Roller hockey fills hotel rooms

FORT MYERS — Nontraditional amateur sports events filled nearly 35,000 hotel-room nights in Lee County in the three months ending in June with an estimated economic impact of $13.3 million, according to Lee County officials.

For example, the National College Roller Hockey Championships in April helped fill 7,252 hotel-room nights and had an estimated economic impact of $3.3 million, according to the Lee County Sports Development Office.

“Roller hockey in Fort Myers and the state BMX championships in Cape Coral are also among the growing nontraditional sports activities that drew visitors to Lee County this summer and helped contribute to the economic impact that we experienced during these wet and traditionally slower months for tourism and spending,” says Jeff Mielke, executive director of the Lee County Sports Development Office, in a statement.

Other non-traditional sports events held this year in Lee County included the National High School Gymnastics Association's Girls National Championships at the Estero Recreation Center, USA Badminton Masters Championships at the Estero Recreation Center and the Florida Firefighter Games at multiple locations locally.

“Sporting events are a key driver for tourism in Lee County during the off-season months when it can be more challenging to draw northerners to Southwest Florida,” says Tamara Pigott, executive director of the Lee County Visitors and Convention Bureau, in a statement.