As Basketball Season Tips Off in Bryan, Legends Event Center Builds on $8.5 Million in Local Economic Impact

From national tournaments that fill hotels across the city to local youth programs using the courts every week, basketball has become one of Bryan's most powerful economic and community assets.

In 2025, Legends Event Center hosted twelve basketball events, and the six largest generated more than $8.5 million in economic impact for Bryan. These six events are repeat visitors who have made Bryan a regular tournament destination, drawing hundreds of teams from across the country, filling local hotels, and packing restaurants year after year.

What makes basketball unique among the sports Legends Event Center hosts is its proven capacity to grow beyond one building. When tournaments reach a size that exceeds the facility's courts, they expand into Bryan ISD and College Station ISD gyms, turning the entire community into the venue. The reach basketball has achieved translates directly into more visitors, more hotel nights, and more spending spread across more of Bryan.

"These groups come back year after year because Bryan consistently delivers for them," said Legends Event Center General Manager Jamie Cox. "At the same time, that track record is attracting new, high-level events that want to be part of what’s happening here. We have the facility, the community support, and the infrastructure to host events at a scale that most cities can’t match—and that reputation is exactly what keeps our calendar full and continues to drive economic impact for Bryan."

The impact numbers from 2025 show just how powerful basketball events are for Bryan. The NXTPRO Puma National Championships alone generated $4.25 million in economic impact, drawing 398 teams with an average daily attendance of over 7,500 people (over two-thirds were from out of state). The Adidas 3 Stripes Select Basketball (3SSB) tournaments, both boys and girls, brought a combined 211 teams and nearly $2.25 million in impact, with eighty percent of competing teams traveling from outside Texas. The Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC) Girls Showcase added 252 teams and $1.26 million, while the Great American Shoot-Out contributed another nearly $490,000 through 104 teams. And the Come and Take It Tip-Off, hosted by local group Aggieland Homeschool Athletics, rounded out the calendar with 80 teams and just over $300,000 in impact.

That visitor spending has a ripple effect that reaches Bryan residents directly. Because large tournaments generate the revenue that supports Legends Event Center’s operations, local youth athletic organizations have regular access to the facility throughout the week. From Monday through Thursday, Bryan-College Station teams are using the same courts that hosted elite national competition the weekend before. The facility that draws families from across the country is the same one local athletes call home.

The momentum is building into 2026. Legends has 14 basketball events scheduled this year, two more than in 2025, with the heaviest concentration running from April through July. The Adidas 3SSB tournaments return this spring, along with NXTPro. So are TABC, the Great American Shoot-Out, and Aggieland Homeschool Athletics. Each one brings teams, families, and spending back to Bryan.

"What Legends has built with basketball shows what sports tourism can do for a city like Bryan," said John Friebele, Executive Director of Destination Bryan. "Every team that comes here for a tournament is putting money directly back into this community, into our restaurants, our hotels, and the small businesses that make Bryan worth visiting in the first place."

Legends Event Center is owned by the City of Bryan and managed by The Sports Facilities Companies. The facility opened in December 2022 and has grown into one of the region's premier destinations for sports tourism and community events. For more information or to view the full event calendar, visit the Legends website.

Media Contacts:

Destination Bryan
Lina Adams
PR & Communications Coordinator
lina@destinationbryan.com

Legends Event Center
Mitchell Isbell
Director of Business Development, Events, & Marketing
mIsbell@bryanlegends.com