(Photo By Flickr User Rory Finneren)

Tourism officials say that The 2015 Illinois High School Football Championships brought an economic boost of about $800,000 to the DeKalb, IL area.

According to The Associated Press & The DeKalb Daily Chronicle, the weekend of November 27th and 28th, provided an economic boost for the area, drawing more than 22,000 visitors and producing record sales for some downtown DeKalb businesses. Officials say 465 hotel rooms were booked in DeKalb and Sycamore, also, 50 hotel room nights in Rochelle.

DeKalb County Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Debbie Armstrong said,

“The weekend proved to be a powerful economic engine that fueled local and regional businesses and provided invaluable publicity and visibility for DeKalb County and Northern Illinois University.”

The DeKalb Daily Chronicle also reported that restaurant owners say they saw a 35 to 50 percent bump in business.

Also, Armstrong says average spending per visitor per day came out to $75.

Wendy West-Krauch, DeKalb IHSA Community chairwoman said,

The tournament went off just as smoothly, if not better, than the last time DeKalb hosted the IHSA championship in 2013. Unexpected rain, however, might have affected turnout on November 27th.

Plans to improve 2017’s tournament, the next time the championships will take place in DeKalb, include better preparedness for poor weather.