One of the responsibilities of a business community is to think beyond the year at hand. We must look at where Sioux Falls is headed and ask what our city will need years from now.
This applies to the discussion concerning a modern downtown convention center. It’s more than a question about a meeting venue. It’s about economic capacity and whether Sioux Falls has the infrastructure needed to continue competing for business and investment.
When the current convention center opened in 1997, Sioux Falls had just over 100,000 residents. Today, our population is more than 224,000, with projections of 370,000 by 2050. Today, the visitor economy is clearly an important part of Sioux Falls. In 2025, an estimated 3.4 million visitors came to the city, generating approximately $1.2 billion in economic impact. Visitor activity generated more than $125 million in state and local taxes and supported more than 10,000 hospitality jobs.
