TEAMS ’26 Winner Spotlight: 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

The annual TEAMS Conference & Expo, held October 26—29 in Birmingham, Alabama, included the annual SportsTravel Awards, which honors the events, venues and hosts that define excellence and drive the business of sports forward. Six awards were up for grabs: Best Amateur Sports Event; Best Collegiate Sports Event; Best Professional Sports Event; Best New Sports Event; Best New or Renovated Venue; and Best Sports Host City. In this series, we will highlight the individual winners of each category. 

Hosted by the St. Louis Sports Commission at Enterprise Center and Centene Community Ice Center, the 2026 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships welcomed the nation’s top figure skaters in January, serving as the final step toward selection for Team USA at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

The event attracted more than 91,500 spectators, the highest attendance since 2014, with the largest Friday session since 2002. The event generated $15.8 million in economic impact, nearly 25,000 hotel room nights, and $944,000 in combined state and local sales tax revenue.

While the U.S. went on to win gold in the Team Event in Italy, the week in St. Louis proved worthy of a gold medal as well. It won Best Amateur Sports Event at this year’s SportsTravel Awards.

U.S. Figure Skating event leadership Megan Romeo, Bob Dunlop and Kelsey Gislason were there to accept the award in Birmingham, Alabama, alongside Olympic ice dance medalists and seven-time U.S. Champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates and Brad Wachler, vice president of events for the St. Louis Sports Commission.

‘Skating is Back’

“You don’t do these events to win awards, but honestly, being recognized in such a way at TEAMS is just an amazing experience,” said Bob Dunlop, senior director of events at U.S. Figure Skating. “Our U.S. championship in 2026 in St. Louis was a memorable event.

“We came off a great World Championships the year before in Boston, but it really came to fruition this year. It’s a journey and we had the largest total attendance at the St. Louis Championship since 2014. We also had our largest single-session attendance since 2002, and basically sold out the weekend on Sunday, the final day, which was a new portion of the event.

“We were able to culminate the Olympic quad and send our athletes and our Olympic team members over to Milan with a really high-level event — our best-attended event in almost 24 years. Skating is back, and we obviously benefit from great athletics on the ice.

“Ultimately, we had our Olympic gold medalist in Alysa Liu. We had Olympic gold in our team and Olympic silver in our ice dance. I think the fans recognize that, and the community of St. Louis came out. St. Louis Sports Commission was our local partner and host, and it was phenomenal.

“We’re so excited about this award. We just want to keep it going.”