to those

teams and they're still coming up to me

and saying man those events you did were

phenomenal and incredible. talk about

maybe not the top I don't want to say

like the main tier sports like the

non-tier like fencing and volleyball and

some of those other niche sports maybe

that you could that you've attracted to

Salt Lake and the benefits of that that

they can see from doing that.

Yeah. And I you know what I'm going to

reference a couple of state of industry

reports that really speak to this uh

through the through um sports events and

tourism association also called sports

ETA.

Um I serve on the board of that

association. It's a phenomenal

association. Um it's this is the main

gathering place for all things sports

tourism related in the country. Um and

so they released two different reports

over the last few years. Um and it's

interesting to compare the reports side

by side. One of them is a participant

report that talks about basically youth

and amateur events, right? And the

impact they c they bring to destinations

and the other one is spectator focus. So

this is like fans that go to collegiate

games or jazz games or right that sort

of thing.

When you compare the two side by side on

a national basis, it it's really

mind-blowing because you can actually

see that participatory events drive more

impact across the country. I believe

it's about 65%

of the total impact of all sports is

through particip participatory events

versus spectator events which which is

about like 35%.

Um it's it's actually remarkable because

I think people they just automatically

in their minds think oh it's those big

events it's those

um you know it's those uh it's all those

professional events those collegiate

events those ones we see on on ESPN.

Those must be what drives the country.

It's actually the events that are

typically not on ESPN.

Yeah.

For instance, we had we had the USA

fencing October North American Cup in

the Salt Palace this last weekend.

I would venture to guess that not many

even in our destination knew that it was

that it was in town. other than all the

hospitality businesses that were

impacted by the group being in town. Our

our hotels, our shops, and our

restaurants and and all the community

members involved in hospitality, they

all knew fencing was here because they

all were getting business, but it wasn't

on it wasn't on ESPN, right? And it's

not um you know events like that while

they're really cool for a city um it's

just different than than hosting you

know something that's going to be on

ESPN that that might bring in

spectators. Now there's an importance of

that too. I'm not saying it's not but

you know you had asked me about really

about not that top tier but what is that

middle tier mean? And that middle tier

turns out

means a lot. It means it really means

the line share of what's going on.

What's interesting and uh this is kind

of strange to say but every time I think

of you every time I go to the airport

because you just you walk in it's like

oh like volleyball's in town today like

or fencing's in town today right like I

have those eyes on that I'm watching

it's like oh how about that like we've

got water polo in town today it's like

good job Clay like way to put those

heads in the beds you know what I mean

and it's and I think that the impact

that we're h that you are having and

that sport Salt Lake is having on in the

community is huge because the so much

great stuff is they're going back and

thinking so positively about Utah, you

know.

Yeah. And and I'll say it's a team

effort. Um I would love to take credit

for that stuff, but I this is very much

a team effort. Um I've got

six staff that are part of Sports Salt

Lake. And I also want to say

the community partners we work with make

it possible for us to host these events.

Um uh there's an entity called the Utah

Sports Commission. It's our state. Yeah.

It's a state entity. Um, in many cases

with these larger events, Utah Sports

Commission is is a is

is helping financially to make it

possible for us to bring in these

events. So, we have these crucial vital

partners that are it's it's really a

team effort and that's one of the things

Utah and Salt Lake do really well.

We are a sort of a big city, but we

operate like a small town,

right? um when when an event organizer

calls our community, we quickly huddle

together and we approach that. And I

think you you you saw this firsthand

because we worked together to bring some

water polo in.

So you got to really experience it

firsthand of how we we come together.

It's really like

sort of small business uh handshake.

Yeah. you know, yes, I mean, yes, we

actually do sign stuff, but we but but

you know, in many cases, you know, that

initial it's a handshake and it's it's

everybody's just wanting to do good and

um and we come from a good place. So,

it's uh it's really a community that I'm

proud to to be a part of.

Last question. as you're as you're

facing this year-to-year growth,

what are you doing personally to stay

sharp and to uh manage that and to kind

of see strategically in the vision

forward, right? So that we can continue

to offer the best that Utah has.

Right. Right. You know, I lean I lean

really heavily into the the sports

events and tourism association. Um I'm

actually on their executive leadership.

I'll be moving into chair starting

fiscal 26 to 27. Um it's uh and it's

actually an event we're going to host in

27. We're actually have the symposium

right here in Salt Lake City. Um so

we're going to bring in all these

hundreds of rights holders from around

not only around the country, but it's

there's actually an international

component to it now.

Right.

Um

it's uh I've kind of drifted away from

what you were talking about, but that's

right. Um, I think there's a lot of

things that we're trying to do to to

stay, you know, ahead. We we we want to

be the we want to be the leaders in the

industry. We want to have that

knowledge. Um, staying ahead of

opportunities where here's an example.

Um, we know from looking at national

data that youth baseball could thrive

more in our market, but if you look at

what we're producing locally for youth

baseball for tournaments, it's very

small.

Yeah.

If you look nationally, baseball

tournaments reign supreme on a national

scale. When you look at the room nights

and the number of events uh that are

driven into the youth, there's over

10,000 baseball tournaments across the

US. It's a massive market, right? um

we're doing hardly any here. Uh so you

start to look at data like that and you

realize that well what's our limitation?

Our limitation is that we don't have a

highle youth baseball facility. So how

can we overcome that? So it's really fun

to

to kind of dive into things like that um

and have strategic dialogue with our

county and with entities that might be

able to have the power to maybe it's not

build maybe it's not build a venue.

Maybe it's how do we reimagine existing

venues,

right?

Can we take softball fields and turn

them to baseball? You know, like what

what can we do to get there, right?

Um, so those are really fun and exciting

dialogues. I I I have some great

salespeople under me now that kind of

concentrate on that lowhanging fruit,

like locking those events in. So, I

really try to spread my time on, you

know, that more of that longer game and

that longer view of like how can we

increase

and and thrive over the next several

years. Um, we've got the entertainment

district construction that's going to

start in 2020. It's slated for spring of

2027 and that's going to interrupt some

downtown uh convention business um

because it is affecting a portion of the

Salt Palace. We'll still be open, but

it's affecting a portion of the Salt

House, which is in turn affecting, you

know, a couple dozen groups that have

that space. And you know, how do we

overcome things like that? Well, sports

tourism is going to be something in the

next couple of years that we can really

lean a little more heavily into, right?

Um, it's nice because, and you know this

from Water Polo,

conventions are really there's really

only one spot we can do a major

convention and that's a Salt Palace.

Yeah. But we have the opportunity to

bring in citywide sized sporting events.

And you don't need a Salt Palace. You

might need pools, right?

You might need fields.

You might need an archery center. But

there's it's very diverse and learning

learning the the the market, learning

what venues, you know, we have over 25

venues in the county floor that

potentially could host something, right?

So, learning what those opportunities

are and then going out and selling those

opporters

to lure them into Utah. I mean, this is

what we this is what we just love to do.

Incredible. Thank you so much for taking

15 minutes as you get ready for a busy

day, I'm sure. Uh but

very exciting. Yeah, it looks the

program looks fantastic and it's been

fun to be involved with each one over

the past couple years and watch them get

bigger and more exciting. So,

well, shout out to you, Sean. You've

you've always been you've always been

great to work with on the water polo

side and I've loved seeing your success.

Thanks.

Uh on on the other side and with the

streaming and everything and and um we

just love watching what you're doing as

well. So, um

let's let's build more facilities. This

this industry is all about rel as you

know, all about relationship. All about

relationships 100%.

And and it starts it starts like with

right here with people like us. So

cool, man. Thank you.

Yeah. Appreciate it. Go get him today.

Thanks. Bye.