HOUSTON, June 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Northstar Meetings Group announced today that the TEAMS '20 Conference & Expo will be held in Houston, October 19-22, 2020. It will be the second time that America's fourth-largest city has hosted TEAMS, the world's largest gathering of sports-event organizers.
"Houston has become a major player on the national sports scene having hosted two Super Bowls, two Final Fours and three NCAA Men's Basketball Regionals since the TEAMS Conference was last held here in 2004," said Janis Burke, chief executive officer of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority (HCHSA). "Hosting TEAMS '20 will allow us to once again showcase all that makes Houston and Harris County such a tremendous destination for sporting events."
Attendees at TEAMS '20 – including the gatekeepers to the 88 million room nights and $31 billion in direct spending generated by sports-related travel annually – will convene at the George R. Brown Convention Center. At 1.2 million square feet, the George R. Brown Convention Center is one the largest convention centers in the nation and anchors the Avenida Houston district. Flanked by the Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets, and Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros, the George R. Brown Convention Center is the centerpiece of one of the great sports-related travel districts in the United States.
"Houston is the perfect host city for the TEAMS Conference & Expo and we're excited to be returning in 2020," said Timothy Schneider, founder of the TEAMS Conference and chairman of the Sports Division of Northstar Travel Group, which organizes the TEAMS Conference & Expo. "Houston's outstanding facilities and world-class reputation for hosting sporting events make it a natural choice for event organizers."
In 2020, in addition to the TEAMS Conference & Expo, Houston will host the NCAA Men's Basketball South Regional Finals in March, the UCI BMX World Championships in May and the U.S. Women's Open Golf Championship in June. The 2021 World Table Tennis Championships, the 2023 NCAA Men's Final Four and the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship are also slated for Houston and the HCHSA is leading the effort to bring the 2026 FIFA World Cup to the city as well.
The TEAMS Conference & Expo serves as the exclusive home of the U.S. Olympic Committee's SportsLink and NGB Best Practices Seminars. The co-location of Olympic SportsLink with TEAMS helps assure the participation of chief executives and event directors from all 50 Summer and Winter Olympic sports governing bodies, 25 Paralympic sports and 38 multi-sport organizations. All told, these organizations represent nearly 90 million members and participants in the United States.
The National Congress of State Games also co-locates its Annual Symposium with TEAMS. For more information, please visit TEAMSconference.com and houstonsports.org. TEAMS '19 will be held November 11-14 in Anaheim.
About Harris County-Houston Sports Authority
The Harris County-Houston Sports Authority maintains the facilities and services the debt of the world-class professional sports venues it was created to build. To support this primary mission, Houston Sports serves as a leading proponent for attracting sporting events to Houston and for promoting the city as a home for sports-related activities, to ultimately enhance Houston's economic development and bring better quality of life for its residents. For more information, visit houstonsports.org.
About Northstar Travel Group
Northstar Travel Group is the leading B-to-B information and marketing solutions company serving all segments of the travel industry including leisure/retail, corporate/business travel, business and sports, incentives, hospitality, and travel technology.
Northstar is the owner of well-known brands including Travel Weekly, TravelAge West, Travel Weekly China, Travel Weekly Asia, Business Travel News,Successful Meetings, Meetings & Conventions, Incentive, SportsTravel, M&C China, M&C Asia, Travel42, Axus Travel App, and Web in Travel. The company produces more than 80 face-to-face events in 13 countries in retail travel, hospitality, corporate travel, travel technology, sports travel, and the meetings & incentive industry with market leading events including The Meetings Show, Business Travel Show, TEAMS Conference & Expo, Global Travel Market Place and Cruiseworld.
In addition, Northstar owns Phocuswright, the leading research, business intelligence, and event producer serving the travel technology industry.
Northstar Travel Group is the leading producer of hotel investment events globally, including ALIS, the largest hotel investment conference in the world and HICAP, Asia Pacific's most important annual investment conference.
Northstar is also the majority shareholder in Inntopia, the leading SaaS e-commerce software, CRM database marketing and predictive analytics business serving the mountain destination, golf, activities, hospitality, and specialty destination travel markets.
Based in Secaucus, NJ, the company has offices in New York, NY; Stowe, VT; Denver, CO; Edwards, CO; Burlington, VT; Los Angeles, CA; Costa Mesa, CA; Lombard, IL; and global offices in Singapore, Beijing, and Shanghai. And soon to be London.
Northstar Travel Group is owned by funds managed by EagleTree Capital. For more information, visit northstartravelgroup.com.
About EagleTree Capital
EagleTree Capital, formerly Wasserstein Partners, is a New York based private equity and investment firm. It manages capital on behalf of global institutional and individual investors. EagleTree's private equity funds invest primarily in the media and business services, consumer products, and water and industrial sectors. For more information, visit eagletree.com.
SOURCE Northstar Travel Group
