Sports are a significant economic driver for Kentucky, with the Kentucky Derby alone generating more than $400 million annually for our state.

Our next story explores how local sporting events and teams create a deep sense of Kentucky pride and community identity, uniting people across the state through shared passions that transcend social and economic boundaries.

[umpire whistling] Professional sports are a staple of American culture, from the National Football League to Major League Baseball and all things in between.

But most professionals don't start out playing in the big leagues.

Instead, local professional sports leagues offer players a sort of training ground and allow them to cut their teeth in smaller stadiums.

Kentucky has some teams of its own across a variety of sports, like the Lexington Legends, the Louisville Bats, and the Lexington Sporting Club.

[cheering] So, how do these smaller sports organizations stack up to the big leagues and what impact do they have on their communities?

Sports is such a unifying event.

I mean, you can go, you can come out and watch the soccer match with your friends on a weekend, but by the time you've left, you've expanded that friendship to everybody sitting around you, and it just brings us all together in a commonality that maybe in today's world we don't have.

So pro sports, college sports in Lexington are very complimentary.

Everybody here grows up to be a Big Blue fan, but they also appreciate the other sports that have come, and it's special.

You go to a Legends game one night, and you go to a UK baseball game the next night.

They're very complimentary.

Or what many visitors to the community have enjoyed over the years, you go to Keeneland on a Saturday afternoon, and you go to a UK football game on a Saturday night.

The two work well together, and they benefit this community greatly.

Lexington Legends, 25 years, it's a testament to what baseball really does mean to Lexington, Central Kentucky.

But even more, the jobs, they've got over a 100 jobs associated with that when the season is on.

They've got about 25 permanent jobs year-round.

Lower your face.

But the Legends aren't Kentucky's only baseball team.

Just up I-75 in Florence are the Florence Y'alls, originally coming to Kentucky as the Freedom in 2004 before starting from scratch once again in 2019.

[cheering] I think the rebrand, especially because we're named after the water tower, so people can rally around that.

And then we put a super heavy promotion on our community.

So, you know, our guys go out and they help bag food for, like, our local food shelters or, you know, even like the Memorial Day parade that we just had.

It was, everyone was so excited just to see Y'alls Star and to see the Y'alls because it is something that they can rally behind that's not across the river.

If you want to get involved in sports, I think the best thing to do would, like, try out those seasonal staff positions.

Most minor league teams are always looking for people to help us run the gate, help us run concessions.

Like, there are so many niche jobs within sports that everyone can find something, even if you're not a huge sports fan.

[cheering] The thing that I enjoy the most about our fan engagement inside is just, like, mostly the kids.

I love seeing all the kids get so excited when we throw t-shirts or stress balls or, you know, they get so excited when, you know, they catch a foul ball, or they get to, you know, get an autograph from a player because, obviously, with some bigger teams, you don't really get that kind of, like, intimate atmosphere.

The tourism aspect is great because, one, we have teams from all the way up to Canada.

So, I mean, we have Canadian fans that get to come here and experience northern Kentucky for the first time and just how cool Kentucky is.

So, I think that's cool that people get to learn about Kentucky's history.

They have a place that they can stop by, and I just think that's great.

And it's not just central Kentucky getting in on the action.

Out west, Bowling Green has their own team, the Hot Rods.

So, last year, we had over 12 teams from different cities visit Bowling Green Ballpark to take on the Bowling Green Hot Rods.

You know, when you think about a a tourism aspect, that's booking over 3,000 hotel rooms from April to September, as well as bringing in, you know, over 140,000 fans to the ballpark.

That number continues to increase year over year from an attendance perspective.

But with that, you know, we see people from all over the country.

We had ticket buyers from 42 different states, over 500 cities, and over 650 different zip codes throughout the entire United States.

Not to mention, we also had three countries in there as well.

Sports are important for communities because it brings, you know, families together.

You know, the great thing about coming to a Hot Rods game is its affordable family fun for all to enjoy.

You know, you can come to a ballgame with four or five family members and pay less than $50 to get into the ballpark.

Baseball isn't the only semi-pro sport in Kentucky.

Soccer has seen a sharp rise in popularity in the Bluegrass State, with recent investments from cities like Lexington and Louisville providing family-friendly environments to watch this global phenomenon on a local scale.

[crowd cheering] The city of Louisville decided to bring pro soccer to the city because of a passionate group of people that was led by an individual, Wayne Estopinal, and he knew that there was a growing passion for the sport of soccer here in this community.

And he had a vision, and a dream, and the motivation to really push forward and try to make something special for our entire community.

Last year, the Sports Commission, we were involved in helping host over 95 different events in the community that brought in over about $300 million in economic impact for this community and 800,000 people, fans, spectators from all over, to participate and watch, and to enjoy what is special about Louisville.

In the world of economic development, when you're bringing and you're recruiting companies to your community, one of the things they look at is what is here, what is the quality of life.

And having these pro sports teams, especially when you're sitting here at the soccer stadium today, most popular sport in the world, it means so much when you're in these companies around, and they have many times global locations.

It's just another amenity to help market your community and show them that this is a great place.

Kentucky is a great place to come, work, live, and play.

[crowd cheering] And it really helps us to continue to add jobs in Lexington.

This is one of the reasons we had record employment last year.

And we continue to work with these [crowd cheering] clubs to make sure that they thrive.

[music playing]