SAISA has released a new study showing what college sailing events bring to the communities that host them.

From 2011 through 2026, SAISA schools hosted nearly 500 regattas across Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. Visiting teams made 18,715 sailor appearances at those events and generated an estimated $6.4 million in direct spending in host communities.

That spending includes hotel stays, meals, local transportation, and other everyday purchases made by teams while traveling to compete.

A sailor who competed in several regattas is counted once for each event attended.

Hundreds of regatta weekends add up

A single college sailing regatta may seem small on its own. Across fifteen years, however, hundreds of events brought thousands of sailors, coaches, and team vehicles into communities throughout the Southeast.

Teams stayed in hotels, ate at restaurants, bought fuel and supplies, and used local yacht clubs, marinas, parks, campus facilities, and other waterfront venues. The study brings those individual weekends together to show their larger contribution across the region.

Spending across the conference

Florida hosted the most regattas during the study period. South Carolina recorded the largest spending total, helped by major championships in Charleston that brought larger groups into the area for longer stays.

Alabama programs also competed throughout the conference, but Alabama did not host a SAISA event during the period covered by the available records. Its teams appear in the study as visitors.

A resource for SAISA teams

The study gives SAISA programs a new way to explain the value of their teams and the events they host.

Teams can share it with university leaders, alumni, donors, yacht clubs, sailing centers, local governments, tourism organizations, community partners, and potential sponsors. It can support conversations about university backing, facility access, fundraising, event hosting, and local partnerships.

“Those of us involved in college sailing see teams traveling across the region every weekend, but we have never had a clear picture of what all of that activity adds up to. This study gives our programs real information they can use when talking about the value of college sailing, both on campus and in the communities where we compete.”

Dana Magliola
SAISA Conference Commissioner

What the $6.4 million includes

The estimate covers spending connected to visiting teams while they were in a host community. That includes lodging, meals, everyday purchases, and local transportation.

It does not include airfare, long-distance travel to the event, spectators, host-team expenses, event payroll, facility construction, or the additional activity created when local businesses spend that money again.

The $6.4 million figure is a careful estimate of direct spending by visiting teams. It is not a claim of the total economic impact of college sailing.

The full report includes the regional findings, state summaries, research methods, limitations, supporting data, and individual fact sheets for each of the five host states.

The report will also remain available on the

SAISA Resources page
.