Southwest Florida’s hometown team provides championship excitement, economic boost for the region

SPORTS IN SWFL

FGCU to host four Atlantic Sun Conference Tournaments in 2026-27

Fort Myers’ primary and most famous nickname is the “City of Palms”, thanks to the horticultural efforts of famed inventor Thomas Edison. However, the economic light was truly turned on nearly 90 years later when Florida Gulf Coast University rebranded the economic center of the region as “Dunk City”. 

The excitement surrounding the success of FGCU’s men’s basketball run as “Dunk City” continues to this day as FGCU generated more than $750,000 in ticket sales alone during the 2025-26 academic calendar year.

More than 204,000 sports fans shuffled through the turnstiles at Alico Arena, Pickering Field, Swanson Stadium and the other top-tier athletic facilities at FGCU during the 2025-26 school year as the Eagles once again brought championship-level excitement to Southwest Florida.

FGCU played host to three Atlantic Sun Conference Tournaments last year – volleyball, men’s tennis and women’s tennis – and will repeat as hosts of those events in 2026-27 while also hosting the 2027 Atlantic Sun Conference Baseball Tournament at nearby JetBlue Park, the current spring training home to the Boston Red Sox.

Headlined by the immaculate Alico Arena, FGCU’s athletics facilities host more than just exciting sports action. FGCU Athletics is the premier facility provider for events in Southwest Florida and, in the past 12 months, saw more than 111,000 people visit the university’s campus to utilize the sports facilities for non-FGCU Athletics events.

Alico Arena annually plays host to GEICO Coconut Hoops, a college basketball showcase featuring some of the best high-major and mid-major programs in the country in both men’s and women’s basketball. In recent years, GEICO Coconut Hoops has included programs from Arizona, Gonzaga, Iowa, Iowa State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, UCLA, West Virginia and more.

While men’s and women’s college basketball games are certainly some of the more visible events taking place on the FGCU campus, events occur on campus throughout all 12 months of the year. FGCU is home to 15 intercollegiate athletics programs in the sports of baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis and volleyball. Additionally, each of those sports programs offers various levels of camps, clinics and community programming to the entire region.

Sport is more than a $300 million industry in Southwest Florida. The non-stop action on the courts, in the fields, on the courses and in the pools makes the athletic facilities at FGCU a focal point of both athletic and economic action in Southwest Florida.

Story by: Patrick Walsh, FGCU Director, Athletics Communication