OKC’s continued economic impact from the Women’s College World Series

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Batter up, Oklahoma City! The 2025 NCAA Softball Women’s College World Series (WCWS) kicks off at the end of this week in OKC’s Adventure District. Starting Thursday, May 28, through June 5 or 6, Devon Park will host the top collegiate teams and their fans from across the country to compete for the championship title.

With thousands of visiting fans staying at hotels downtown, buying merchandise, and patronizing local restaurants and bars throughout the series, the World Series is a healthy yearly jolt to OKC’s economy. On average, this tournament generates an estimated $25 million annually for the OKC economy.

With funding from the 2017 GO Bond, Devon Park expanded seating from 9,000 to 13,000, as well as underwent major improvements to the dugouts and media spaces to support hosting the series. Because of that expansion, the 2024 World Series broke the record for single-game attendance with over 12,500 fans watching at Devon Park, and OKC can expect to see similar attendance at this year’s series.

Oklahoma has a long history of supporting softball, dating back to 1964 when OKC leaders competed to become the permanent home of the Women’s College Softball Hall of Fame. This eventually led to building the stadium, which opened in 1984. Devon Park, the world’s largest softball stadium, has hosted the softball world series every year since 1990, with the exception of the 1996 series, which was hosted in Columbus, Georgia, at the 1996 Summer Olympics site. The current contract for hosting the WCWS will continue through 2035.

OKC’s long history of hosting large-scale softball events will continue in 2028 as the chosen site to hold softball at Devon Park and canoe slalom at Riversport OKC for the Los Angeles Summer Olympics. Without the city’s continued investment and support in the complex and the sport, it is unlikely we would see OKC boosted onto the global stage. Not only will LA28 attract media and tourism to the city, but it will augment Oklahoma City’s global reputation as a host for other large-scale events and as an investor in women’s sports—an industry that generated over $1 billion nationally last year and is growing over 50% times faster than men’s sports.

If that wasn’t enough to be excited about, this year, the University of Oklahoma Softball team is attempting to reach a historic 5-peat championship title. So get out there and cheer on our Sooners!

Kenton Tsoodle is the president of the Alliance for Economic Development of Oklahoma City.