This is the season of experiences.
After years of giving gift after gift to your two daughters, you have now vowed to quit gibing things and instead offer experiences that the entire family can enjoy. In addition to making sure that the whole family has some experiences that they enjoy, you have also booked some tickets to see the Washington Redskins this season. And while your daughters are not the biggest fans of football, they cannot help but get caught up in the excitement of surprising their father with the Washington Redskins. For their part, the girls are really interested in attending two different gymnastics events this next winter.
Tickets to the 2020 Olympics are out of reach this year, but the entire family that even if it means no gifts to unwrap you are going to make the 2024 Olympics an option for your entire family.
Sports Tours and Other Experiences Are Increasingly Popular This Christmas Season
Whether you are looking for Washington Redskins tickets for one of the remaining games this season or you are making plans for the next Olympics, it is important to start as soon as possible. Both in an effort to plan for a budget and to make sure that you have a shot at the best seats, experiences take a lot of planning if they are going to be the very best.
Sports travel packages through a professional planner like those that include Washington Redskins tickets can come with some very fun extras if you take the time to explore all of the available options.
Consider some of these facts and figures about the many times when experiences are far better than a typical gift that can be wrapped and put under the tree:
- It should come as no surprise that some cities are better destinations when it come to planning for experiences. For instance, WalletHub compared over 420 cities across more than 50 key metrics related to the five largest sports in the U.S. The top 10 include, in this order: Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Pittsburg, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Washington DC, Dallas, and Atlanta.
- Phoenix, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Miami, Dallas, Boston, New York City, and Minneapolis are the eight additional cities that have all four major sports within the metropolitan area.
- Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, Detroit, and Philadelphia are the only five U.S. cities with all four major sports: Major League Baseball (MLB), National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Hockey League (NHL).
- And while there are some cities that are popular for the best kinds of sports experiences, there are also some states that boast the same. In the same note, there are 25 states that have no professional major sports teams: Hawaii, Alaska, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kansas, Alabama, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
- More than 70% of survey respondents follow college basketball at least occasionally, according to a Statista survey. This is a group of consumers who might be willing to invest both time and money in seeing their favorite teams compete.
- 37% of adults in America say that football is their favorite sport to watch, by far the most for any sport. In comparison, baseball is at its lowest point ever, with only 9% saying it is their favorite sport to watch.
- Other top 10 favorite U.S. sports include Tennis at 6th, Golf at 7th, Wrestling and Martial Arts tied for 8th, Motor Racing at 9th), and Badminton at 10th.
- 31 million people attended a college sports event in 2017, according to a Statista survey.
- It is estimated that the North American sports industry will be worth upwards of $74 million by the year 2020, an indication of the number of people who are increasingly choosing experiences over traditional gifts.
- The North American sports industry is expected to rake in as much as $69.4 billion from ticket and merchandise sales, media rights, and sponsorship fees, according to the latest sports outlook from Pricewaterhouse Coopers.
If you have a few people left on your Christmas list this year, perhaps it is time to consider gifting a sportingexperience!
