Zapopan.- Thanks to the tennis platform, the municipality of Zapopan has received more than 180 million impacts (mentions in the media and social networks) around the world, as well as an estimated economic benefit of 450 million pesos between 2019 and 2022, according to figures mentioned to this newspaper by the WTA tournament board (125, 250 and Finals). This sport has taken center stage in the route of turning the city into the main sports tourist destination in Mexico, an objective pursued by its current municipal government.
“Zapopan is becoming a municipality with first level events not only in Mexico, but also internationally. The WTA 250 is an event that is not massive because the stadium is going to work at 60% due to covid regulations, but that will end sooner or later. What it does do is that it generates almost 180 million hits around the world, it is a tournament that is seen worldwide, so it has worked for us to position Zapopan as a sports entity with this quality of events”, he mentions to El Economista el Mayor of Zapopan, Juan José Frangie.
Tennis has had the most constant international events in the city, celebrating its third edition since 2019 (remembering that the 2020 edition was suspended due to the pandemic). The agreement with the WTA until 2024 has made figures of the stature of Emma Raducanu and Garbiñe Muguruza have set foot on Zapopan soil in less than three months, generating national and international attraction.
“I have been to the US Open and the Cincinnati Open and I think that, comparing, Mexico has a good venue here (in Zapopan), also the Acapulco tournament is very exciting to see, so I would like to see more tournaments in Mexico, the weather It’s great and the people are amazing,” Justin, a 36-year-old fan from Orlando, Florida, who attended the first round of the Zapopan Open, told this newspaper.
“Guadalajara has done a great job in general for this tournament, the security has been perfect, I never feel unsafe when I am here, everything is very nice and clean, the people are very attentive and helpful. I have been to Guadalajara between eight and 10 times and I have always felt comfortable, I think this city should have more WTA tournaments (…) Mexico City is the best sports city in Mexico because it is very big and has all the stadiums, it is more international, but I would say that Guadalajara is already the second place”, describes Ordell, an amateur from Los Angeles, California, also present in the first round of the Zapopan Open.
From 2010 onwards, Zapopan has received an approximate investment of more than 52,000 million pesos in sports infrastructure for disciplines such as soccer, tennis, swimming and gymnastics, from private and government sources. 12 years later, this has given them the record to receive international events of hierarchy and has also confirmed an objective for the city: it wants to become the number 1 destination in Mexico in terms of sports tourism.
“We would like to place ourselves in the first place in sports tourism in the country and we have the facilities to do so. Let’s remember that we had a Pan American Games (in 2011), today we already have two professional baseball teams, the Chivas stadium, all the infrastructure that was left for the Pan American Games, so this city will always be ready to bring great events”, says the mayor Frangie.
During the opening ceremony of the Akron Open 2022, the president emphasized that Zapopan “has tripled its budget for sports and we will not skimp on this axis.” In this regard and according to figures from the Municipal Sports Council of Zapopan (COMUDE), in the last six years the municipal government has invested more than 250 million pesos in amateur and professional sports facilities.
Representatives of COMUDE and the Zapopan Tourism Directorate told this newspaper that the organization of the 2011 Pan American Games was a turning point in promoting the municipality to a leading role in the international industry.
At that time, the venues were two of the infrastructures that have received the most investment: the Akron soccer stadium, where the Chivas play, whose cost was estimated at 2,000 million pesos (data compiled by this newspaper in 2010); in addition to 17 other facilities, including the Pan-American Baseball Stadium (where the Charros and Mariachis now play), the gymnastics complex, a velodrome, a weightlifting forum, the Pan-American Tennis Center and the swimming center, which received the strongest resource with an estimated 50,000 million pesos (2,500 million dollars), of which 8,000 million came from public sources, according to the Real Estate Market magazine, specializing in real estate information nationwide.
These facilities have served to bring renowned events in the most recent decade, such as a date for the Diving World Series in 2013, the Caribbean Series in 2018, the Concacaf Soccer Qualifying in 2021 and in 2026 the joint headquarters of the World Cup of FIFA with Mexico City and Monterrey. But one of the main platforms has been tennis, with the WTA Finals in 2021 and the three editions of the Zapopan Open 250 (2019, 2021 and 2022).
“Since the Pan American Games, the world turns to see us to be able to be a venue, because what being a venue entails is investment, attraction of national and international tourism and all of that opens a path for this city to become a a very viable house for all national and international committees to want to bring their tournaments,” describes Yessenia Flores, spokesperson for the Zapopan tourism promotion area, which has one of its stands in the 2022 Akron Tennis Open merchandising area.
It is estimated that tennis events alone will leave a spill of 450 million pesos to the city between 2019 and 2022, including the edition of the Finals and the WTA 250 of 2019, 2021 and 2022 (2020 was suspended due to the pandemic). To this is added that baseball left a spill of 1,000 million more with the Caribbean Series in 2018, according to figures from the Guadalajara Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Zapopan is part of the metropolitan area of Guadalajara and this means that in many of the international events the credit of the venue is attributed precisely to Guadalajara, although that is not a bother for the directors of Zapopan, explains the spokeswoman for the tourism promotion area. , because the municipality is very clear about the spaces it has gained in terms of state, national and international image.
“We are picking up in sports tourism, but we also have very good numbers in religious tourism, shopping, adventure and other types of tourism that we have developed and we are realizing that they are rising, such as medical tourism, because Zapopan has hospitals most renowned of the private initiative and people look for accommodation packages for their operation and post-operative care here. In addition, lately, as the territory of Zapopan is very large and in Guadalajara there is already a saturation of spaces, business tourism has also picked up due to the growth of industrial parks, especially in the area of the highway leading to Puerto Vallarta. and Saltillo”, says Yessenia Flores.
The outlook looks encouraging for the next four years. According to a study by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a consulting firm specialized in economic impacts, each of the host cities of the 2026 World Cup would receive a spill of up to 480 million dollars after costs and Zapopan is located there with Akron Stadium.
Regarding other events, the Tennis Open has a signed contract with the WTA at least until 2024 and with renewal plans, as explained by the tournament director, Gustavo Santoscoy, while for this 2022 the creation of a museum is planned and a Boxing Hall of Fame.
“One of the main axes of us as a municipality is the promotion of sport, we believe that it is one of the things that will take us forward, especially in the social fabric of children and young people (…) For me, one of the important things is that when you detonate a sports part in a municipality or state you begin to see that everyone wants to get in to train and play. Thus, our sports units already have almost 140,000 participants from different disciplines and that is key”, mentions the mayor of Zapopan.