When the USC Women of Troy won a record third straight NCAA beach volleyball championship earlier this month on Gulf Place Beach, they did so in front of another record crowd.

Not only that, but the three-day attendance of 11,722 also produced around 2,000 hotel room nights and an economic impact of $1.5 million on the City of Gulf Shores according to Recreation and Cultural Affairs Director Grant Brown's report during the city council’s regular session May 8.

With a new championship format compared to last year, 1,571 more attendees came to Gulf Shores to see the national collegiate beach volleyball champion be crowned this year. That jump was more than double the increase seen from the 2022 tournament compared to the previous one hosted in 2019 since the 2020 championship was canceled due to the pandemic.

From 9,488 championship attendees in 2019 to nearly 12,000 this year, it’s moments like that which remind Michelle Russ, vice president of sales, sports and events for Gulf Shores | Orange Beach Sports & Events, where this journey all started.

“It’s amazing to see what this championship has become from our roots hosting the AVCA Sand Volleyball National Collegiate Championships to the first NCAA-sanctioned championship in 2016 to the biggest championship yet in 2023,” Russ said. “Each year, the site is built from the sand up to transform Gulf Place into a championship venue, and we have made adjustments to improve the site and the experience for student-athletes, fans and families.”

Gulf Shores will remain the host of the NCAA beach volleyball championship tournament for one more year before it moves to Huntington Beach, California for two years. The NCAA has not yet announced championship host locations beyond the 2026 postseason.

Californian teams have dominated the beach volleyball tournament since the NCAA sanctioned the sport for championship play in 2016.

Of the seven national titles awarded on the sand, USC has won five and UCLA — this year’s runner-up — won the other two consecutively in 2018 and 2019. The Women of Troy took second in 2019 and the Bruins did the same in 2021.

Florida State (2016, 2018, 2022) is the only team not from California to register a second-place finish in the tournament where Pepperdine finished as runner-up in 2017.