CLEVELAND — Cleveland is the hot spot for big events in 2024. David Gilbert, the CEO of Destination Cleveland and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, said it is a big year for Northeast Ohio.

“In one year, we have such an incredible spotlight on our city,” he said.

One event Cleveland is hosting is The Women’s Final Four in April. Gilbert explained the impact it’ll have on the city.

“What women’s basketball and collegiate women’s basketball has become, we’re expecting 25- to 30,000 people to be here,” he said.

Then, just one day after The Final Four ends, the total solar eclipse will happen and Gilbert said that will bring another round of tourists.

“The path of totality comes right over Cleveland. We’ve been working for years to try and make Cleveland a visitor epicenter for when that happens. Gonna bring in many tens of thousands of additional visitors,” he said.

The list of events doesn’t stop there. The Pan-American Masters Games are in Cleveland in mid-July. Then a few weeks later. The WWE SummerSlam comes to town. In the fall, it is Cleveland’s turn to host the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Gilbert explained these events will also bring tens of thousands of people to the 216.

“In the short term, each one of those events I mentioned will bring in tens of millions dollars, new dollars into the community, but what it also does is it keeps Cleveland at the forefront of being recognized as one of the top cities in America for hosting these events,” he said.

Gilbert said he’s hopeful these events will show people that Cleveland should be on everybody’s list of places to visit.

“When these things happen, not only are the tens and tens of thousands of people that come to these events exposed to Cleveland and we know their perception of our community goes up considerably, but they promote that to their networks, so their friends and family, and we know from our research that the perception of Cleveland, outside of Cleveland, continues to rise,” he said.