Spokane County stands to reap the rewards of a robust sports season in 2026 with an estimated $110 million in combined economic impact from major athletic events and professional teams in the area.

Bloomsday and Hoopfest, two of the most-attended sporting events in Spokane County, are expected to draw crowds consistent with or exceeding previous years’ attendance levels, which are approaching prepandemic numbers, according to experts associated with both events.

Spokane-based nonprofit Lilac Bloomsday Association will hold the 50th Bloomsday 12-kilometer race in May 2026. Over 35,000 people registered for the race in 2025, says Bethany Lueck, director of sponsorship and communications at Lilac Bloomsday Association.

“Large anniversary milestones like this are always exciting for people, and we're anticipating a lot more people coming out to mark that milestone,” Lueck says. “We’re also in a running boom, so running events all over the world and nation are experiencing huge numbers.”

The association expects around 40,000 registered runners to attend in 2026, but as many as 45,000 people could participate, according to an economic impact report by the association. 

Direct visitor spending is expected to be a little more than $11 million. Out-of-town spending is expected to constitute about 34%, or $3.8 million, and lodging is projected to make up 25%, or around $2.7 million in direct spending. The total economic impact on Spokane’s economy from the race is expected to range between $17 million and $19 million, Lueck says.

“We’ve surpassed our (pre-COVID) numbers (about) two years ago and we’re only anticipating more,” she adds. “Then when you add the 50th anniversary on top of it — it’s going to be big.”

During the last running boom in the '90s, Bloomsday had over 60,000 runners, she says.

Following Bloomsday, this year, Hoopfest drew an estimated 226,000 attendees, says Riley Stockton, executive director of Spokane-based nonprofit Spokane Hoopfest Association. The three-on-three basketball tournament contributes an average of $47 million to Spokane and surrounding areas annually.

“Barring anything drastic, we would hope to continue that, if not increase,” Stockton says.

Hoopfest attendance could be vulnerable to unfavorable weather and economic conditions, he notes. Over 6,000 teams registered for the event pre-COVID, but in 2022, after Hoopfest returned to an in-person event, registrations dropped to about 3,200. In 2025, about 4,800 teams participated. The organization is working to meet or exceed team registrations in 2026, he says.

“We aren’t quite where we were pre-COVID but we’re actually not too far behind at this point,” Stockton says.

Between 55% and 57% of Hoopfest attendees are expected to attend from Eastern Washington, and between 43% and 45% of visitors are expected to travel to the tournament from outside of the region, Stockton says. Players from 41 states and 5 countries attended Hoopfest last year.

“Although our numbers seem to be going down a little bit (in terms of) distribution, we still have good attendance from almost everywhere in the county, and some places internationally as well,” he says.

Professional sports teams are also expecting to contribute to a strong economic impact to the Spokane area in 2026.

USL Spokane, the professional soccer club composed of the men’s Spokane Velocity FC team and the women’s Spokane Zephyr FC team, is expected to see an uptick in both attendance and revenue in 2026, says Ryan Harnetiaux, co-founder and managing partner for Aequus Sports LLC, the ownership group of USL Spokane.

“2026 will be a year where we see growth in attendance in the 20% to 30% range, and that’s going to come as a result of some investment that we’re making in ticketing and game day themes,” Harnetiaux says. “So we’ll be looking for a nice jump in attendance in ’26.”

The two teams combined played 28 home games, drawing an estimated 70,000 attendees in 2025, he says. Harnetiaux estimates the total economic impact of USL Spokane's two teams is between $20 million and $25 million this year. The organization employs about 50 professional athletes and 40 full-time employees, he adds.

“The impact is there. We put about 2,000 hotel nights into the local hotels downtown (in 2025), so that’s a nice amount of traffic coming in, and fans and teams come and spend money here,” he says. “We’re pretty happy with all that.”

The Spokane Indians Baseball Club also projects increased attendance and spending next year, says Kyle Day, vice president and general manager of the club.

“We are seeing really strong renewal percentages right now with our ticket package holders moving into 2026, which is really encouraging,” Day says.

The Spokane Indians have an estimated $24 million annual impact on the region's economy, according to a 2022 economic study. Over 264,000 people attended games at Avista Stadium in 2025, he adds.

“We’re forecasting a slight increase,” he says of game attendance in 2026. “We’ve been playing (at Avista Stadium) since 1958, and in the first year, the attendance was 270,297. That’s our goal this year — to beat that, which would be the highest attendance in this stadium.”