Your group’s task is to strategize and develop a deck to pitch to the City of Abbotsford and the Province of British Columbia why and how the Fraser Valley Bandits hosting CEBL Championship Weekend in early August 2023 will positively impact the city and province. The impact of hosting championship weekend should be explored according to economic impact, community impact and a cultural legacy component.

An assessment of economic impact should delve into anticipated economic activity generated by hosting the event in Abbotsford. A widely used industry standard for projecting economic activity is the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance’s (CSTA) Sport Tourism Economic Assessment Model (STEAM). The utilization of this or another credible model should consider the anticipated revenue, cost and challenges of hosting an international sporting event.

Considerations and challenges include but are not limited to:

· Transportation: Within and outside of the province of BC for tourists and qualifying teams, as well as front office personnel travelling to Abbotsford for the event

· Accommodation: For teams, fans, guests and other stakeholders

· Environmental: Infrastructure for Championship Weekend, such as vendor activations, pop-up events and more should all be sourced and designed to be environmentally sustainable and/or to be repurposed for future use by the city and province

· Cultural footprint: Hosting Championship Weekend is an opportunity to positively contribute to BC’s decorated history of hosting professional sporting events. From hosting a club or 3x3 basketball tournament, celebrating the region’s cultural diversity, refurbishing public courts, or working with local universities to engage their student bodies beyond the playoff format, Championship Weekend’s legacy should extend beyond this multi-day event

· Sponsorship: What are best, average and worst-case scenarios for generating sponsorship to support the event and how can these be reacted to in order to ensure the viability of the event?

Goals:

The goal for this project is to give students a thorough opportunity to learn and explore the landscape of professional sports by delving into the benefits and implications of hosting a professional sports tournament on Canadian soil and charting out how it affects various stakeholders across a variety of industries and partner groups. In particular, this project will give students a sense of the opportunity to generate revenue, absorb costs and to prepare logistical plans that are essential when hosting a professional sports event.