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NORTHEAST FLORIDAS BUSINESS & EXECUTIVE LIFE AUTHORITY
JUNE 2014
Advisor
GOOD
$PORTS
GOOD
$PORTS
CITY BOOSTERS ARE CONVINCED JAX CAN
WIN IN THE SPORTS BIZ ARENA
34 : 904theMagazine.com : June 2014
GOOD
SPORTS
words by VIRGINIA CHAMLEE & TRAVIS GIBSON
Rendering of EverBank Field upgrades currently under construction.
CITY BOOSTERS ARE CONVINCED JAX
CAN WIN IN THE SPORTS BIZ ARENA
ince the early 1980s, THE
PLAYERS Championship
golf tournament has
drawn thousands to TPC
Sawgrass and the famed
Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach. Prior
to this years event, the JAX Chamber esti-
mated that the 2014 tournament would re-
sult in an economic impact upwards of $151
million to Northeast Florida. While the exact
numbers are difficult to determine (and
often inflated by overly optimistic boosters
determined to lure more events to the city),
one thing is for certainTHE PLAYERS, and
other major sporting events like it, shine a
spotlight on the cities that host them and
certainly generate revenue at the admission
gates. The American sports industry is a
multi-billion dollar one, and one that contin-
ues to grow. With a new focus on bringing
premier athletic competitions to the city,
hopes are high that Jacksonville can snag a
larger piece of that pie.
In March, Mayor Brown announced the
formation of a public-private partnership be-
tween the City, Gator Bowl Sports and the
JAX Chamber that will work to showcase the
region as a sports destination for profes-
sional, amateur and youth leagues.
The Jacksonville Sports Council will con-
sist of business and community leaders
cobbled together from throughout North-
east Florida and will be privately funded,
with Gator Bowl Sports providing supple-
mentary administrative and operational
funding.
From new collegiate track and eld complexes to the
worlds largest video scoreboards, the city is betting big on
sports. the Jaguars, Florida/Georgia Game and PLAYERS
Championship are big pieces of the puzzle, but the real
money comes from a yearlong schedule of small sporting
eventscompetitions that likely wont make ESPN prime-
time but that do put heads in beds and butts in seats.
June 2014 : 904theMagazine.com : 35
Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville
UNFs Hodges Stadium
36 : 904theMagazine.com : June 2014
or years, we ran sport-
ing events out of our
public entity, says
Alan Verlander, execu-
tive director of the Jacksonville
Sports Council (who previously
acted as sports and entertain-
ment director for the City of
Jacksonville and is a past ath-
letic director at Jacksonville Uni-
versity). There are challenges
with that, due to contracts and
procurement. Sports moves fast
and sometimes government
does not.
During a March press confer-
ence, Brown said he hoped that
the new new public-private part-
nership would help the city build
more momentum to attract
major events.
These major events arent
limited to strictly professional
sports. [Prior to the formation
of the council], we were one of
the only communities this size
without a sports commission,
says Visit Jacksonville president
and CEO Paul Astleford. Com-
missions really build out the pro-
fessional and collegiate events
for the community, but they also
go after the very lucrative youth
sporting events.
In May, Brown and the Jack-
sonville Sports Council an-
nounced that the 2016 SEC
Womens Basketball Tournament
will be played at Veterans Me-
morial Arena, the citys premier
15,000-seat multi-purpose
venue. Landing the womens
tourney is a notable catch, but
its not the first time college
sports have been attracted to
Jax. The NCAA has called on the
area for events before, including
early round play of the Mens
Basketball Tournament, first in
2006 and again in 2010.
UNFs Hodges Stadium, which
underwent a $3 million re-vamp
in 2008 to make it an Olympic
quality track, has also benefitted
from the push for athletic
events. The three-day NCAA
Track & Field East Preliminary
Round, which took place at
UNFs Hodges Stadium May 29-
31, produced more than 8,000
hotel room nights throughout
the city, according to Visit Jack-
sonville.
When you look at the num-
ber of people who compete, and
their coaches and their family
members who come for the
competition, these types of
events have a major impact on
our local economy, says Astle-
ford.
The 9,400-seat complex at
which the event was held opened
in 2004 and also played host to
the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Track &
Field East Preliminary. In 2015 and
2016, it will host the NCAA Divi-
sion I Outdoor Track & Field East
Preliminaries, as well as the USA
Track and Field Junior Olympic
Championships in 2015.
Verlander says the council is
also concentrating on smaller-
scale events, like cycling and
triathlons. When youre talking
sports, everyones mind goes to
the big gamesFlorida/Georgia,
NCAA basketball, the Jaguars.
But cycling, triathlons, big vol-
leyball events... if you do several
per year, they add up to big dol-
lars. Large cycling events bring
a couple thousand cyclers to a
town for a few nights.
Visit Jacksonville has also en-
tered into a marketing partner-
ship with the Jacksonville
Axemen rugby team to provide
marketing and promotional sup-
port for the 2014 USA Rugby
League Championship Game,
which will take place August 23
at UNF. Astleford says he hopes
the move helps introduce the
city to a new legion of visitors
and have an economic impact
on the city at largespecifically,
the hotel industry. While
Beaches hotels stay busy
throughout the summer months,
the First Coasts other hotels
usually experience a seasonal
slowdown through September.
Playing host to more big-ticket
sporting events throughout the
year could change that.
Holding a championship like
this in August will directly bene-
fit many of our select service
hotels, which are typically the fa-
vored lodging choice for atten-
dees of these types of events,
says Astleford. To be consid-
ered a main draw for an event, a
city must be considered a value
destination. It shouldnt just
have luxury hotels, because the
people attending these events
are looking for destinations that
have the huge array of hotel of-
feringsanywhere from limited
service to deluxe. This is partic-
ularly the case when it comes to
youth amateur athletics.
Of course, outside of hotel
rooms occupied, true economic
impact can be difficult to deter-
mine and many would argue
that sporting events provide lit-
tle, if any, lasting commercial
impact. A Coates & Humphreys
(2002) study of post-season
play in American professional
sports found that hosting the
Super Bowl had no statistically
significant effect on per capita
income in the host city.
Astleford says that isnt the
case for the melange of sporting
events held throughout the year
in Jacksonville. We have a part-
nership with the UNF research
department and together we
conduct very extensive exit sur-
veys to determine who was
here, what they spent on food
and beverage and where they
stayed. We also perform very ex-
tensive visitor industry research
through Oxford Economics,
which specializes in the tourism
industry. Were not just picking
numbers out of the air, its very
professional analysis.
Verlander concurs, noting
that several seemingly large-
scale events actually cost the
city relatively little money. Take
an NCAA basketball tournament,
for example, he says. Lets say
it costs $25,000, due to bid
fees, decorations such as street
pole banners, etc. You build
those costs into the event, so
that it doesnt come out of tax-
payer money. An event like that
would bring in anywhere from
5,000-8,000 hotel nights. Thats
clearly measurable. The city and
state get to keep the taxes.
Spending in restaurants, spend-
ing in retailtheres a major
economic impact in that. Also,
for every ticket sold, theres a
facility user fee of $1. If you sell
40,000 tickets, thats $40,000
right back to the city. Add con-
cessions and parking and were
talking upwards of $100,000.

Bolles School crew team on the St. Johns

Hodges Stadium
Jacksonville Sharks
Jacksonville Suns
image courtesy Jaguars/Rick Wilson
38 : 904theMagazine.com : June 2014
nlike cities that host
Super Bowls or
Olympic Games
(which may spend
millions on upgrading hotels,
stadiums and infrastructure that
wont see much use outside of
the big game), Jacksonville is
hoping to make sporting events
a more permanent part of life on
the First Coast. Rather than bet
the farm on one big game,
theyre seeking out smaller-
scale events (college, profes-
sional and amateur) to be held
frequently, throughout the year.
Theres an array of dedicated
sports-related conventions and
trade shows that are attended
by literally thousands of sports
promoters. Jacksonville has
booths set up, we have appoint-
ments with promoters and we
speak with them about how our
destination is set apart from
others, says Astleford.
So how, exactly, is Jack-
sonville different from, say, At-
lanta? Our involvement with the
council, with our sales and serv-
ice team and our relationship
with the local hotels usually
leads to a much better-mea-
sured sale, Astleford continues.
The fact that were in Florida
gives us a huge advantage, too.
Having the 22-mile stretch of
beaches doesnt hurt, either.
Another thing that doesnt
hurt is top-notch facilities. We
can sell Jacksonvilles beaches
all we want, says Verlander.
But well never get the NCAA
basketball team here if we dont
have the arena.
Fortunately, at least a portion
of the money being used to
market sporting events and
upgrade Jacksonville facilities
(including EverBank Field) is
money the city already has on
its books.
Much of it comes via the bed
tax. To capitalize on tourists vis-
iting the First Coast, the city
levies a six percent tax on hotel
rooms. This money is redistrib-
uted to pay for operational and
advertising expenses of festi-
vals, sporting events and confer-
ences. Two percent of the bed
tax is deposited into the Sports
Complex Capital Maintenance
Enterprise Fund, two percent
goes to paying down the debt
on bonds issued to build Ever-
Bank Field and two percent
goes towards tourism promo-
tion. The Duval County Tourist
Development Council gives
most of its two percent to Visit
Jacksonville.
The two percent of the bed
tax that goes to the Sports Com-
plex Capital Maintenance Enter-
prise Fund will bankroll $43
million of the $60 million in
Jaguars stadium upgrades,
which includes two enormous
scoreboards and a pair of pools.
The Jaguars and owner Shad
Khan chipped in the remaining
$20 million.
The push for Jacksonville to
become a national sporting des-
tination is being cultivated in
large part by two individuals:
Mayor Alvin Brown and Khan.
Since purchasing the NFL fran-
chise in 2011, Khan has arguably
become one of the most recog-
nizable owners in the league
both here and overseas. In
addition to the Jaguars, Khan
owns Fulham Football Club, an
English Premier League soccer
team set to play a friendly
match against Major League
Soccers D.C. United July 26.
The game will be the first time
fans get a look at the massive
new scoreboards that will span
362 feet wide and tower above
EverBank Field. After the game,
music fans will be treated to a
special bonus when country
music superstar Carrie Under-
wood performs a 75-minute set.
The event is a continuation of
Khans and team president Mark
Lampings vision to expand the
Jaguars brand all the way
across the Atlantic. In 2012, the
NFL announced that the team
would play one home game in
London for four consecutive
seasons beginning in 2013.
"I passionately believe the big
growth now is going to come
from overseas," said Khan, dur-
ing a press conference an-
nouncing the London games.
"We've got to go where we can
leverage and take advantage of
some of those things. You've got
to fish in ponds where you've
got fish in there. We're going to
a pond where there are no fish-
ermen." The teams early pres-
ence across the pond has
certainly been successful. In
fact, 15 percent of the Jaguars
total ticket revenue in 2013
came from the teams home
game in London, and the
Jaguars Union Jax fan club in
the UK has upwards of 22,800
members.
ust down the street
from EverBank sits the
home of the Jack-
sonville Suns, an AA
minor league partner of MLBs
Miami Marlins. The Suns are an
established team that pulls a
respectable crowd for its 70
home games each season. In
2013, 295,000 fans made their
way to one of the 11,000 seats at
Bragan Field. The Suns are con-
sistently one of the top selling
teams in the Southern League.
Suns owner Peter Bragan Jr.
won the Visit Jacksonville Hall of
Fame award in 2011 for his con-
tributions and impact on the de-
velopment and growth of
Jacksonvilles hospitality and
tourism industry.
Professional soccer is in the
early stages of making its mark
on the First Coast, as well. The
Jacksonville Armada are sched-
uled to join the North American
Soccer League for the 2015 sea-
son and the team is partnering
with Real Madrid (one of the
worlds premier soccer clubs) to
bring player development clinics
to Northeast Florida over the
summer. On June 7, the U.S.
mens national team took to
EverBank Field to play a send-
off match against Nigeria before
Jacksonville Suns
heading to Brazil for the World
Cup. At press time, more than
50,000 tickets had been sold.
But it wasnt just the out-of-
town visitors who got a glimpse
of Jacksonville in the lead-up to
the World Cup. Advertisements
running on a digital billboard at
the US. Mens soccer match
against Azerbaijan (held in San
Francisco) and Turkey (held in
New Jersey) aired the #ilovejax
hashtag once during each half.
The ad was funded by a grant
from the citys Tourist Develop-
ment Council and read, Use
#ilovejax and you could win a trip
to FL! The JAX Chamber
launched the #ilovejax campaign
in 2012, as a way of promoting
events around Northeast Florida.
As for the most successful
sporting events in Jacksonville
at least in terms of fan atten-
dancethere are the usual
suspects.
When each big event brings
fans from out of town, they need a
place to sleep. Thousands of
sports lovers fill up hotel rooms
around the city for each of Jack-
sonvilles annual events. Gator
Bowl organizers estimate that
20,000 to 24,000 room nights are
booked during the week of the an-
nual college football game in Jan-
uary (some of those are in St.
Johns County, as one of the
teams usually lodges in a Ponte
Vedra hotel). Visit Jacksonville es-
timates $11.5 million in direct sales.
Though THE PLAYERS is held
in St. Johns County, Duval still
reaps some of the economic ben-
efits. A 2010 study reported
around 14,500 room nights were
used in Northeast Florida during
the golf event, which resulted in
direct sales of $7 million. Yearly
soccer matches have also be-
come commonplace in the River
City. Visit Jacksonville says there
were approximately 2,000 room
nights used by fans when the U.S.
Mens soccer team played Scot-
land in May 2012. The game was
played over Memorial Day Week-
end at the same time as Jazz
Fest, NCAA Track & Field events
and the Jehovah Witness Confer-
ence, making the numbers diffi-
cult to track.
The city, Visit Jacksonville and
the Sports Council say that those
numbers will rise in the future. In
fact, they are working hard to see
that they do.
If we have sports promoters
come to Jacksonville for a site
visit, we close that deal 64% of
the time, says Astleford. Im not
aware of any other city with that
kind of record. Thats because
they come, they see, they experi-
ence. The more exposure and in-
terest the city can gain from an
image-distinction standpoint, the
more business we get.
That sounds like a win-win propo-
sition if ever there was one.
June 2014 : 904theMagazine.com : 39
The MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation recently awarded 15
scholarships worth a total of $35,000 to high school students try-
ing to further their education. Former ATP Tour pro Mal Washing-
ton and his foundation have handed out more than $750,000 in
scholarship money since 1996. The MWYF uses tennis to promote
academic achievement through after-school programs like Tennis-
n-Tutoring. Sports Radio 930 AM is the home of the new The Ar-
mada Soccer Show, a weekly soccer show that will focus on the
latest team to establish roots in town, Jacksonville Armada FC. The
show will be hosted by Cole Pepper, former British soccer pro Bob
Veal and Armada reporter Krissty Andaur. 930 AM will also broad-
cast every game during the 2015 and 2016 North American Soccer
League seasons. The show will air Fridays, 3-4 PM, starting June 6.
Jacksonville University recently named Dr. Donnie Horner its
newest Chief Athletics Officer. Horner replaces Brad Edwards who
took a job as athletic director at George Mason University. Horner
has a military background, playing quarterback at the U.S. Military
Academy at West Point and teaching at the U.S. Naval Academy.
He will oversee the nearly 500 Division I student athletes who at-
tend the university. The mission of the World Golf Hall of Fame is
to preserve and honor the history of the game of golf and the
legacies of those who have made it great. Its also become a sig-
nificant attraction in Northeast Florida, complete with an enormous
museum, resort hotel, two golf courses and retail and restaurant
space. Operated as a nonprofit institution, it is allied with 25 na-
tional and international golf organizations including the PGA of
America, PGA TOUR, The Masters and USGA. Speaking of golf:
There are more than 1,200 holes of golf in the Jacksonville area,
spread across 70-plus public, private and resort courses. Each
course requires a sizable staff to maintain the grass and grounds,
service equipment like golf carts, and provide food and drinks to
golfers. Adding the companies that sell seed, fertilizer, pesticides,
clubs, balls, hats and more, the local golf industry employs thou-
sands. Though its footprint is smaller than it used to be, the ATP
TOUR still operates an office out of Ponte Vedra Beach. The mens
professional tennis tour stages events across the globe. Its ATP
Properties arm develops commercial opportunities for the tour
and its player members, of which there are more than 800 active
and retired. Arguably one of the greatest college football players
of all time, Tim Tebows NFL career hasnt played out so well. That
didnt deter the Florida Gator from founding the Tim Tebow Foun-
dation in 2010. The faith-based organization has a small perma-
nent staff at its Ponte Vedra home base but its reach extends all
the way to the Philippines, where it is building Tebow Cure Hospi-
tal to serve children in the Southeast Asian country. Tebow himself
still works as a pitchman for companies such as Nike. Perhaps no
locally based organization casts a global net like that of the PGA
TOUR. Based out of handful of 1970s-era buildings a short golf cart
ride from the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse, the TOUR oversees opera-
tions of golfing events around the world, as well as a network of
first-class golf course properties. The member-owned nonprofit
business generates billions for current and former touring pros.
OUTSIDE
THE LINES
THE IMPACT OF SPORTS IN JACKSONVILLE ISNT LIMITED TO WHAT HAPPENS ON THE
FIELD OF PLAY. ON THE CONTRARY, THE REACH OF LOCAL ATHLETICS AND ATHLETES
EXTENDS FAR AND WIDE. FOR EXAMPLE: