NCAA Beach Volleyball tournament leaving Gulf Shores in 2025
GULF SHORES, Ala. (WKRG) — The NCAA Women’s Beach Volleyball tournament has been in Gulf Shores since 2016, but officials say that this will be the last year it comes to town for a while.
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Four days of Division I college beach volleyball comes to Gulf Shores every year, bringing not only the top 17 teams around the country — but also economic impact to the city of Gulf Shores.
Michelle Russ, with Orange Beach and Gulf Shores sports tourism says that it is a great four days for the community.
“Well you have all of the teams come in, friends and family, and other spectators that come, so we generate over 2,000 room nights for this event and over a $1 million in economic impact,” Russ said.
In 2016, the NCAA sanctioned beach volleyball as a championship and trusted Gulf Shores to showcase the event. But it has ended for now as Grant Brown with the City of Gulf Shores says the contract is up.
“This is the last year of our contract, they are now moving out to California for a couple of years so, of course, we have reapplied for the next few years with the NCAA, we want to bring this thing right back to Gulf Shores, so we want a great turnout with our fans this year,” Brown said.
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Brown said they reapplied for the tournament to come back in 2027.
The tournament does a lot for the city each year, and Brown told News 5 that although they are sad to see it go next year, they have plenty of other sports tourism and events to bring in just as much revenue.
“We will still have the impact from youth events for the years we don’t have the NCAA tournament and then right after our youth and high school championships is the hangout music festival and then we kick off memorial day so May in Gulf Shores is an impactful month,” Brown said.
The NCAA beach volleyball tournament will begin on Wednesday, May 1, and the champion will be crowned on May 5.
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Starting in 2025, the tournament will be held in Long Beach, California.
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