A survey of NCAA hockey fans who visited St. Louis last April illustrates how fans went home with much better perceptions of the city than what they had beforehand.
More than 700 fans took part in visitor experience questionnaires both before and after the Frozen Four NCAA men’s hockey championship, which was held April 10 and 12 at Enterprise Center. St. Louis exceeded expectations, 74% of respondents said, according to the St. Louis Sports Commission.
First-time visitors were asked to provide one word to describe their impression of the city before they visited then again after visiting.
The second-most-used pre-visit word was “dirty,” which was among four negative words in the top 16. The others were “dangerous,” “boring” and “unsafe.”
After fans visited, only one negative word remained in the top 16, “dirty,” which moved down to 13th.
Several words provided by fans after their visit ran directly counter to those most popular before visits. “Safe” replaced “dangerous” and “unsafe” among most popular responses. “Exciting” took the place of “boring,” and “warm” replaced “cold.”
“When we have an opportunity to influence those visitor impressions by making sure every place they touch — from the airport to hotels, restaurants, attractions, and everything in between — provides the best possible experience, that is how we begin to change perceptions and earn return visitors,” Brad Dean, CEO of Explore St. Louis, said in a statement.
More than 80% of Frozen Four visitors came from out of town, and the event generated $20.5 million in total economic activity across the region, according to Sportsimpacts, which conducted the study.
Western Michigan, the closest school to St. Louis among Frozen Four participants, beat Boston University in the championship game for its first NCAA hockey title. That proximity was apparent in the overwhelming number of Western Michigan fans at the venue for the team’s two games here.
Fans who attended previous Frozen Fours were high on Enterprise Center. More than 64% said the St. Louis venue provided a better experience than previous Frozen Fours.
Out-of-town fans were also asked which St. Louis attractions they visited while here. The top five responses were the Gateway Arch, Busch Stadium, the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, food attractions (barbecue and The Hill) and the St. Louis Zoo.
Enterprise Center will host the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January, NCAA men’s basketball tournament games in March and NCAA wrestling championships in 2027. The St. Louis Sports Commission will bid on future NCAA events in the coming months.
“The data collected tells a great story for St. Louis and we’ll be able to highlight the visitor feedback in our future bids to reinforce how well our region performs as a major sports event destination,” St. Louis Sports Commission President Marc Schreiber said in a statement. “Importantly, I hope St. Louisans take this positive feedback to heart. Yes, we have our challenges. But we also have a city that people appreciate and see as a gem and think of as a great place to visit.
“We should all take great pride in that.”
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Ethan Erickson | Post-Dispatch
Digital production editor
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