More Visitors Means More for Sioux Falls
A modern downtown convention center can bring more visitors to Sioux Falls, more outside dollars into our economy and more tax revenue to help support the community we all share.
Building the Momentum
Sioux Falls is already a destination. In 2025, 3.4 million visitors came to our city, generating an estimated $1.2 billion in economic impact and more than $125 million in state and local taxes. Visitor activity supports more than 10,000 local hospitality jobs and contributes an estimated $1,462 per Sioux Falls household toward the services and infrastructure that make our community work.
A modern downtown convention center gives us an opportunity to grow those benefits.
More Visitors. More Spending. More Revenue.
When visitors come to Sioux Falls for a convention or conference, they do more than attend an event.
They stay in hotels. They eat at restaurants. They visit bars, shops and attractions. They use transportation. They experience downtown Sioux Falls.
Those dollars come from outside our community and circulate through local businesses, creating additional economic activity and generating state and local tax revenue.
According to the Johnson Consulting Market Analysis, a modern downtown convention center could generate more than $235 million in economic impact during its first five years, including more than $70 million in increased earnings and the equivalent of 278 ongoing full-time jobs.
That means more outside dollars coming into Sioux Falls and more economic activity that can benefit the entire community.
We Are Already Losing Business
Sioux Falls is competing for conventions and events against cities like Omaha and Des Moines that have invested in modern downtown convention centers.
Our current convention facilities are heavily used and remain valuable community assets. But they also have limitations that are costing our city millions in lost business and tax revenue.
The current convention center was built in 1997, when Sioux Falls had just over 100,000 residents. Our city's population has more than doubled since then. Demand for conventions, events and visitor experiences has grown with it.
Event Planners Are Telling Us They've Outgrown Our Current Facilities
The Pheasant Fest of 2025 was the largest convention gathering in the history of Sioux Falls, bringing over 35,000 visitors to town. Unfortunately, unless we upgrade our convention facilities, Pheasant Fest organizers have made clear that they won't be coming back - despite the fact that they love our city and were greatly impressed with the Experience Sioux Falls team that worked with them.
Here's an excerpt from their organizers that outlines the problem with our current facilities:
Let me cut to the chase - Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever love hosting our National Pheasant Fest & Quail Classic in Sioux Falls. Unfortunately, our signature event has outgrown the city's facilities.
Sioux Falls is the epicenter of "Pheasant Country," As such, Sioux Falls is a natural destination for National Pheasant Fest & Quail Classic. In fact, Sioux Falls established our current record attendance for the event at 35,415 supporters back in 2024.
Unfortunately, the facilities in Sioux Falls did not meet the expectations of those 35,415 attendees and our 400+ exhibitors. To be blunt, it felt as if our event stretched Sioux Falls current facilities past the breaking point. In fact, the footprint of our core trade show spread across three different arenas was a main point of criticism from our attendees and vendors alike.
By the numbers, here's what we're looking for in a host destination:
Convention Center Square Footage: Exhibit Space 195,000+/Meeting space 25,000+
Banquet Facility (connected to convention space): Open ballroom with minimum of 30,000+ square feet
Hotel rooms within blocks of convention space: 1200+
Concert venue with theater-style seating to hold 2000+ attendees
Capacity is one challenge. Location is another.
Convention planners increasingly look for facilities surrounded by hotels, restaurants, retail, entertainment and other amenities that attendees can easily reach on foot. Our current convention center location does not offer access to the experience those planners are seeking.
The result is lost business. Sioux Falls is already leaving convention and event opportunities on the table, while competing communities with modern downtown convention facilities are positioned to capture that business. The fact is, in the last two years, Sioux Falls has lost $293 million in economic activity from potential convention center business to competing cities.
A modern downtown convention center would allow Sioux Falls to compete for conventions we cannot effectively pursue today while complementing the current convention center rather than replacing it.
More Visitors Means More for Local Businesses.
A visitor who can walk from a modern downtown convention center to a restaurant is spending money with a local business.
A group staying downtown is filling hotel rooms.
A conference attendee who has time between sessions may visit a shop, have a drink, see a show or explore an attraction.
This is the advantage of bringing conventions into the heart of Sioux Falls.
The current convention center has limited access to the restaurants, bars, entertainment, retail establishments and other downtown amenities that convention planners and attendees increasingly expect. A modern downtown convention center would put those businesses within walking distance of visitors who are already here to spend money.
And because convention activity often takes place during weekdays, it can provide valuable business during times when local residents are not generating the same level of activity.
More Visitors Means More for Sioux Falls
The benefit doesn't stop with convention attendees or downtown businesses. The benefits of building a modern downtown convention center will be enjoyed in neighborhoods throughout Sioux Falls.
The taxes generated by visitor spending support parks, pools, libraries, public safety, bike trails, streets and other community amenities and infrastructure.
The idea is simple:
More visitors.
More outside dollars.
More economic activity.
More tax revenue.
More opportunities for Sioux Falls.
The convention center would be downtown. The benefits would extend throughout Sioux Falls.
More Capacity. More Opportunity.
Sioux Falls has a history of making investments that expand what our community can do.
The Washington Pavilion. The Denny Sanford PREMIER Center. Projects that once represented a vision for the future have become established community assets.
A modern downtown convention center represents another opportunity to expand what Sioux Falls can host, who can visit and how much economic activity visitors can bring to our community.
The goal is not to replace what we already have. It’s to expand our offerings by continuing to utilize the current convention center for local events such as farm, home and other trade shows, large banquets, indoor sports tournaments and overflow staging space for the PREMIER Center. Cities such as Fort Wayne, Indiana have shown how existing convention facilities can continue to serve important community needs alongside a new downtown center. This approach is ideal for Sioux Falls as well.
By building a modern downtown convention center while retaining the current convention center, we are able to add capacity. Capture business we are currently losing. Bring more visitors to Sioux Falls. And put those visitors within walking distance of the businesses and amenities they want to experience.
This will create more benefits for everyone who calls Sioux Falls home.
Frequently Asked Questions
In May 2026, Forward Sioux Falls and Experience Sioux Falls committed funding and leadership to develop a vision for a modern downtown convention center and build community understanding and support for the investment. The conversation is increasingly urgent as the Arena is at the end of its useful life and faces significant maintenance needs within the next two to four years, requiring a long-term vision for the future of this facility and the site. At the same time, several major planning efforts involving downtown development and a potential Whittier School rebuild, along with significant airport investments, create an opportunity to consider how a modern downtown convention center could strengthen Sioux Falls as a destination and support future community growth.
The ultimate goal of this effort is to build support for the overarching vision of a modern downtown convention center and encourage our community to take the next steps in the process.
Fort Wayne, Indiana provides a perfect example of a peer community that has built and supported two convention centers, one located outside of downtown and connected to a large arena similar to Sioux Falls, and another convention center downtown. Each serves unique purposes but also work in tandem to increase the overall event hosting capacity of the community.
As convention business has evolved, the expectations of meeting planners and attendees have changed over time. Particularly when attracting regional or national conventions, planners and attendees expect walkability and proximity to amenities like shopping, restaurants, and other entertainment options.
What's Your More?
A modern downtown convention center would be a significant investment in the future of Sioux Falls, and community input is an important part of the conversation. What would you like to see more of in Sioux Falls? Share your thoughts, questions or feedback about this opportunity and what you believe should be considered as the vision moves forward.
More Information
Join us at one of two upcoming open house sessions to learn more about the vision for a modern downtown convention center, ask questions and share your thoughts on what this opportunity could mean for Sioux Falls.
Open House
Thursday, November 12
7-8 p.m. | Presentation at 7:20 p.m.
Sioux Falls Convention Center
1201 N West Ave
Open House
Wednesday, December 2
6-7 p.m. | Presentation at 6:20 p.m.
Siouxland Libraries Downtown Library
200 N Dakota Ave
More Visitors Means More for Sioux Falls
A modern downtown convention center represents another opportunity to expand what Sioux Falls can host by bringing more visitors and more outside dollars into our community to support the amenities and quality of life we all enjoy.