Two major national sporting events are coming to Kentucky this spring.

Louisville will, of course, host the 150th Kentucky Derby.

And just weeks later, the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf course.

Our Kelsey Starks talks to the president of the Louisville Sports Commission about what else is coming and the impact of these events on the entire state.

I think a lot of people don't realize, too, what kind of events are actually hosted here.

Tell us about some of the most recent, some really big names.

Sure.

I mean, we just wrapped up USA Gymnastics Winter Cup at the Kentucky International Convention Center, where it is the start to the road to the Paris Olympic.

So we had future Olympians that were all vying to make the U.S. national team that just wrapped up.

We had we just finished USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships at Joe Christian Park.

We have a long lineage of hosting cyclo cross at the highest level.

We hosted the elite World Championships on River Road back in 2013.

USA Track and Field is now a regular client of bars because of the new indoor track.

And I know you interviewed Siddiq and that story and it's amazing.

And to have a facility that's world class in the Russell neighborhood is terrific.

So we have USA fencing coming back this fall, and that will be fresh off of the Olympics.

So we'll have Olympians that will compete there.

BMX, USA, BMX out of Tom Sawyer State Park.

So it is just a plethora of national governing bodies.

We have Iron Man coming back again for 70.3.

I know you interviewed John.

So it's we're excited to have that lifestyle brand back in our community this summer.

And, you know, it's we're just always out there pounding the pavement, finding new opportunities just to make Louisville a great sports community.

Yeah.

Let's talk a little bit more about some of those facilities.

As you mentioned, we have some great sports facilities here in town.

How do we compare to other cities and what's our what's our competition?

Well, I mean, competition really does come from two factors having the right facility and having the right funding.

And so we find ourself competing a lot with cities like Milwaukee, Columbus, Ohio.

We compete within the we compete with, you know, Pittsburgh.

So a lot of cities similar to Louisville, but it comes down to the venues that you have.

And for us, we have starting with the Kentucky Exposition Center, it is the sixth largest public facility in the country.

A lot of folks don't realize the amount of sporting events that we help produce in that facility.

The largest women's basketball tournament on planet Earth will take place there this summer with over 100 basketball courts, and about 5000 women's basketball teams will descend on Louisville for the better part of the month of July.

So that's a fabulous venue for us.

The Lynn Family Stadium has been a game changer.

It allowed us to host the the men's soccer national championships this past December, first time ever.

And so that was a partnership with the University of Louisville and the folks at ASEM Global that managed the soccer facility.

So, you know, it's the Yum!

Center continues to just deliver.

We have the NCAA women's volleyball national championships coming in December for the second time to the Yum!

Center.