Last July’s Battle in the Burgh softball tournament brought players from several states to the area, and they brought more than a half-million dollars with them to spend here.

The Butler County Tourism & Convention Bureau — newly renamed Experience Butler County — was recognized for its part in organizing the annual tournament at Cranberry Township Community Park, where Pittsburgh Power Softball has held the event each year since the ’90s.

Sports Destination Management magazine honored the tourism bureau, in part, because of the economic boost the tournament brought to the county. The 2024 tournament featured 162 teams from multiple states in seven age brackets competing for championships. Teams that participated are estimated to have spent 1,025 “room nights” at area hotels.

Amy Pack, president of the tourism bureau, said the group calculated food and beverage purchases from area restaurants, retail spending, transportation costs and entertainment spending to add to the cost of the hotel rooms and found that last year’s event brought $580,000 to the county.

The tourism bureau absolutely deserves to be recognized for its work with the Battle of the Burgh, but honestly, it almost could have earned that honor even without that tournament in the mix.

Last summer, Butler County hosted the Can-Am Police-Fire Games, a multisport event featuring first responder athletes from around the world. The games included everything from Texas Hold ’em, which earned a member of the state police a bronze medal, and pickleball, which saw the Bangers and Mash team from the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire take home second place and Team Toby from the state police and FBI earn third place.

Butler County also hosted the United States Hockey League’s annual Fall Classic at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Township in September.

The tourism bureau also is marketing the county as a sports destination, having launched a separate website touting the county’s many sports venues, like the Lemieux complex and Pullman Park in Butler.

In 2025, although it will not host the event itself, Butler County is expected to play a part in hosting guests and hospitality for the 2025 U.S. Open golf tournament, to be held in June at Oakmont Country Club in Allegheny County.

Most counties would be thrilled to host one of those events in a given year, but Butler County is making the most of its resources, and the tourism bureau is doing what it needs to do to encourage visitors to come enjoy what it can offer.

— KL