About Us

 
Mission
 
Sports Council with Annika  

Sports Council with Annika, PGA Merchandise
Show, Orlando, January 2006

  

The Rhode Island Sports Council is a non-profit, 501(c)6, organization. The mission of the Council is to attract major amateur and professional sporting events to the state as a tourism vehicle and economic generator.

The Council also administers a “Youth Excel Award” scholarship program that recognizes deserving high school seniors that have excelled in the classroom, on the playing field, and in their community, despite significant personal adversities in their young lives.
 

Background
  Action Sports
 
Gravity Games, Providence, September 2001

Since its inception in 1993, the Sports Council has hosted numerous high profile, national and inter-national events including ESPN’s X-Games and NBC Sports Gravity Games. Both competitions were viewed by a worldwide television audience and the Gravity Games attracted over 800,000 on-site spectators in the years 1999-2001.

Historically, the Ocean State has been known as a home to more “traditional” sporting events such as, sailing, tennis and golf. However, with the emergence of individual action sports, the Sports Council decided to establish itself as a first class host to the alternative sports scene. By embracing these “non-traditional” competitions in the very early stages, Rhode Island has become a national venue of choice in the action sports sector and has reaped an estimated $110+ million of economic benefits as a result of hosting five years of exciting events.

 
CycloCross 2006
 
USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships,
Roger Williams Park, Providence, December 2006

Additionally, the Sports Council has been instrumental in many other prominent events including: United States Figure Skating Championships, American Hockey League All-Star Game, Triple A All-Star Baseball Game, USA Taekwondo National Qualifier, United States Amateur Golf Championship, US Women’s Open Championship, NCAA Frozen Four, NCAA Regional Basketball, Golf, and Lacrosse Championships, National Dance Sport Championships, Snickers/U.S. Regional Soccer Championship, World Disabled Sailing Championships, Eastern Sectional Team Synchronized Skating Championships, National Collegiate Sailing Championships, Vans Triple Crown Wakeboarding Cham-

Eastern Sectional Synchronized Team  
Eastern Sectional Synchronized Team Skating
Championships, Dunkin’ Donuts Center,
January 2007
  

pionship, Adams Cup Inter-collegiate Golf Tournament, CVS Charity Golf Classic, Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf, NHL Breakout Invitational Championships, ESPN’s Rhode Island Reunion X (a celebration for 10 years of X Games), Converse Jam Fest Basketball Tournament, as well as amateur and professional tennis, gymnastics, boxing, bowling, volleyball, ECAC Tennis, Cyclocross, USA Track & Field Junior Olympics, and motor boat racing to name a few. Major exhibition contests involving USA Baseball, Basketball and Hockey have also been held recently in Rhode Island.

As evidenced, the business of aggressive sports marketing in the nation’s smallest state has been most rewarding – an economic impact exceeding $300 million.