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Featured Article
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The PNC Bank SPORTYS - Central Florida Sports Awards & Hall of Fame
The PNC Bank SPORTYS @ Full Sail University will be the can't miss sports event of the year! Central Florida's version of the ESPYs, the PNC Bank SPORTYS will honor the top area high school, amateur, collegiate and professional athletes, coaches, deserving local residents and businesses throughout Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia Counties. Dwight Howard, Ryan Lochte, Austin Rivers, Jeff Godfrey, George O'Leary and Marvin Bracy top the list of SPORTY nominees.
During the show, the Class of 2011, including Doc Rivers, Chuck Rohe and Ricky Watters, will be inducted into the Central Florida Sports Hall of Fame. The Central Florida Sports Hall of Fame is the continuation of a great regional sports tradition, where over 80 Central Floridians have been honored for their distinguished accomplishments within professional and amateur sports since 1981.
An exciting, elegant evening of awards and entertainment, the PNC Bank SPORTYS @ Full Sail University will take place on Saturday, September 24th at 7 pm. Only a limited number of tickets are available to the public, so get yours today. Tickets are $70 per person or $575 for a corporate 10-pack. For more information and to purchase your tickets click HERE.
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A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM SAM
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Fall is upon us and with this season comes hopes of cooler weather and beautiful scenery from the colors that autumn provides. For most of the country people head indoors, but it is the perfect time for Volusians to enjoy the many outdoor activities that the area has to offer.
While the tourist season winds down, the sports season is in full force with football, volleyball, golf, dodgeball, and kickball. It is also the perfect time of the year for runners in the area. The Central Florida Sports Commission has been very busy preparing for the Daytona Beach Half Marathon presented by BB&T, which is one of the most unique races in the country. This event brings more than 1,000 runners together to race around the track of the Daytona International Speedway, through the streets of Daytona Beach to the World's Most Famous Beach, and back to the finish line of the track.
Taking place on Sunday, October 30, the Daytona Beach Half Marathon presented by BB&T boasts one of the best post race parties around and a costume contest for those that dare to run 13.1 miles dressed up as their favorite ghost, princess or NASCAR driver. New this year, race travel packages are enticing more and more runners to stay and enjoy Daytona Beach for the entire weekend. For information on the race and possible sponsorship opportunities, please contact Miranda Smith at msmith@centralfloridasports.org .
The first annual PNC Bank SPORTYS @ Full Sail University will be held at Full Sail Live on September 24th at 7:00 pm. The PNC Bank SPORTYS honors top area high school, amateur, collegiate, and professional athletes, coaches, deserving local residents and businesses throughout Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Volusia Counties. In fact, two Volusia County athletes have been nominated for awards. Ryan Lochte, the most decorated American swimmer of the past few years, is nominated for Professional Athlete of the Year and Crystal Bardge, two time track & field national champion at Embry-Riddle, is up for the College Athlete of the Year award. For more information and to purchase your tickets, check out the featured article section on the left.
The Florida Tennis Center was as busy as ever in the month of August. The USTA hosted three events: the USTA Section Championship 2.5- 3.5-4.5, the USTA Section Championship 3.0- 4.0-5.0, and the USTA Florida State Closed Doubles Sectional. Together these tournaments brought in over 1,000 tennis players from across the State of Florida. For more information please visit the USTA website.
Have a great September! |
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Best Regards,
Sam Stark
President/CEO
Central Florida Sports Commission |
ECONOMIC IMPACT |
Month of July, 2011 Totals Hotel Room Nights - 2,307 Tax Recovery - $18,439.61 Economic Impact - $1,022,166.00 Number of Participants - 826 Number of Spectators - 1,115 Number of Events - 5 Year to Date (Through July, 2011) Hotel Room Nights - 10,963 Tax Recovery - $89,775.10 Economic Impact - $4,900,357.83 Number of Participants - 3,445 Number of Spectators - 3,980 Number of Events - 15 |
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| IN THE PIPELINE |
The last month found the Sports Commission diligently researching new business for Volusia County. Three recent leads (of note) that we are currently reviewing came from USA Fencing, Score at the Shore Soccer and USA Wrestling.
USA Fencing, and the site selection partners at ISOL Partners, is looking at host venues for their events during their 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 event seasons. Multiple events are up for bid, with dates ranging from November through July. Our community has already been awarded the North American Cup in the fall of 12 and 13 so we are unsure USA Fencing will be open to placing another one of their national events in Volusia County. Stay tuned!
Score at the Shore is seeking hosts for several of their national youth soccer events. Score at the Shore hosts both boys and girl's soccer showcases throughout the United States, and are currently looking at bidding out several of their annualized tournaments. Venues with multiple soccer fields such as those in Ormond Beach, Deland and New Smyrna Beach, among others, could be options based on the size and scope of the tournament being considered. We hope to be able to meet with staff from Score in the coming weeks, so we will keep you posted on whether our venues in Volusia County will work for any of their future events.
Lastly, we recently received a RFP from USA Wrestling and Florida Amateur Wrestling with respect to potentially bidding on the 2012 and 2013 Kids Greco-Roman & Freestyle National Championships. Approximately 1,000 + participants, coaches and spectators would be in attendance at the event. The proposed dates of the event are mid/late June, with their being one day of setup/weigh-ins and two (2) days of competition. We are currently holding space in the Exhibition Hall at the Ocean Center, but we need to determine if USA Wrestling would consider staging another national event in Daytona Beach since we will be once again hosting the USA Wrestling Cadet Duals at the Ocean Center next June. The Cadet Duals was part of a two (2) year commitment. We should know more in the coming weeks as we plan to discuss our strategy with Florida Amateur Wrestling, our statewide partner and state association/member of USA Wrestling.
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| WINS & LOSSES
(Through July, 2011)
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- Bids Submitted - 4
- Wins- 1
- Losses- 3
On the business development front, the Sports Commission, Volusia County Parks and Recreation, Daytona Beach Area CVB and Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort partnered to submit a proposal to host the 2012 Florida Firefighter Games. The United States Firefighter Games is a non-profit organization committed to providing professional fulltime and retired Firefighters in Florida the opportunity to compete in Olympic style sporting events. In all, 33 different types of competitions would be staged at 21 venues located throughout Volusia County. Approximately 4,000 competitors from across the State of Florida would converge on Volusia County over a 2 week period. Based on our diligence, approximately 1,000 - 2,000 room nights are generated in the host community. We should hear something back from officials with the event by next month's impact report, so stay tuned!
In other business, the Sports Commission and Daytona Beach Area CVB recently received a RFP for the opportunity to host the 2012 US Sports Congress. This annual conference, which would take place in December of 2012, would bring together Sports Commissions and event organizers from across the United States to discuss the state of the amateur sports industry. Some of the event organizers who have attended in previous years include USA Volleyball, USA Badminton, USA Weightlifting, USA Rugby, Amateur Athletic Union, USA Gymnastics, USA Archery, USA Lacrosse, NAIA, NCAA, PGA, and USA Football to name a few. Based on our diligence, we determined that we could not place a bid based the financial request to host. There is a possibility that we will again look at bidding the conference for either 2013 or 2014.
Also, the Sports Commission recently researched the possibility of potentially hosting the National Association of Sports Commissions Sports Event Symposium to Volusia County in 2014 or 2015. This annual conference brings together sports commission, convention & visitors bureaus and event organizers for networking and educational purposes. The conference generates approximately 2000 + hotel room nights for the host community. Although this would have been a fantastic event to bid on because of the number, and level, of event organizers that attend, we elected to forgo sending a formal proposal based on the financial requirements to host. We will look at this opportunity again for 2016 and 2017 when it again comes available to bid. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS
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BETHUNE COOKMAN WOMENS VOLLEYBALL INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT
Moore Gymnasium (Bethune-Cookman University)
September 16-18, 2011, All Day
6th ANNUAL PADDLE BATTLE
Blue Spring State Park (Orange City, FL)
September 17, 2011, All Day
USTA FLORIDA STATE DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIPS 14,12,10
USTA Tennis Center (Daytona Beach, FL)
September 24, 2011, All Day
BIKETOBER FEST
Deland, FL
October 1, 2011, All Day
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| COMMUNITY PROFILE | |
We would like to congratulate Embry-Riddle University's own Crystal Bardge who has been nominated for the First Annual PNC Bank SPORTYS College Athlete of the Year Award. Bardge is a two-time Track & Field All-American, as well as a two-time National Champion.
In the 2011 NAIA Indoor National Championships, Crystal Bardge became the first sprint title holder in Embry Riddle history. After setting a new NAIA National Meet record of 8.48 in the semifinals, she ran an impressive 8.34 second finish in the 60m hurdles to break her own record and win the championship. In the 2011 Outdoor NAIA National, she won her second title of the year in the 100m hurdles. With a time of 13.87 Bardge was able to clench the title with a photo finish.
Bardge is expected to be another top contender in her respective events in the 2012 season. We would like to congratulate her on her success thus far and we wish her the best of luck in the upcoming season.
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