They shoot, they score, they spend! A10 Women’s Basketball Championships serves as a major win for Henrico economy

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- The George Mason Patriots weren't the only ones coming out on top at the 2025 Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball Championships. Henrico County officials told 8News that the weekend served as a major win for the local economy.

They shoot, they score, they spend! Henrico's Sports and Events Center celebrated the success of its second year hosting this large-scale tournament. 8News stopped by the center on Tuesday, March 11, to speak with Henrico County's Sports and Entertainment Authority's Executive Director, Dennis Bickmeier.

"When you think of their footprint of where their schools are New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Chicago, St. Louis… there's opportunity there," Bickmeier said. "...some big market communities that we can go market our area to and really try to get them to come down here and enjoy this tournament."

Some of the best athletes from across the country gathered on Henrico's courts for five days — cheering, competing and supporting Central Virginia businesses.

"The economic impact numbers for this past tournament will take a little bit to process, but going back to year one, it was about a $1.4 million in economic impact," Bickmeier said.

More than 2,700 people showed up for Sunday's championship game, which brought the totaling attendee count to approximately 16,000 people. Bickmeier shared his appreciation for the booming sports tourism industry and noted -- as the conference continues to build a home in Henrico -- the county hopes it continue to grow each year moving forward.

Bickmeier described how he has already noticed the ways his team was able to grow from their first A10 hosting run to create an even better experience for tourists, visitors and locals, alike.

"Now that we've had almost a year plus under our belts and operating the building, we were really able to really focus on marketing the event, the event experience overall," Bickmeier said. "It's a little bit of pressure off — not focusing so much on the operations side, because we knew we had that covered, but really having a lot of fun with the event and promoting the event in a much different way. 

The A10 conference is still slated to take place in Henrico through 2026, but Bickmeier announced they are looking at another possible partnership extension through 2028, perhaps even 2029.