For its latest episode of Elevating The Conversation, the Journal sat down with Keytra Lewis, the associate vice president at Spokane Sports, to discuss the business of sports.

The Elevating The Conversation podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, and elsewhere. Search for it on any of those platforms or the Journal's website to hear the entire conversation, but for now, here are five takeaways — edited for space and clarity — from the episode.

1. Spokane Sports is taking a new approach this year.

 One shift that Spokane Sports as an organization is making, compared to different years, is that we are focusing on being more strategic about the events that we're bringing.

Our staff is growing and with that we're able to really strategize around what events we're going to bring. Historically, Spokane Sports has been more focused on, “Let's bring as many as possible.”

What we've learned over the years is that yes, that is great, and our numbers are up and all of that, but now, because of the track record that Spokane Sports has for hosting these sporting events, we get to be (more selective) because honestly, when it's a youth event and we're bringing in a family, we know that's gonna have a greater impact on our region.

Or if there's a specific time frame that our city and our region is looking to build in more people, for example during what they call the shoulder months of tourism, which is typically our winter here.

With that, the organization saw an opportunity to really build something. Fortunately, (because of) our partnership with the Public Facilities District in building The Podium and now building out a full season of indoor track and field, every single weekend of what was considered the shoulder months of tourism is completely booked.

And we're really excited because we actually are getting the same opportunity out in the Valley, with The Course Spokane Valley.

2026 is the first time ever where we will be hosting a major event every month of the year.

2. Spokane Sports is looking for ways to improve upon the already significant economic impact that sporting events have on the region.

Based off of the events that we've hosted, the impact annually we saw 589 part-time and full-time jobs as a result of that. And then 179,800 unique sports travelers. So that's just coming into our region within a year span, which is wild.

And then the other one that kind of blows my mind is — because it's a huge number — it’s $92.6 million total business sales in our community. Even if it's a one-day event, weekend tournament, the two-week table tennis event, just all the dollars that go back into our region because of those.

And the number of length-of-stays, the days we're looking at is around roughly 2 1/2 days. Looking at the different types of events that we're bringing, I would say that's one number I would love to increase.

How can we get that 2 1/2 days to become three or 3 1/2. What could we do to enhance that athlete experience? Or maybe it's the families, building in ideas around things they could do while they're here.

3. Spokane businesses and the community will be able to take part in FIFA World Cup festivities.

 The city (was designated as a) Fan Zone. With that, the city tapped Spokane Sports on the shoulder and was like, “Hey, we could use some help building out this infrastructure of what a Fan Zone could even look like.”

We are partnering with Visit Spokane. Visit Spokane is really helping to amplify the messaging — talk about what you could expect at the Fan Zone and all of that — while Spokane Sports is like boots on the ground, coming up with the creative ideas around what activations could be happening at the Fan Zone.

We still are very much in the working phase of that and figuring all of the logistics out. What I've decided to do is (build) out this campaign called Summer of Soccer.

Summer of Soccer is really the opportunity to be a part of the FIFA World Cup.

Being able to build out almost kind of like a mini campaign is giving businesses and restaurants an opportunity to be a part of it without having to worry about the do’s and don’ts of FIFA.

4. Staples including Hoopfest, Bloomsday, the Spokane Chiefs, and Gonzaga, combined with Spokane Sports-supported events, make the Inland Northwest a major sports destination.

Those types of groups and events and everything like that are absolutely important to the work we do at Spokane Sports because if we can use the example of Hoopfest and everything they have done, it helps us use that as an example of how and why the Spokane region cares about sports.

When we talk about how Spokane shows up for sports, it's those kinds of examples, where it's the Chiefs and you're looking at a full arena, or it's Bloomsday where you're seeing literally the streets of Spokane filled with runners.

Those are the examples that we're able to use when we go to bid on an event that's ticketed. Because then we're like, “Listen, you might think that hosting your event in Vegas, let's say, would be glamorous and all of the things. But what's different is here in Spokane, not only do you have a team that can take care of you from start to finish and help you host this amazing event, but we also have a region that shows up for sports.”

We don't have the Cirque du Soleil down the street, and we don't have Drake performing two blocks away. When your event comes to Spokane, you are the main event and Spokane shows up.

5. Adding facilities including The Podium and The Course Spokane Valley has helped amplify the area’s sports scene.

With The Podium, knowing that it was a sports tourism driver, the main purpose behind it was indoor track and field. It was built very specifically in a way to do just that, and then having it be able to transition from what it is right now, from the track, and that's going down to turn it into basketball courts, and then putting up volleyball nets, and then taking those down to put down mats.

That facility has been a game changer. People I've interviewed, some coaches coming through for indoor track, and they're like, “This is insane. This is the best facility I have ever stepped foot in.” And this is a coach down in California who's probably been all over.

And it's not just like it's a facility that's outside of our core. It's literally right downtown. There's restaurants and the river and all of the things right there by it.

With The Course, we have athletes who've been able to visit, and the coaches, when they're out there for site visits and they're used to getting into a destination and then getting on a bus and then taking that bus for another 30, 45 minutes, sometimes even up to an hour to get to a cross-country course. And then when they get there, it's also a golf course.

So, similar idea in Spokane Valley. We've got the mall, and we've got the different restaurants that are all right around there and then the hotels are right there too.

That's been another game changer for our region to be able to host some pretty awesome events.