Memphis Sports and Events Center attracts big brands, more youth tournaments
JUNE 13, 2025
Memphis Business Journal | Omer Yusuf
The Memphis Sports and Events Center (MSEC) has established itself as an important destination for various youth sports tournaments.
That’s what local leaders envisioned for the space when the facility opened in 2022. Among the most prominent events held at the MSEC each year is Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL), which was held May 16-18.
The Nike EYBL brings in thousands of visitors from outside the Memphis area to dine at local restaurants and stay in area hotels during the three-day tournament.
Although Eastern Sports Management COO Andy Ballard said the Nike EYBL tournament is MSEC’s most prestigious event, that does not make it the facility’s largest. The 3,500-seat MSEC features 16 basketball courts and 32 volleyball courts, with volleyball tournaments drawing in big attendance figures.
“There are a couple of volleyball tournaments that [bring in] 8,000 people,” Ballard said. “Varsity Spirit, one of our partners locally, they bring in about 7,000 people between participants and spectators. There's plenty of activity that happens in that building. And this EBYL tournament is the top of the pyramid [in terms] of prestigiousness.”
There’s also a desire from some notable shoe brands — Puma, New Balance, and Nike — following the success of their initial tournaments at the facility to add more sporting events to the MSEC calendar throughout the year.
“It's almost like a 'champagne problem' that we'll have going into the future in terms of now we have just got to find dates for all these operators,” said JJ Greer, Memphis Tourism’s Sports Council director of sports and events.
The MSEC has seen over 2 million visitors since it opened three years ago, with optimism from local officials that number is only set to significantly increase in the coming years.
That’s because MSEC is the anchor tenant as part of an ongoing redevelopment of the Liberty Park area near Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. The City of Memphis announced in May several notable updates to the $112.5 million private development segment of Liberty Park.
Those plans include a new hotel, restaurant, retail space, and residential buildings.
“I think it's all coming together, and I feel like when you get all of these things going at one time, you're really going to see what the Memphis Sports and Events Center and Liberty Park can do together,” Ballard said.
