Quarterly tourism report: Norman sees visitor spikes on football weekends; staff outline data limits, lodging impacts

City staff presented a quarterly review of special-event attendance and visitor trends at the March 6 meeting of the City Council Business and Community Affairs Committee, showing large spikes in town-level visits tied to University of Oklahoma football games and steady year-over-year increases in lodging metrics.

The presentation drew on two commercial data sources: Placer.ai for city-level cell‑phone movement and Zartico for tourism and spend metrics. Staff said the city moved this report from monthly to quarterly to allow more complete financial and event-spending compilation. "We decided to do it quarterly," a staff presenter said, "so you'll see four of these a year."

Why it matters: committee members pressed staff for detail because football weekends and major festivals are an important economic driver for Norman restaurants, retail and lodging. Staff said those spikes appear concentrated at Gaylord Family — the football stadium — and do not consistently translate into large, visible spikes in nearby towns.

Key findings - Overall city footprint: The presentation showed monthly visitor…