On behalf of the Central Florida Sports Commission, I would like to thank each of our partners for your continued support which made 2011 a very successful year for us in our entire region. We are excited about what 2012 will bring, and how we can continue to market our regions assets as a premiere destination for sports related events and meetings.

The New Year brings new opportunities to Central Florida. The Sports Commission has had a busy January with travel to two industry trade shows, where we were able to provide many new event prospects for our community. The first was the US Lacrosse Convention in Philadelphia from Jan 13 - 15th. Billed as "the unofficial start to the lacrosse season," this event provided the sport's largest educational opportunity, with over 5,000 coaches, officials, program administrators and exhibitors in attendance. The same week we sent staff to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Convention in Kansas City. Billed as "The World's Largest Annual Gathering of Soccer Coaches," the NSCAA Convention drew approximately 4,000 coaches and more than 9,000 attendees over five days. Like the US Lacrosse Convention, this convention allowed the Sports Commission to promote our area assets to interested parties that might want to book one of our multi-purpose venues for an event or team training. 

As we roll into February, Central Florida will be on top of the world sports stage with three enormous events: NBA All-Star, Daytona 500, and Disney's Princess Half Marathon. Stay tuned for a recap from these events in next month's newsletter.  As always, we continue to market Central Florida to event organizers across the country, so read about some of our recent activity below.