Monthly Partner Update - September, 2017 Florida Sports Industry Leaders Recognized at Summer Conferences With sport and recreation contributing over $57 billion in economic output, creating over 580,000 jobs and attracting nearly 16 million non-resident visitors annually to the state, Florida sports industry leaders were recognized at August conferences on a state and national level. Four Florida winners were recognized with 2017 Connect Sports Tourism Excellence Awards at the Connect Sports Conference in New Orleans. (far left photo) The AAU Sports Girls' Junior National Volleyball Championships, hosted by Visit Orlando and the Central Florida Sports Commission, won the Best Amateur Sporting Event of the Year and Ocala/Marion County won Sports Organizer of the Year for HITS Ocala. The LGBTQ Sporting Event of the Year was the Annual International Gay Polo Tournament, in Palm Beach County and ESPN Wide World of Sports won the Sports Supplier of the Year Award. Upcoming Events September 23-November 18, 2017 Sunshine State Games Sport Shooting Championship Events Various Florida Locations September 29-October 1, 2017 Sunshine State Games International Beach Games Sheraton Sand Key Resort, Clearwater, Florida November 4-5, 2017 Sunshine State Games Lacrosse Fall Classic Dick Bird-South County Park, Vero Beach November 9-10, 2017 FSF Quarterly Board of Directors Meeting USTA National Campus, Orlando December 2-10, 2017 Florida Senior Games Various Clearwater and Pinellas County Locations The FSF presented the Fourth Annual Excellence in Sport Tourism Awards at the Florida Recreation and Parks Association Conference in Orlando. The Mid-to-Large Sport Market Award went to the City of Plantation Parks and Recreation Department (second from left photo) and Charlotte County Community Services Department (second from right photo) won the Small Sport Market Award. FSF Sponsors The Florida Senior Games Series Workshop Awards (far right photo) went to The Palm Coast and Flagler Beaches Senior Games for the Web Surfers Dream and the Jacksonville Senior Games took the award for Best Printed Material. The Gainesville Senior Games won the Freshest Threads Award for the best t-shirt and the Champions Award for athletes competing in the 2016 Florida Senior Games
SSG International Beach Games to be Played on Clearwater Beach Sunshine State Games events are held in eight months of the year. The September offerings include the SSG International Beach Games and Sport Shooting events. Clearwater Beach and the Sheraton Sand Key Resort will be place to be for Beach Powerlifting, Beach Rugby, Beach Tennis, Beach Ultimate, The UltraWeight Pentathlon World Championships and 19 and Under Ultra Weight Throws and Scottish Heavy Athletics. Florida Sports Foundation A Division of Enterprise Florida, Inc. 101 North Monroe Street Suite 1000 Tallahassee, FL 32301 (850) 488-8347 Online Registration is currently available for all sports, with the exception of Beach Powerlifting, at www.ssgbeachgames.com. Beach Powerlifting has reached the maximum of 60 entries and registration is closed. Entry fees and registration deadlines vary by sport. Three SSG Sport Shooting events will be held in September as the Hernando Sportsman s Club in Brooksville hosts the International Pistol event on September 23 and Bullseye Pistol on September 24. The USPSA (United States Practical Shooting Association) event will be contested at the Volusia Gun Club in New Smyrna Beach on September 30. Visit http://www.flasports.com/state_game/shooting/ for more information about all of the Sport Shooting Events held through November. Clearwater Satellite Office 1501 N. Belcher Road, #238 Clearwater, FL 33761 (727) 724-3082 www.flasports.com FSF Granted Events in September Bring Over 6,700 Visitors to the State Baseball and Volleyball events in South Florida are recipients of FSF grants during the month of September. The North American Chinese Invitational Volleyball Tournament and Team One Baseball-Under Armour National Tournament Series brings more than 6,700 visitors and over $$4.4 million in economic impact to the two counties. The North American Chinese Invitational Volleyball Tournament (NACIVT) is an annual volleyball tournament held on Labor Day weekend, this year in Fort Lauderdale, to bring together Chinese communities from around the United States and Canada. Since its inception in 1935, the tournament has grown considerably and more than 5,000 attendees were expected to visit Fort Lauderdale for the 2017 Tournament.
The tournament is traditionally held outdoors on cement pavement with courts set up in parking lots and the street. Two-thirds of the team must be 100% Chinese and the remaining team members must be of Asian descent. Four September Florida Senior Games Series Qualifers Cover the State Time for Florida athletes age 50 and over to Find Their Game at one of 10 fall Florida Senior Games Series Qualifiers. The Pensacola Senior Games is the first of the fall with events beginning on September 9 and continuing through the 24 th. The Palm Coast and Flagler Beaches Senior Games will be contested September 14-24 and the Gainesville Senior Games present 12 sports, September 22-30. The South Florida Senior Games will be held in Dade and Broward County locations, September 23-October 1. All four events serve as qualifiers for the 2017 Florida Senior Games, to be held, December 2-10 in Clearwater. Six more events are scheduled for statewide locations in October and November. A Little Bit of Everything on the September Pro Sports Calendar The month of September is the lone month of the year when all five of Florida s professional sports leagues are in action. It s also the perfect time to consider purchasing a Florida pro sports license plate. The Major League Baseball season is in its last full month and the Tampa Bay Rays are still in the post-season hunt. The Rays play 11 games, at Tropicana Field, between September 11 and the end of the season against the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and Baltimore Orioles in hopes of making playoffs. Fans of the Miami Marlins have 11 chances to see how many home runs Giancarlo Stanton will hit between September 15 and the end of
the season. The Marlins and the league s home run leader Stanton, currently with 53, play the Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets and Atlanta Braves at Marlins Park. The Tampa Bay Lightning s seven-game preseason schedule begins on Tuesday, September 19 with a game against the Carolina Hurricanes at Amalie Arena. Two more home games, against the Nashville Predators and Florida Panthers, are scheduled for September 22 and 24. The Florida Panthers play two preseason home games at the BB&T Center in Sunrise against the Lightning on September 26 and 28. Orlando City Soccer hosts the New England Revolution on September 27 and FC Dallas on September 30 at Orlando City Stadium. Finally, The Miami Heat and Orlando Magic open their pre-season training camps on Tuesday, September 26 and begin playing pre-season games in October. September means it's Kickoff time in the Sunshine State It s the first full month of college and professional football in the state of Florida and between now and January, nearly four million football fans will pass through the turnstiles at a stadium for a football game. Florida hosts three NFL and 18 college football teams and is the home of eight college football bowl games, giving fans plenty of options. The NFL kicks off its 52nd season of play this weekend as the Jacksonville Jaguars travel to play the Houston Texans. The Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers were scheduled to open the season at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, but weather has forced the game to be moved to November. Florida Football Central is the state's most complete resource providing all of the details about the state s three NFL teams, 18 college teams and eight college bowl games. Dunedin Blue Jays and Palm Beach Cardinals Are Florida State League Champions Due to the approach of Hurricane Irma, the Florida State League crowned Co- Champions for the 2017 season, Wednesday, September 6. The Dunedin Blue Jays defeated the Tampa Yankees to win the North Division Playoffs and Palm Beach Cardinals topped the Fort Myers Miracle as South Division Playoff winners. The last time the finals were not played because of a hurricane was in 2004 when Daytona Cubs and Tampa Yankees were named Co-Champions. Web.com Tour Golf Championships Bring Top Young Golfers
to Atlantic Beach The next wave of PGA TOUR stars head to the Atlantic Beach Country Club for the Web.com Tour Championship, September 28th-October 1st. The Web.com Tour Championship features the top 75 players on the Web.com TOUR regular season money list and players ranked 126-200 on the PGA TOUR FedExCup points list. Web.com Tour players will fight to obtain their PGA TOUR Card and current PGA TOUR players will fight to keep their card another year. Tournament events begin on Monday, September 25 with open to the public Junior Golf Clinic. First round to be played Thursday, September 28. World Rowing Championships in Sarasota This is big stuff, folks. The 2017 World Rowing Championships, an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation), will be held at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota-Bradenton, the only Grade A course in the United States. In the 48 years of the event s existence, the United States has hosted only one other World Championships, in 1994 in Indianapolis, Indiana. This weeklong event is held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer. In non-olympic years, it is the highlight of the international rowing calendar. Rowing takes place in 21 different boat classes for both men and women. Atlanta Braves are Rounding Third and Heading Toward a New Spring Training Home in Sarasota County The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity conditionally approved $20 million that will round out funding for the $75 million to $80 million project to bring Atlanta Braves baseball spring training to North Port. This summer, the West Villages Improvement District, along with Sarasota County, the city of North Port and the Braves filed the grant application seeking money to help with facility construction costs for the public-private project. Officials described the state money as the final piece of funding necessary to move the project forward. We are pleased to have the state join the partnership of the city, county, West Villages Improvement District, Mattamy Homes and the Atlanta Braves to make this a reality, said Martin Black, chairman of the West Villages Improvement District, in a statement on Friday. The North Port City Commission, the Sarasota County Commission and the district will consider final development agreements with the team at their respective meetings on Sept. 12. If all of these boards approve the final
agreements on that date, the project s full funding will be committed and construction can start to transform the current cow pasture into a stadium, training and rehabilitation complex in time for the 2019 spring training season. The Last Word: When the NFL's 32 teams take the field this weekend, 10 Florida colleges will be represented. Among the top 10 Florida schools with the most NFL players are the Florida Gators, with 45 alumni to rank tied for second with USC. The University of Miami has 44 former Hurricanes on NFL rosters and is tied for fourth place with the Alabama Crimson Tide. Coming in seventh place with 40 former Seminoles is Florida State. The remaining seven Florida schools with former players in the NFL are the Central Florida Knights (13), South Florida Bulls (12), Florida Atlantic Owls (9), Florida International Golden Panthers (4), Bethune-Cookman Wildcats (2) and the Jacksonville Dolphins and Stetson Hattiers with one each. See You Next Month!