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| | A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM SAM | |
March is a great time to be a sports fan in Orlando. The best golfers in the world will be here for the Tavistock Cup and the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The "boys of spring" are taking their cuts, as the Braves host games all month at ESPN's Wide World of Sports. And of course, the Magic are in their stretch run to the NBA playoffs.
With Winter Park's boys basketball state championship, Central Florida continues its reputation as a high school sports hotbed. Read more about the 2-time state champs below. At the Sports Commission offices, we are busy planning for a couple of other high school state championships this spring. The FHSAA Water Polo Finals will be held at the YMCA Aquatic Center April 29-30 and the FHSAA Lacrosse Finals will be held at West Orange High School May 6-7.
On February 25th, a sellout crowd of more than 300 people, including officials from all five Central Florida counties, attended the second-annual "Business of Sports" breakfast. Attendees listened to a panel comprised of leaders from the Orlando Magic, UCF, Florida Citrus Sports, ESPN/Disney Wide World of Sports and Sun Sports/Fox Sports. The speakers addressed a wide range of issues including Orlando's new state-of-the art venues, Orlando's sports branding strategy and the economic impact of sports in Central Florida.
On the business development front, we recently learned that the FHSAA Football Finals will be back in Orlando at the Florida Citrus Bowl! Read more about this exciting news and other recent activity further down in this month's impact report.
Thank you for your continued support, as we continue to market Orlando and Orange County as the "Ultimate Sports Destination".
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Best Regards,
Sam Stark
President/CEO
Central Florida Sports Commission |
| ECONOMIC IMPACT |
Month of January, 2011
Hotel Room Nights: 6,450
Tax Recovery: $68,340.91
Economic Impact: $3,366,564.00
Number of Participants: 159
Number of Spectators: 9,942
Number of Events: 1
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IN THE PIPELINE | |
The Sports Commission recently participated in a Sports FAM (familiarization) Tour in partnership with Visit Orlando to showcase our hotels and venues to multiple regional and national event organizers. Premier National Wrestling League, National Wheelchair Basketball Association and Varsity All Star were a few of the event organizers that had a chance to tour the Orange County Convention Center, Amway Center, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and the Citrus Bowl, along with multiple hotel properties throughout the county. We are targeting new business for the summer of 2011 and beyond, so stay tuned for more updates on each as we continue our discussions.
Looking ahead, the Sports Commission will be sending multiple staff to the 2011 National Association of Sports Commissions (NASC) Sports Event Symposium in Greensboro, North Carolina on April 11 - 15. This annual conference will provide a great opportunity for the Sports Commission to network with multiple event organizers and identify new event opportunities for hotels and sports venues within Orange County. A short list of targeted event organizers that we expect to be in attendance include the NCAA, US Lacrosse, AAU, USA Gymnastics and USA Judo; just to name a few.
While in Greensboro, we plan to meet with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) to discuss future event opportunities for our community. Several in particular, the ACC Men's & Women's Basketball Tournaments, are opportunities for the Amway Center. Additional events such as their Men's & Women's Tennis Championship and Men's & Women's Golf Championships are also under consideration for venues within the region. |
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| WINS & LOSSES
(As of February, 2011) |
Formal Bids Submitted: 4
Total Bids Won: 1
Total Bids Lost: 0
As mentioned above, the Sports Commission, in conjunction with Orlando Venues, Orange County Public Schools and Edgewater High School, are proud to announce the FHSAA Football Finals will return to the Citrus Bowl this coming December. As part of our new 3 year deal, the Football Finals will once bring the top high school football teams to our community for eight (8) championship games over back to back weekends in December. This was a major coup as our competition (St. Petersburg and Miami) offered very attractive proposals, but in the end our centralized location, recent renovations to the facility and overall community support won out! We would like to thank all of partners for their support of our bid to bring the State Finals back to Orlando!
In other news, the Sports Commission and Visit Orlando are in the final phase of submitting a proposal to USA Gymnastics for the right to host the 2015 FIG World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. The competition would be staged at the Amway Center in late September/early October over the course of 18 days. Gymnastics teams from across the world, along with thousands of spectators, would be in attendance. In addition, USA Gymnastics would host their Annual Congress (Meetings & Tradeshow) in conjunction with the World Championships. The Congress is proposed to be either staged at one of area hotels or possibly the Orange County Convention Center. Approximately 18,000 + room nights would be generated by both the World Championships and Congress within the City of Orlando/Orange County. Stay tuned!
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UPCOMING EVENTS
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| COMMUNITY PROFILE |
Wildcat Repeat
The Winter Park boys basketball team, led by Senior Austin Rivers, captured their 2nd consecutive state championship that past weekend in Lakeland. The Wildcats brought home the 6A championship with a hard fought 52-44 win over Orange County rival Dr. Phillips, also their opponent in the 2010 championship game. Winter Park, ranked No. 17 nationally by ESPN and Rivals, is a candidate to again be invited to the ESPN Rise postseason National High School Invitational.
Further demonstrating Central Florida's prep basketball dominance, Leesburg High School won the 4A boys state championship with a 66-58 win against Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons. In addition to Dr. Phillips, both Jones High School (3A) and First Academy Orlando (2A) made it to the state championship game but fell one win short of the ultimate prize. |
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