Team Spartanburg Sports Council is a community organization formed by local community leaders including the Spartanburg Convention & Visitors Bureau in conjunction with the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce, the City of Spartanburg, the County of Spartanburg, and local businesses.

Team Spartanburg’s mission is to promote Spartanburg as a destination for sports events.  This is a means to drive the local economy by attracting participants and spectators to the community, where they will spend money on hotels, restaurants, shopping and other local businesses.  The goal also is to enhance the quality of life in Spartanburg by providing quality family-oriented sports events for potential participants and spectators.

Originally, the sports council was formed in the early 1990s to lend support to the bid by local businessman Jerry Richardson to gain an NFL franchise for the Carolinas.  The group organized events to help make the case to the NFL that the Carolinas market would be a good one, and the bid was successful.

After the awarding of the franchise to Richardson in 1994, Team Spartanburg, along with Wofford College, the City, the County and local business leaders, set out to have Wofford named the summer training camp for the Carolina Panthers.  The group also began the task of preparing the community for being the host to both the Panthers and to the visitors who would come.  The Panthers opened their first training camp in Spartanburg in the summer of 1995.

Through the years, Team Spartanburg has partnered with a variety of public and private entities to attract and assist a number of sports-related events and programs.  Those include, but certainly aren’t limited to:

• Carolina Panthers Training Camp (1995-present)
• German Men’s Gymnastics Olympics Team training camp (1995)
• U.S. Men’s Gymnastics Olympics Team training camp (1996)
• Junior Olympic National Cross Country Championships (1999)
• Pan American Games for the Blind (2001)
• Special Olympics (2001)
• Dixie Girls Debs and Ponytails Fast pitch World Series (2001)
• Bobby Chapman Junior Golf Invitational (~2001-present)
• Rotary Stump Jump (~2001-present)
• Rebel Invitational Wrestling Tournament (~2001-present)
• National Softball Association Tournament and World Series (2003)
• Big Country Foundation (Stephen Davis) (2003-2004)
• Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Association baseball tournament (2004)
• National Goal ball Championships (2004)
• National Junior College Half-Marathon Championship (2005 & 2007)
• Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas (2004-2011)
• National Junior College Athletic Association Cross Country Championship (2008 & 2010)
• Spartanburg Classic / Denny’s PBA Tour (2007)
• Great American Race (2007)
• BMW Pro-Am Charity Golf Tournament (2008)

Team Spartanburg has been, and continues to be, composed of representatives from the public and private sectors, including hotels, restaurants, retail, marketing, media, economic development, and the City and County.  The staff of the Convention & Visitors Bureau has provided support to the sports council, including providing a meeting place, providing clerical assistance (such as mailings and maintenance of notes and minutes), and providing much-needed assistance in the area of hospitality needs to the variety of event holders Team Spartanburg serves.