- 2 years ago
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SportsTranscript
00:00:00 Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
00:00:22 How are you?
00:00:26 I know everybody was at the luau last night, but I'm sure you're awake now.
00:00:29 You've got enough coffee in you.
00:00:30 I've seen everybody.
00:00:32 So good morning.
00:00:33 Good morning.
00:00:34 All right.
00:00:35 That's a little bit better.
00:00:36 My name is Kevin Smith.
00:00:37 I am the managing partner at The Collective Best.
00:00:40 We're an advisory company here in Florida, and we're working with your organization in
00:00:46 an advisory capacity and through some other things.
00:00:49 We have a huge sports and tourism background.
00:00:52 So what we're going to do, we're actually doing a little bit of stalling because one
00:00:57 of our guys is caught out in that line of traffic coming in.
00:01:00 So if anybody's been caught in that, you know what we mean.
00:01:02 But he'll come in shortly.
00:01:05 Anybody who knows Tommy Castle, he will not be running.
00:01:08 He'll just briskly walk into the room because he's not a runner.
00:01:14 So we are here today to talk to you a little bit about sports tourism and engaging your
00:01:21 sports tourism partners around the country.
00:01:24 So let me start off with this question.
00:01:26 How many of you around the country, doesn't matter if you're fast pitch, slow pitch, soccer,
00:01:31 baseball, youth, adult, how many of you engage your sports commissions in your destination
00:01:37 in what you do?
00:01:40 Okay.
00:01:41 That's a fair amount.
00:01:44 And of that, how many of you work with them on funding opportunities?
00:01:50 Okay.
00:01:53 That's a fair amount.
00:01:54 So thank you for sticking your hand up.
00:01:57 That means that primarily there's a potential that you're leaving a lot of money on the
00:02:02 table.
00:02:03 And that's what we're going to talk to you a little bit about today.
00:02:06 We've got some folks up here that are experts in the field.
00:02:10 And then we have Matt Dunn, who is an expert in the field as well.
00:02:14 I wasn't saying that he wasn't.
00:02:15 He's also my business partner, one of my business partners at The Collective Best.
00:02:19 So today we're going to talk about destination partnerships and how do you go about engaging
00:02:24 the destinations about funding and other opportunities and things they can do to help make your business
00:02:30 better.
00:02:32 Okay.
00:02:34 So some of the things that we're going to talk about today in today's presentation is
00:02:37 the impact of sports tourism, the tourist development tax, economic impact, destination
00:02:43 funding and grants, and reporting.
00:02:47 These are all the key elements of what you'll need to do to engage your state.
00:02:50 Now what we do want to point out to you, because this stuff is riveting, you're going to be
00:02:56 just glued to what we're saying up here because who doesn't like to talk about economic impact
00:03:01 on a Tuesday morning at 10 o'clock?
00:03:04 But what we are going to do is try to give you some real life opportunities and real
00:03:10 life discussions about how this works and where you play the role in your destination's
00:03:17 impact and economic impact for what you're doing.
00:03:21 First of all, there's my picture in glamour shot that my wife absolutely hates.
00:03:26 I worked for 17 years as sports commission director here in Florida at the St. Pete Clearwater
00:03:31 Sports Commission.
00:03:32 I've been the chair of our national board of sports commissions, which is now Sports
00:03:37 ETA, past board chair, founding member of the Sports Foundation, Florida Sports Foundation,
00:03:42 and co-founder of the Sunshine Sports Council, which is here in Florida.
00:03:46 But I also work with a number of states around the country, from Oregon to Maryland.
00:03:51 We've worked in, we're going to hopefully do some work in Louisiana at some point, some
00:03:55 of these other states around the country that we're helping the sports tourism folks understand
00:04:02 a better way of working with your folks and how do you connect the two together so they
00:04:06 can become better.
00:04:08 My partner over here, Matt Dunn, Matt's been in the industry for over 27 years.
00:04:13 He's a veteran of the tourism industry.
00:04:15 He's led several destination marketing organizations here in the state.
00:04:19 He's a former board member at Sports ETA as well, board member of Destinations Florida,
00:04:23 and a co-founder of the Sunshine Sports Council with me.
00:04:26 So we have a little bit of experiences, I think my 25th year, but I'm a lot older than
00:04:32 I look.
00:04:33 Believe me, I am.
00:04:35 That's why I shaved my head.
00:04:36 It's not that I don't have hair, but I look like a cotton ball when I don't.
00:04:39 So we're going to have Sean Walter here.
00:04:43 Sean Walter is the Sports and Business Development Person and Director of Punta Gorda Inglewood
00:04:47 Beach CVB.
00:04:49 And eventually Tommy Castle will be here and he's also the Business Development Person
00:04:53 and Manager at Lee County Sports and Development, who's right here in this area.
00:04:57 So him being the last person in the room and he lives here, we really should give him an
00:05:02 applause when he gets in here.
00:05:05 Or boo.
00:05:07 So event spending provides a massive economic impact on a host destination.
00:05:12 What does that mean?
00:05:13 The impact of sports tourism.
00:05:15 So in 2021, I think that was the year, the sports and tourism industry did a study to
00:05:22 talk about what economic impact was for each destination.
00:05:28 Okay.
00:05:30 All right.
00:05:32 So the breakdown of category spending.
00:05:35 Sports tourism is worth $39.7 billion in related spending in 2021.
00:05:42 That's with a B. And this is how it breaks out.
00:05:45 $9.7 billion in transportation, $8.4 billion in lodging, $7.5 billion in food and beverage,
00:05:53 $5.3 billion in recreation, $5 billion in retail, and $3.7 billion in tournament operations.
00:06:02 Tournament operations, that's you guys, right?
00:06:05 And the total of $39.7 billion is in direct spending money.
00:06:11 That's money that goes into the pockets.
00:06:14 I'm going to say the dreaded R word.
00:06:17 So don't throw anything at me.
00:06:19 Rain.
00:06:20 Right?
00:06:21 Who likes rain on a game day?
00:06:25 Somebody raise their hand now.
00:06:27 Nobody likes rain on a game day.
00:06:28 You know who likes rain on a game day?
00:06:31 The malls, the restaurants, the bars, the movie theaters, the bowling.
00:06:37 So economic impact is constantly being put into a location whenever you're there.
00:06:44 And you contribute to that economic value for each destination based on what you do
00:06:50 every single weekend that you guys work.
00:06:53 Next slide.
00:06:55 So sports tourism in sector 21, in 2021, the summary of the economic impacts for sports
00:07:01 tourism.
00:07:02 And first of all, let me go into a little bit more economic impact.
00:07:05 Maybe Matt can lend a little bit to this.
00:07:08 Economic impact is basically a number that's based on a lot of contingent numbers or basically
00:07:16 trickle down numbers.
00:07:17 If anybody's old enough to remember the Reaganomics, that's what it's based on, right?
00:07:22 Money gets spent, it gets spent again, it gets spent again, it gets spent again.
00:07:26 Multipliers.
00:07:27 That economic impact then creates for a destination.
00:07:31 So tournament operations at 3.7 billion plus 36 billion in travel and visitor expenses
00:07:37 equals that 39.7 billion, right?
00:07:41 That's the hard spending money that you leave in communities every time you go and you create
00:07:46 a tournament.
00:07:47 The total economic impact for tourism and sports that given year during this study was
00:07:53 a total of $91.8 billion in the United States.
00:07:58 That is not worldwide.
00:08:00 That's just the United States.
00:08:01 That's a fair amount of money, right?
00:08:04 That's a fair amount of money being created through sports and tourism that you guys are
00:08:08 help generating.
00:08:09 And that's the important part of why you should be and look towards building relationships
00:08:14 with the folks that you do business with every weekend or once a year or twice a year or
00:08:19 whatever sport you're in because that is the economic impact.
00:08:24 That's the factor that you are leaving behind in every community that you work with.
00:08:31 So I'll jump in here.
00:08:35 Make sure that we are covering this aspect from the destination point of view.
00:08:39 So as we mentioned, we have Sean Walter here today from Punta Gorda, Englewood Beach, which
00:08:44 is really Charlotte County just north of Lee County in Fort Myers where we are here.
00:08:49 So Sean, while we're on the subject of the impact of sports tourism, first off, can you
00:08:54 share a little bit of what your bread and butter sports are that you bring to Charlotte
00:08:58 County?
00:08:59 Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
00:09:00 Thank you, Matt.
00:09:01 So, you know, we look at first of all, we are the home of spring training for the Tampa
00:09:06 Bay Rays.
00:09:07 So we do recognize that.
00:09:08 We do get people travel in.
00:09:10 Little different for us is the fact that the Rays are right up the road in Tampa.
00:09:15 We don't have the Pittsburgh Pirates out of Pittsburgh.
00:09:18 We don't have the Boston Red Sox.
00:09:20 So we don't get people to fly down here.
00:09:22 So it's real important that we cast that net out to Daytona, Orlando, north of Tampa, Jacksonville,
00:09:28 throughout the whole state to get the drive market.
00:09:30 The drive market still stays in hotels.
00:09:33 They still create that economic impact.
00:09:35 So we recognize that.
00:09:37 Snowbird baseball, it's 15 years running in our destination.
00:09:40 It's division one and three NCAA games during March, during spring break, March and February.
00:09:46 Goes for two months.
00:09:47 Our anchor schools are Ohio State, University of Pittsburgh, Penn State.
00:09:52 So the division ones come down the first three weeks and then division three.
00:09:56 That creates an economic impact of $13 million just to our little county on four fields,
00:10:02 if you can imagine that.
00:10:04 Now we had to build these fields out for the NCAA and widen the dugouts, put larger scoreboards,
00:10:10 set up an area for live streaming and live games on Flow Sports.
00:10:14 However, it started as games.
00:10:16 And when it got to the CBB and the Visitor's Bureau, we enhanced it by saying, "Hey, we
00:10:21 want a commercial out there.
00:10:22 How do we live stream?"
00:10:24 So that's what a lot of the destination could do for you is enhance what you're doing, not
00:10:28 only financially, but also through other different avenues and assets that we have at our fingertips.
00:10:34 We host Waterfest, which is an offshore powerboat racing.
00:10:37 That creates $5 million economic impact, which is huge.
00:10:41 We do college swim training and swim meets at our destination.
00:10:45 We have a 25-yard and a 50-meter pool with some dive wells.
00:10:52 We make sure that we have a myriad of sports.
00:10:55 The reason is it's diversifying.
00:10:58 It's bringing different people down from different parts of the country.
00:11:01 Pickleball is huge for us.
00:11:02 We do the Association of Pickleball Professionals.
00:11:05 I found pickleball's all acronyms, PPA and APP, but it was on CBS Sports and it was on
00:11:11 ESPN.
00:11:12 Originally, I said I would go ahead and offset some financials and help you with the court
00:11:16 costs.
00:11:17 However, I knew it was going to be on national TV, so we got around the table with the right
00:11:21 people to enhance it.
00:11:23 Dust enhanced APP's event.
00:11:25 That steamrolled into adding eight more courts to the facility by the nonprofit.
00:11:30 So again, that's the support we can lend and we can offer.
00:11:33 We do Florida Youth Soccer Association events.
00:11:36 We do six to eight USSS baseball events through Pro Style.
00:11:42 Those are great signature events.
00:11:44 We know when they come.
00:11:45 We know what they give away and they know what they can do for our community.
00:11:49 We also look at, that is good for our region because we have all our local leagues having
00:11:53 an opportunity to play in those games, as well as, again, casting that net, bringing
00:11:58 people down into the destination and showcasing the destination.
00:12:03 Our sports, we make sure that it's diversified.
00:12:07 Being smaller, we have to do that.
00:12:09 We don't have Super Bowl capability.
00:12:11 We don't have huge NCAA Division I in stadiums.
00:12:14 We don't have an ice rink.
00:12:15 So we really got to get diversified and we do that.
00:12:18 We work with partners such as everyone out here.
00:12:20 Yeah.
00:12:21 So as you can see, destinations across the country are looking to build their absolute
00:12:25 book of business across as many sports as they can cater to.
00:12:29 Ultimately that is determined by their facilities, what existing facilities they have, how they
00:12:35 can work with folks like us at the collective best to provide them with information on how
00:12:39 to retrofit those facilities and even build new ones through the tourist development tax
00:12:43 and other revenue opportunities, as well.
00:12:46 So with everything that you just explained, with your book of business and the type of
00:12:50 sports that you are catering to, out of 52 weeks a year, how many weeks do you have qualified
00:12:57 sports tourism events coming to Charlotte County?
00:12:59 You know, I got to tell you, it's 52.
00:13:01 We'll do a weekend and have 10, 11 events on a weekend.
00:13:04 And again, that's soccer, pickleball, baseball, softball, basketball.
00:13:07 But we mainly, so in 1972, the hotel industry levied a tax with government, which I know
00:13:15 we're going to get into.
00:13:17 And that tax goes to us to market the hotels and destination.
00:13:21 That's ultimately why we're here.
00:13:23 Not here sitting here, but that's what my job is to fill hotels, such as they did with
00:13:27 this meeting today and fill this hotel.
00:13:29 So looking at that, we look at what's called shoulder months, not season.
00:13:33 Our season in Florida runs usually, starts end of January or usually after even Thanksgiving,
00:13:38 we'll see it ramp up, Christmas, January, all the way through a couple of weeks after
00:13:42 Easter.
00:13:43 So I really try to track sports when the hotels need it, which is going to be, you know, May,
00:13:48 June, July, and August, September.
00:13:49 A little harder in September when the kids first get back at school.
00:13:53 However, that's what we're going to do.
00:13:55 But also I love to listen to the community.
00:13:57 We listen to the facility, people that run the facilities, the hotels, the restaurants,
00:14:03 and then clients like you that want to bring it a certain time.
00:14:05 So Florida, we're kind of year round, that's how we look at it.
00:14:09 You know, and let me add something to that.
00:14:12 Yeah, this is working.
00:14:14 Let me add something to that.
00:14:15 I think for those of you who don't live in Florida, and we wanted to have some other
00:14:18 folks here from outside of the state, they didn't make the trip, but we work in a number
00:14:23 of destinations like Maryland and like I said, some other areas around the country.
00:14:28 If you go back to your sports tourism person in your county or destination, whomever it
00:14:32 is, and start asking them the questions about shoulder seasons and when you can use more
00:14:38 business and how things work, it creates more of an opportunity for you to work in partnership
00:14:43 with them, obviously.
00:14:44 Because in some of the destinations, especially northern destinations, they don't need anybody
00:14:50 in the summer because that's when everyone stays.
00:14:53 But towards the fall and early part of spring, it may be an opportunity for you to go back
00:14:57 and say, "Hey, how do we fill some hotel rooms?
00:14:59 How do we do some things that can create some more economic value to the community?"
00:15:03 And they will be glad to work with you, or they should be.
00:15:06 If they're doing their business right, they should be glad to work with you on trying
00:15:10 to fill those hotel rooms.
00:15:12 And to piggyback off of both of their comments too, when you look at some of those shoulder
00:15:16 dates when they're traditionally not seeing visitor traffic, you may be, and we'll show
00:15:21 you in a few slides from now, you may be able to acquire more funding from the destination
00:15:25 for your tournaments or your events than you would during their busy time.
00:15:29 So we'll walk through that just in a moment.
00:15:32 And Sean, you also mentioned, and here he is everybody, big round of applause for Tommy
00:15:35 Katzel.
00:15:40 So also, Sean mentioned how it can be tough to recruit events in the month of September
00:15:45 because we obviously see everyone going back to school during that time period.
00:15:50 But what he didn't say also is June, July, August in September in the state of Florida,
00:15:55 we're dealing with, especially down here in the southern part of Florida, 100 plus degree
00:16:00 temperatures.
00:16:01 So there's not only additional expense maybe for all of you and a hydration system for
00:16:07 all of the athletes and spectators, but also on the destination site too, as they offer
00:16:11 some of those services at their facilities as well.
00:16:14 So totally putting Tommy on the spot as he walked right in the room.
00:16:18 Can you share with the group some of your bread and butter sports that you have here?
00:16:23 No, absolutely.
00:16:24 Well, first of all, I want to apologize to everybody for being late.
00:16:29 Naturally, if you stayed at the hotel, you didn't get to experience the fun this morning.
00:16:34 But if you came from anywhere around the surrounding area, I apologize in advance.
00:16:39 We have some aggressive drivers and it's a little bit challenging this morning.
00:16:43 I couldn't imagine it took me two and a half hours to go 36 miles, but it did.
00:16:47 So I apologize.
00:16:49 Your time is valuable and I hope you don't feel that I wasted yours.
00:16:53 Some of our major events are obviously baseball and softball.
00:16:56 I see Gordon and Steve sitting there and Chris behind Gordon and we have a great relationship
00:17:00 with the USSS.
00:17:03 We also try to go into some different things, especially in different times when you see
00:17:09 different sports, maybe flooding the waters and you're getting a little melted down.
00:17:14 Obviously your product is not one of those.
00:17:17 But we try to go into some indoor sports, during times when it's raining, when you can't
00:17:22 do the outdoor stuff.
00:17:24 But definitely baseball and softball is our mainstay here in Lee County.
00:17:29 So just another comment on some of these numbers that you see up on the screen.
00:17:33 When we were talking about a little bit of the difference, and we'll dive into this
00:17:37 too in a few slides, about direct visitor spending and economic impact, Kevin mentioned
00:17:41 the multipliers and how you see a dollar that you all are spending in a community, how that
00:17:48 continues to trickle down in a variety of ways.
00:17:50 So real quick story, and it's one of our favorites, and you've probably experienced this but just
00:17:56 not maybe realized it, when you see a large tournament come to town, regardless of the
00:18:02 sport, every single night you're going to go to some restaurant, you're going to have
00:18:05 a long wait, there's going to be a lot of teams maybe still in their uniforms and parents
00:18:09 and coaches and maybe athletic trainers that are there trying to dine.
00:18:12 And we see this happen all the time where, never a wonderful thing to talk about at 10
00:18:17 a.m. in the morning after breakfast, but the toilets overflow in the restaurant, right?
00:18:21 The restaurant GM or manager that night immediately gets on the phone and calls in a plumber that
00:18:25 comes down.
00:18:26 And because, long story short, because of tourism, because in this case sports tourism,
00:18:30 now the plumber is receiving a paycheck off of an emergency situation.
00:18:35 So when we say that money kind of trickles through a destination and its residents as
00:18:41 well, that's based on all of your efforts in addition to the destinations and their
00:18:47 efforts too.
00:18:49 So we'll dive a little bit into the tourist development tax.
00:18:51 How many of you are pretty familiar with tourist development taxes?
00:18:56 You're paying them.
00:18:57 You may not know it, but you're paying them.
00:18:59 When you check out of here at the end of this week, grab a copy of your bill, you will see
00:19:03 every single night, you'll see your room rate, you're going to see the tourist development
00:19:07 tax, sales tax, you may see an additional assessment tax for the county.
00:19:13 You have any of those?
00:19:15 We do not.
00:19:16 You do not.
00:19:17 Good.
00:19:18 Sometimes a county may determine that they want to build a new or expand a convention
00:19:23 center or it might be a $1 or $2 assessment per room night that is going to go to some
00:19:30 new ball fields.
00:19:31 So you will see that listed out on your bill.
00:19:35 So across the country, it all depends.
00:19:37 Every destination is a little bit different.
00:19:40 Here in Florida, long ago, decades ago, most counties started out at, or they had to start
00:19:45 out at 2%.
00:19:47 Counties can go up to 5% here in Florida.
00:19:50 There's a few counties that are designated high impact tourism locations or destinations
00:19:57 and they're allowed to also go to a sixth, we call it pennies, a sixth penny or a 6%
00:20:02 tax.
00:20:03 And then there are a few additional taxes that can be also assessed specific to building
00:20:08 stadiums, ballparks, and certainly convention centers as well.
00:20:15 In some of the bigger cities across America, your tourist development tax is just by itself,
00:20:19 not including sales tax and not including any other assessments, maybe as much as 13%.
00:20:24 That's when you're getting into your Las Vegas and your Atlanta and New York City and some
00:20:29 of those large markets that are across the country.
00:20:33 And there are some destinations who are beginning to take those tourism tax dollars that are
00:20:37 being generated and put them back into the infrastructure of ball fields, right?
00:20:42 Not only professional ball fields, but on the youth and county levels.
00:20:48 So instead of raising tax dollars or tax revenue through ad valorem taxes, through property
00:20:55 taxes, they're taking some of that money and reconstituting it back into the community
00:20:59 and using them for the development and redevelopment of tourism sports fields and ball fields and
00:21:07 things along those lines.
00:21:08 Yeah, so-
00:21:09 Yeah, I was just going to add too, I mean, as far as we levy one penny to our beach,
00:21:15 to beach re-nourishment every year.
00:21:17 So they're adding sand to the beach to be able to attract tourists.
00:21:21 So obviously sporting events, that's real important for you to market and say, "Hey,
00:21:24 we have gorgeous beaches down here."
00:21:25 So again, that's what that tax helps as well.
00:21:28 Yeah.
00:21:29 And what's your overall tourist development tax?
00:21:30 Ours is 5%.
00:21:31 5%.
00:21:32 5%.
00:21:33 And Tommy, yours here?
00:21:34 Yeah, and ours is 5% as well.
00:21:35 And I just wanted to add too that we're a little bit unique here in Lee County in the
00:21:39 fact that we own two major league baseball facilities and we operate those with Lee County
00:21:44 employees.
00:21:46 So that makes us a little bit different.
00:21:48 So when you see these facilities and you think, "Are those tax dollars?"
00:21:52 Well, they're not.
00:21:53 They're tourism tax dollars.
00:21:54 That was built with the bed tax.
00:21:56 Right.
00:21:57 Local residents are not paying it unless your wife kicks you out of your home and you got
00:22:00 to go stay in a hotel one night, right?
00:22:01 So otherwise the visitors are paying that tax.
00:22:05 So we see this funding come in through the tourist development tax with destinations
00:22:11 and it's all across the spectrum, right?
00:22:13 So you may have some smaller communities in a particular state.
00:22:17 Maybe they collect somewhere around $2 million a year, $3 million a year depending on all
00:22:22 the visitors that are staying in hotels for whatever reason.
00:22:25 Leisure travel, business travel like we all are here this week.
00:22:31 Going to amusement parks, whatever the reason may be.
00:22:34 And then some of the larger markets and even mid markets, the numbers are enormous.
00:22:38 So just north of us, Pinellas County, St. Pete-Clearwater, their brand name is Visit
00:22:44 St. Pete-Clearwater.
00:22:45 Their annual budget this year is $92 million.
00:22:49 So they have reserves but their county commission has determined that their budget for this
00:22:54 year to attract visitors across all market segments is $92 million.
00:22:59 Think about that.
00:23:00 So, you know, certainly a portion of that is specific to their sports tourism staff
00:23:05 like these gentlemen up here.
00:23:07 And that is where you can tap into some of those resources to help you bring in your
00:23:13 tournament.
00:23:14 So with that, I'm going to turn things back over to Kevin and we're going to dive a little
00:23:18 bit more into the difference between direct visitor spending versus economic impact.
00:23:25 Thanks, Matt.
00:23:29 So, again, this is riveting stuff, economic impact.
00:23:35 What we're trying to really get forward is the fact that you are the catalyst for how
00:23:43 this all works.
00:23:44 What you guys are doing is the catalyst for how this works.
00:23:47 And that if you're not working in partnership with your destinations, you're potentially
00:23:53 missing opportunities for you to take some of that income that you're helping to generate
00:23:58 and put it back into your programs.
00:24:01 That's what the catalyst of this conversation is about, is taking that partnership and that
00:24:06 economic impact that you're generating and putting it back into your programs and into
00:24:10 your sport and what you're doing, whether that's soccer, baseball, softball, adult slow
00:24:14 pitch, which I played for many, many decades until I just got too fat.
00:24:23 Don't laugh.
00:24:24 It's not funny.
00:24:26 I got fat.
00:24:28 So destination funding and economic impact.
00:24:32 How do you guys measure your economic impact in your destination?
00:24:35 I'll start with Sean.
00:24:36 How do you guys measure that?
00:24:38 Well, we use a formula that actually is called Destination International.
00:24:43 They're a governing body that attracts and markets to destination in the United States.
00:24:49 It's actually DI's International, so throughout the whole country.
00:24:52 They have what's called the DI calculator.
00:24:55 It calculates, as Matt was saying, you kind of throw the numbers in and it spits out another
00:25:01 number.
00:25:02 That takes in account local sales tax, state tax, the tourist development tax, how many
00:25:08 people are in town, how long, how many were local, clubs and teams right local, even regional
00:25:14 coming up from Fort Myers, and then of course heads and beds and staying.
00:25:17 So we enter it through that and it kind of spits out a number.
00:25:21 We also look at other options when we are utilizing that number.
00:25:27 I'll give you an example.
00:25:29 A lot of us have either kids or we have in the past played sports.
00:25:32 Well, we actually played USSSA softball.
00:25:35 My daughter now is in college playing and came down to state championships here.
00:25:39 I'm only an hour and a half away up in the Venice area and we still get a hotel because
00:25:44 we'd start early, we'd end late, and also we want to be with the team.
00:25:48 You want to bond.
00:25:49 That's one thing you all can do is once you get a hotel room block, really push that,
00:25:54 that this is bonding.
00:25:55 We want the team to be around and have pizza together.
00:25:58 We want to have discussed strategies in the hotel.
00:26:00 And this is things we did.
00:26:01 It was worth it for us to stay in a hotel even though we're up the road.
00:26:05 So we do take that in account as well, but we use the destination international calculator,
00:26:10 which I know a lot of people do within Florida.
00:26:13 We also base it off Florida Sports Foundation.
00:26:16 I think we'll talk about that later.
00:26:17 We have a foundation that offers grants to help offset some costs.
00:26:21 Well, they do a one to 150 and we do as well.
00:26:24 What that means is for every dollar I provide in sponsorship to you, the return should be
00:26:29 $150 in economic impact.
00:26:32 So we also look at that and that's all part of the formula as well.
00:26:36 No, great points.
00:26:38 All great points.
00:26:40 We do everything pretty similar except for the fact, you know, and let me back up and
00:26:46 punt here and say that I think it's important to note that as sports commissions, everyone
00:26:51 at this table and all of your sports commissions in Florida want to work with you.
00:26:56 It's just, do you understand how to work with us and do we understand how to communicate
00:27:00 that information to you?
00:27:03 So Sean does things a little bit differently than we do.
00:27:05 And that doesn't mean it's good, bad or indifferent.
00:27:08 It's just a little bit different.
00:27:09 And I think you find that throughout the state of Florida.
00:27:12 I mean, certainly in Polk County is a little bit different than it is in Lee County as
00:27:16 well.
00:27:17 And you'll find that not only throughout the state of Florida, but you'll find that out
00:27:21 throughout of all of the states that all of your sports commissions are a little bit different.
00:27:27 What we do is we just do the old school.
00:27:29 We go through the Florida Sports Foundation.
00:27:32 It's literally an Excel file.
00:27:34 We take the information.
00:27:35 We ask you how many teams did you have?
00:27:37 How many were out of state?
00:27:39 How many were longer than a two hour drive?
00:27:42 And how many were within a two hour drive, which we call local, which we assume we're
00:27:46 not staying in a hotel.
00:27:48 We take that, we kind of plug that information in and we look and say, well, this is what
00:27:52 it generated in bed tax.
00:27:54 This is what we can say.
00:27:55 Okay, let's say for instance, that your event generated $15,000 in bed tax.
00:28:01 Well, a lot of things that we do is one, we might offer you free facilities, which is
00:28:06 generally our first go to.
00:28:08 But then if it's a bigger event and you need a little bit of help, maybe you want to sponsor
00:28:11 a breakfast or something like that.
00:28:13 We may look at that, but we all have to have that information in order to justify what
00:28:18 we can spend.
00:28:19 So if the bed tax doesn't generate the number, obviously we can't give you the revenue or
00:28:25 the support that you need in that way.
00:28:27 So that's how we do it.
00:28:28 It's really literally just off of numbers and it's what the state generates.
00:28:32 And that doesn't mean that it's every team, right?
00:28:35 It doesn't mean zero.
00:28:36 We weed out those difference between whatever time period is.
00:28:40 Correct.
00:28:41 For Steve, two hour drive in Lee County is 37 miles.
00:28:45 Well we know what happened to me this morning.
00:28:49 I'm just funning with you.
00:28:52 But it changes for every state and every destination.
00:28:55 So if you're going to be working with the folks that you're in your state, ask them
00:28:59 these questions, right?
00:29:00 Just go to them and say, "What is it that your economic impact needs?"
00:29:06 The common response is heads and beds.
00:29:08 Well that's really not an answer, right?
00:29:11 That's not an answer for you guys.
00:29:12 That's not what you're trying to get to.
00:29:14 You're trying to get to what is the core of what you guys need.
00:29:18 So you ask the direct question to them.
00:29:21 What is it that you need?
00:29:22 Two hours.
00:29:23 Some people say 50 miles.
00:29:25 Some people say 75 miles.
00:29:27 Whatever that answer is, is how you can gauge how your tournaments are going to be valuable
00:29:31 to that destination.
00:29:34 Quick question by show of hands.
00:29:37 How many people think that the highest economic value for sports is youth sports boys 8 to
00:29:48 12?
00:29:49 Raise your hand.
00:29:52 What about youth sports boys 13 to 18?
00:29:57 Raise your hand.
00:29:59 Any sports across the line?
00:30:01 Okay.
00:30:02 Youth sports girls 8 to 12?
00:30:09 Youth sports girls 13 to 18?
00:30:15 What about adults?
00:30:16 Adults, any line across the board?
00:30:19 Yeah, we know we don't spend any money.
00:30:22 Basically it is girls youth sports has the highest value going back to a destination.
00:30:28 They have a tendency, the study showed, to bring more people and a tendency to spend
00:30:32 more money.
00:30:33 Why?
00:30:34 I don't know, but that's what the study shows.
00:30:39 But second to that is youth boys 8 to 12.
00:30:43 And then it goes from 13 to 18.
00:30:46 Again, these are studies.
00:30:47 I didn't do them.
00:30:48 Someone else did.
00:30:49 But that shows that the value back to a destination in certain sports group areas has a higher
00:30:57 value going back to the destination.
00:30:59 Any comment on that, guys?
00:31:02 No, I would honestly agree with that.
00:31:05 I think we look at sports in general and we look at these studies and I would agree 100%
00:31:12 that it's always a joking factor, but I'll say it here in a light crowd that girls bring
00:31:17 two parents, boys bring one.
00:31:19 That's just kind of the way it is.
00:31:22 Here in Lee County, we're always trying to put our foot forward with female sports.
00:31:27 I will say this on Thanksgiving, if anyone's around, we've got Indiana and Tennessee playing
00:31:33 on Big Fox, 6 p.m.
00:31:35 Tune in.
00:31:36 We've also got the Gulf Coast Showcase with Caitlin Clark in Iowa.
00:31:41 We recognize the importance of women's sports here and we're trying to always keep that
00:31:48 forefront, not only because of the results that you see in these surveys, but just because
00:31:54 it's important to do that moving forward.
00:31:56 Yeah, I just wanted to bring up women's sports.
00:31:58 We also see a lot of siblings travel as well as grandparents.
00:32:03 There's something about grandparents love to see their granddaughter play where the
00:32:07 son is, "It's kind of hot out there.
00:32:09 He's playing baseball.
00:32:10 We'll just catch the score later."
00:32:12 So we do find that in women's sports.
00:32:15 I have had an opportunity to work with a client and they said, "Listen, we're going to do
00:32:20 a regional event between Sarasota and Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Anglewood Beach area,
00:32:24 and that's near us, another 20 minutes north."
00:32:27 And said, "Do you have a decision?
00:32:29 Do you want the 13 to 18?
00:32:30 I'll use your big field."
00:32:31 And I said, "No, I want the little kids."
00:32:33 Because we know it's bringing more heads and beds and families.
00:32:36 So like the study says, we try to follow that and embrace that as well.
00:32:40 Real important.
00:32:42 So our first half an hour here today was to really try and do our best to unpack this
00:32:48 whole subject of how we can help you make more money, to be honest, through these destination
00:32:52 partnerships.
00:32:53 So our second half of the hour here today, we're going to try and get a little bit more
00:32:57 into the nitty gritty of what it is that you all need to know about their jobs and then
00:33:02 vice versa in order for you to form these partnerships.
00:33:05 So we'll dive in a little bit here into the funding process for all of your tournaments
00:33:11 and events.
00:33:12 So I'll start by just asking the fellows here a few questions.
00:33:16 And Sean and Tommy, if you can just describe a little bit about your process for funding.
00:33:21 We know that includes applications and committees and tourist development councils.
00:33:25 But if you can share the protocol and the process with everyone.
00:33:29 Yeah, absolutely.
00:33:30 As Tommy alluded to, every destination is different.
00:33:32 I worked in Manatee County and that was different from where I'm at now.
00:33:37 So fortunately, being a little bit smaller is I maintain my own budget.
00:33:42 I have a budget within the Visitors Bureau.
00:33:45 And I want to back up real fast.
00:33:46 We're one of 13 departments in the county.
00:33:50 You all know utilities, public safety, public works, putting in the lights and the working
00:33:54 street lights and the concrete sidewalks.
00:33:57 Well, we're another department.
00:33:59 So I do get paid by the county.
00:34:01 I'm a government employee.
00:34:02 So just kind of to wrap your head around it, we are a division of the government right
00:34:06 in your local town.
00:34:07 So that's where we reside.
00:34:09 And our job, obviously, is bring everyone in the destination.
00:34:12 Our job is through sports.
00:34:15 We do an application where if you talk to me about your event, I'll send you an application
00:34:20 and you apply for it.
00:34:21 Fortunately, I don't have a big board.
00:34:23 I'm the sole person that manages it.
00:34:25 However, I have formulas.
00:34:26 I look back at data.
00:34:28 I find out what did your event, what was the economic impact, maybe how many room pickups
00:34:32 of the last event, how many teams.
00:34:35 Why are you moving it?
00:34:36 Why are you looking at our destination?
00:34:38 But that kind of speaks volumes on our application, all those kind of questions.
00:34:42 Once I get that, run the formulas, I then come back to you and say, are you live streaming?
00:34:48 Can we enhance the bid?
00:34:49 Is there an option that I can give you even more money if we live stream and I do a 30-second
00:34:54 destination commercial?
00:34:56 Maybe can you take my logo where they'll click on it and go to our website on the road at
00:35:03 all your events throughout Florida?
00:35:04 So now I'm showcased throughout Florida.
00:35:06 That could be more money to you and possibilities.
00:35:09 The reason is it puts eyeballs on our destination.
00:35:12 That's another thing that's real important to us.
00:35:14 Not only heads and beds, but to understand who we are.
00:35:17 We've had tournaments move from Daytona Beach over to our coast.
00:35:21 I've talked to people who said, I never knew you were here.
00:35:24 And I got the West Coast, boy, the water here is amazing.
00:35:26 We're coming back for vacation.
00:35:28 So it's not just when you're right here.
00:35:30 We realize it's the future of the people that came here and how can we grow and partner
00:35:35 with you.
00:35:36 So this application speaks volumes, tells a lot.
00:35:39 We also will look at it.
00:35:41 If you're wanting to do just a regional event, we're happy to support at local events, see
00:35:45 what we can do.
00:35:46 But then it's a partnership.
00:35:47 How can we get to a national event, a state event?
00:35:51 How can we add more?
00:35:53 Because we're here to partner.
00:35:54 We don't do the one and dones when we work in our divisions.
00:35:57 We're looking for that partnership to book calendars and scheduling.
00:36:00 But we start with the application.
00:36:03 Also in that application, we try to ask questions about marketing.
00:36:07 We have an arm in our department.
00:36:08 I have a PR director, a marketing director.
00:36:11 We can put in a social media director to where we could put your event on social media.
00:36:15 We could put on our event calendar.
00:36:16 We get a million hits a year.
00:36:18 It looks at our website for the whole Visitors Bureau.
00:36:21 We could forward press releases for a brand new event, a new event.
00:36:26 And we can also create the press releases.
00:36:29 And then the one last thing, as Tommy alluded to, how can we enhance your event?
00:36:33 Can we do a coach's welcome party?
00:36:36 Can I give you VIP bags with promotional items to hand out to these coaches, make them feel
00:36:41 special, makes your job easier to sign them up for the next year?
00:36:44 Yeah, no, all great points, Sean.
00:36:49 And we are really similar in that fashion.
00:36:52 We ask the questions.
00:36:54 We plug them into the Florida Sports Foundation formula.
00:36:58 We look, we see what we think Bed-Tax is going to generate, and that allows us to kind of
00:37:02 have a better understanding of what can we do.
00:37:05 And then the question is exactly what Sean said.
00:37:07 How can we help you increase your event?
00:37:10 How can we make it grow?
00:37:11 How can we make it better?
00:37:12 What do you need?
00:37:13 Do you need a welcome party?
00:37:15 Do you need a farewell reception?
00:37:20 What is it that you need that we can do to make the event different and particular that
00:37:25 people want to come to this particular event and not the other four or five that might
00:37:29 be going on throughout the course of the next two months, right?
00:37:32 So that's what we look at, and that's what we base our sponsorship off of.
00:37:36 Obviously, I'm also a county employee, so we have to justify what we do.
00:37:42 We have a tourist development council, and they are the reason that they support us 100%,
00:37:47 but we have to have a little bit of that back feed that Sean mentioned that says, "Hey,
00:37:52 guys, this is what we think we're going to get, and maybe you don't always, and maybe
00:37:55 you get better."
00:37:56 But as we look at it, in year one, we start at a certain place.
00:38:01 We look at year two, and we go, "Oh, well, that's grown.
00:38:05 We can do a little bit more."
00:38:06 And we continue to help you grow the event.
00:38:09 That's really what we look at when we look at funding.
00:38:11 Yeah.
00:38:12 So one of the other things, in the years I did the sports commission up in St. Pete Clearwater,
00:38:17 and as Matt alluded to, this year the budget's $92 million.
00:38:20 I was there, I think our total budget was probably $50 or $60 million.
00:38:23 I had a million dollars to spend on just sports, just.
00:38:27 Say that again.
00:38:28 A million dollars I spent on just sports, just recruiting sports events.
00:38:33 Most destinations are spending, it doesn't matter what state you're in or what county
00:38:38 you're in around the country, they're spending a lot of money to recruit your events into
00:38:42 their destination.
00:38:44 If you walk into them, if I had someone walk into me and say, "Hey, listen, I can expand
00:38:49 my event by 50 teams.
00:38:51 All I need is this."
00:38:52 Guess where the money's going?
00:38:54 It's not going out to somewhere else where I have to go sit into a trade show and wait
00:39:00 for somebody to walk by like fish.
00:39:02 I would rather work with the people that are right there in my destination that are already
00:39:06 doing things or making things happen, getting shit done.
00:39:10 Right?
00:39:11 It's easy.
00:39:12 It was easy at that point.
00:39:14 We put a lot of mathematics into this because, you know, a lot of us work for government
00:39:18 and they like their numbers.
00:39:21 But it's really about enhancing the community.
00:39:24 So if you can take advanced events into a destination and work with them ahead of time
00:39:30 in the partnership, then they're going to really look at that favorably in helping you
00:39:35 out with, especially with some of the things that you need.
00:39:38 And I think it's important to add to Kevin's point that even though we're looking at these
00:39:43 numbers because we are government employees and that's what we're funded by is the bed
00:39:47 tax, it doesn't mean we don't want local teams to be involved.
00:39:50 We definitely want to live, play, and stay here.
00:39:55 You know, in Lee County, in Charlotte County, you know, it's the same way, Polk County is
00:39:58 the same way.
00:39:59 You know, to Kevin's point, we want to embrace the locals, obviously, as well.
00:40:04 We don't ever want to feel like we're not doing that.
00:40:08 But we just have to figure out how it works.
00:40:10 So I would say to everyone in the room, if your local sports commission, reach out to
00:40:15 them, they can figure out a way to work with you.
00:40:18 It's always going to be at different levels, but you can figure out.
00:40:22 We want to work with you, clearly, absolutely want to work with you in Florida, you know,
00:40:29 and other states I know as well.
00:40:31 Obviously, it's easy for us here with the weather the way it is, except for the rainy
00:40:35 season.
00:40:36 But, you know, we still get through that.
00:40:38 But we want to work with you and it's just like, you have to have the conversation.
00:40:41 You have to say, hey, listen, I understand you have some restrictions, but how what can
00:40:46 we do to make this work?
00:40:48 And it's clearly tell us what what it is that you're looking for.
00:40:51 Yeah, Tommy makes a good point to just on the local aspects of this, everything that
00:40:55 you're doing with your tournaments is enhancing the opportunities for those those local teams,
00:41:00 those local kids and even adults that are that are practicing and training at a specific
00:41:04 facility every single day that may be enhanced because of the tournaments that you're bringing
00:41:09 in.
00:41:10 And there's no justification for doing that with the tourist development tax, whether
00:41:13 it be through their department or through the Department of Parks and Recreation.
00:41:17 So extremely important on the local aspect to thanks, man.
00:41:21 I just want to add to that.
00:41:22 You got to remember when you're coming from a different state, a different town, we we
00:41:26 feel we're the experts because we know our parks and recs.
00:41:30 We know our facilities and know our league.
00:41:31 So we'll connect the dots for everybody, not only financially, you know, incentives, but
00:41:37 you want to host hotel.
00:41:39 Let's get you a great rate.
00:41:40 Let's canvas our local hotels.
00:41:42 Find it.
00:41:43 Find out where can I do group dining?
00:41:44 We will work with the restaurants.
00:41:45 I already know all our group dining and know enough that we put them on our website so
00:41:49 you all could see that.
00:41:50 So we feel in government, we connect the dots and make sure that it enhances your event and
00:41:55 overall performance.
00:41:56 So you've heard this several times today with some of these.
00:41:59 The answer to some of these questions is that it's different everywhere, right?
00:42:02 Every every different county or city has a different process.
00:42:06 And that's important to know because some of some of them can be tedious, will be, you
00:42:10 know, fully open and honest with you.
00:42:12 They as you know, I have I own and co-own some events myself.
00:42:16 I have an event with Tommy here in Lee County.
00:42:18 They make the process very easy.
00:42:20 They submit a letter of intent to us that basically spells out what they're going to
00:42:24 fund for our tournament and the total for our event and the total amount that they're
00:42:28 going to provide our organization for for bringing the event to town.
00:42:33 Others have an application process.
00:42:35 The application has to get on a TORS Development Council agenda.
00:42:39 You got to get the majority vote of the TORS Development Council.
00:42:42 Then it goes to the county commission.
00:42:44 You got to get a majority vote of the county commission.
00:42:47 Then you got to send it to the legal department and you have to go through a contract that
00:42:51 the county attorney is going to draft up.
00:42:53 So it can take longer in some spots, but it's well worth it if you're dealing with a funding
00:42:59 award that might be $10,000, $15,000, $25,000 for the visitor impact that you're going to
00:43:05 have that could really showcase or make a tournament profitable in the long run.
00:43:13 So with 17 minutes to go, we're going to kick this into overdrive.
00:43:16 So going back to the nitty gritty, give us some bullet points on the deliverables that
00:43:22 you would need from them as tournament directors to help the process and funding.
00:43:27 Sure, absolutely.
00:43:28 The biggest thing that I look at, I'll do the work for you, is sending your schedules
00:43:32 and your team roster.
00:43:34 I can Google it, I can figure it out, but that gives me an opportunity to see how far
00:43:38 these teams traveled in from, again, to put in that formula.
00:43:42 We also, the partnership is our logo and URL.
00:43:46 We want all your parents, your coaches, and even your players to click on that.
00:43:50 Our website is pretty basic, just like a lot of ours, that say where to stay, where to
00:43:54 play, where to eat.
00:43:56 It breaks it down on waterfront restaurants, group dining, fast food, anything at all.
00:44:02 So when we look at utilizing the partnership, we want that logo showcased everywhere.
00:44:08 So they not only utilize it while they're here, but also afterwards, come back for vacation.
00:44:13 Our job, my job ultimately, is to drive people to that website, because that website are
00:44:18 all our hotels, attractions, and restaurants.
00:44:21 And that's who literally we work for.
00:44:23 We can't fill a hotel if we don't have great attractions.
00:44:24 We can't fill a hotel if we don't have great restaurants.
00:44:27 We can't fill a hotel if they don't have great amenities and rates.
00:44:30 So we look at that partnership with the logo, make sure we have that in the team roster.
00:44:35 We also, if you have a hotel pickup report, a lot of times it may just be your staff and
00:44:40 our host hotel.
00:44:41 But if you give me the roster, that formula can figure out where they came from.
00:44:45 Obviously, team from Miami, Jacksonville, they're staying in a hotel.
00:44:49 We also, not only traditional hotels, but Airbnbs, vacation home rentals, anything under
00:44:54 six months, six months or less, we get tourist development tax.
00:44:59 Beyond that, it creates a lease, and that's a rental, and we don't get any of that.
00:45:02 So we do offer that as well.
00:45:06 Your entire teams could stay in Airbnbs, and that still is credited to us.
00:45:10 So we do make it fairly easy, because we know you've got enough paperwork and enough stuff
00:45:14 to do.
00:45:15 No, great points.
00:45:18 And what we do in Lee County is very similar.
00:45:22 Leading up to, and I know I said this earlier, is we'll ask you a series of a few questions,
00:45:27 you know, in state, out of state, where are you coming from kind of thing, how long is
00:45:32 your event.
00:45:33 We figure out the nights from that.
00:45:34 It goes right into the Florida Sports Foundation's equation, and it kind of kicks out the information.
00:45:40 But what we do is we look back after the event.
00:45:43 What I haven't told you is we'll say, okay, after the event, you have an eight-question
00:45:47 fillable PDF that I send you, and I know these guys over here from Florida are very familiar
00:45:51 with that form that I send them.
00:45:54 And then I know what it was.
00:45:55 And we look for a team roster as well, or even a zip code list works.
00:46:00 That all helps us.
00:46:01 And it all goes when we go to the Tourist Development Council, and they say, well, we
00:46:06 gave X amount of dollars last year, now we want to give X amount of dollars.
00:46:10 How do we justify that?
00:46:11 Well, that's how we justify it, is off of those reports.
00:46:14 That's really what we look at to do that.
00:46:18 Some of the other things that we offer is we work very closely.
00:46:22 We're not part of the Visitor and Convention Bureau here in Lee County.
00:46:26 We're slightly different.
00:46:27 Whereas the gentlemen on each side of me are both part of a Visitor and Convention Bureau.
00:46:32 It's tied in.
00:46:33 Our sports is separate.
00:46:35 But we still have that relationship.
00:46:37 So we also have the marketing department, and we can do those things for you as well.
00:46:43 And as we look at things, we lean on our VCB folks to do destination commercials and things
00:46:51 like that.
00:46:52 So we also ask that our logo is there.
00:46:54 We ask that it goes to the website.
00:46:56 But what you'll notice when you notice our situation is we have our own website, and
00:47:01 the VCB has theirs.
00:47:02 But we direct you always to the Visitor and Convention Bureau website, where it'll tell
00:47:06 you where your top dining is, where it's things to do.
00:47:11 And some of the other things that we do is at these conventions, we'll offer volunteer
00:47:15 assistance.
00:47:16 And they can just simply have a table there and say, "Hey, where do you go for dinner
00:47:19 tonight?"
00:47:20 "Well, this is a great place to go."
00:47:22 We've done a lot of that after the storm.
00:47:25 What's open?
00:47:26 Here's the link.
00:47:27 Here's what's open.
00:47:28 Here's some volunteers that can tell you what's open and give you some copies of the menu.
00:47:31 So we're very similar in Sean in that way.
00:47:34 Yeah.
00:47:35 The other thing is that, as Sean brought up, that Airbnb's—how many people use Airbnb's
00:47:43 or any type of platform like that, VRBOs, anything like that?
00:47:47 Depending on where you're at, not every state collects tax off of VRBOs or Airbnb's or any
00:47:53 type of housing like that.
00:47:55 So again, going back to when you start talking about communication with your partners and
00:48:00 you start to work with—we love our acronyms in this business, visitors, VCBs and all that
00:48:06 stuff, destination marketing organizations, find out if they collect that tax.
00:48:10 Now here in Florida, like these guys said, we have hotels that we collect tax on.
00:48:16 We collect tax on campgrounds.
00:48:18 So if you tent camp, we're going to get some tax from that.
00:48:21 If you go to Airbnb, we're going to collect tax on that.
00:48:24 Hell, if you stay in a Walmart parking lot, we'll probably find a way to tax your ass
00:48:28 on that too, because we're good at it down here.
00:48:31 So one of the things that you need to be clear about when you go to different destinations
00:48:36 or if you're working with different states is be clear on what they're taxing, because
00:48:40 that way you know how to drive your people for you to maximize your value back to that
00:48:45 community.
00:48:46 Again, this is about a partnership.
00:48:47 It's all about value back to them and value back to you.
00:48:52 So Airbnb's are taxed in some counties.
00:48:57 Not all.
00:48:58 Yeah, not all counties.
00:48:59 Yeah.
00:49:00 Well, I can tell you here in Lee County, we work with down St. Germain's and we get the
00:49:05 star report and we do collect that.
00:49:07 Yeah.
00:49:08 And not only Airbnb, but VRBO, HomeAway, all of the vacation rental, or pretty much if
00:49:14 you're on one of them, you're on all of them to promote your property as a homeowner.
00:49:18 So we may joke around and jest a little bit about this process.
00:49:23 At the end of the day, it's sports and it's fun.
00:49:26 But for these gentlemen, anytime you're dealing with elected officials and government and
00:49:30 taxes, it's very, very serious business.
00:49:33 They won't say this to you.
00:49:34 I'll say it for them on their behalf.
00:49:37 If they get it wrong, they get fired.
00:49:39 That's the end of the day.
00:49:41 So the information that you provide to them and the decisions that they are making, that
00:49:45 ratio has to be correct.
00:49:47 If they give you $50,000 and you end up creating 50 room nights, they're gone.
00:49:54 So when you start working on these destination partnerships, really do your best to give
00:49:59 a true assessment of what your events are going to look like to them so that they can
00:50:04 accurately help you in a variety of ways, whether it's in-kind services that are going
00:50:08 to help you in your budget, bottom line, or whether it's in cash as well.
00:50:14 And for an example, we represent an organization that puts on events here in Florida.
00:50:19 I'm here through Thursday.
00:50:20 Kevin's actually leaving Thursday morning because he's driving up to Sarasota to have
00:50:24 a meeting with their counterparts for Sarasota County.
00:50:28 And he's there to close a deal for them to create funding for that tournament organizer.
00:50:34 So we were able to determine that in that county, the majority of its, to call it roughly
00:50:40 20 events per year, the majority of events, they only have maybe 10 to 12 teams that are
00:50:46 coming in out of, say, 70 to 100 that are from 80 miles or 100 miles or more away.
00:50:53 The remaining teams are all from the local area that don't have a visitor impact on Sarasota
00:50:59 County.
00:51:01 But if we take a look at those 20-plus tournaments and you do the math, they're creating about
00:51:06 15,000 room nights per year in Sarasota County.
00:51:11 So if we can get that destination to look at that piece of business with one client
00:51:15 across 20 events in the whole, then it's a very, they're a very valuable client to them.
00:51:21 If they looked at it on a case-by-case tournament basis, they're not a very attractive client
00:51:25 to them.
00:51:26 So Kevin's going to go close that deal, right?
00:51:28 Knock on some wood real quick.
00:51:29 >>Close my deal.
00:51:30 >>Knock on Tommy's head.
00:51:31 We're going to, Kevin's going to close that deal on Thursday and we're going to, you know,
00:51:34 not $15,000 is still a hell of a good amount of money.
00:51:39 We're going to go close that deal on Thursday.
00:51:41 So again, if you can paint that picture and really give a true assessment, you're going
00:51:46 to further create a really good partner from the get-go versus having some uh-oh moments
00:51:51 as a few tournaments are over.
00:51:53 So this has all been a good conversation about pre-tournament.
00:51:57 So now let's jump into post-tournament and what needs to be done on the reporting side
00:52:01 afterwards because again, government taxes, elected officials, it all has to be justified
00:52:05 and there has to be a paper trail for it.
00:52:07 So fellas, if you could just describe that information that you need post-tournament
00:52:12 from tournament directors to go ahead and finalize the process, finalize the sponsorship
00:52:18 award.
00:52:19 >>Yeah, absolutely.
00:52:21 As I said, the big thing is our logo and URL is you're going to prove to me whether it's
00:52:25 a screenshot on your registration page, it's on your website, maybe you had banners on
00:52:31 sites, you know, thanking sponsors, but we want to make sure that's in front of everyone.
00:52:35 So it's proof, you know, that's one thing about government we said, it's all about proof.
00:52:39 When I was in Manatee County north of us, I had to take pictures of people to prove
00:52:43 the event happened.
00:52:45 Okay, so that just tells you a little about government.
00:52:47 We all know what government's like and what you need.
00:52:49 So that backup data is real important.
00:52:52 And again, it's a partnership.
00:52:53 We're not going to scrutinize, we're going to help you guys.
00:52:56 We're going to say, "Hey, the logo, it's kind of in the backfield, you used it for practice,
00:53:00 you really didn't, but chances are I'm going to be there on that weekend and tell you that
00:53:04 and we'll move it."
00:53:05 So the logo is important.
00:53:06 The other thing, if you do some live streaming, 30-second commercial, it's a screenshot of
00:53:11 showing where that was and proof of that.
00:53:14 Our elected officials love commercials.
00:53:16 They love videos.
00:53:17 They love to show to them that's proof it got eyeballs on it in front of people.
00:53:22 So that's really, really big for us.
00:53:24 Another thing we ask, as I said earlier, is team rosters is real important.
00:53:28 Any kind of hotel pickup you may have.
00:53:31 And then any kind of information.
00:53:32 Our post report does ask specific questions of, "Did you do some team outings, team dining?"
00:53:38 Some may say, "Yeah, we bought reduced tickets at this attraction."
00:53:42 And again, that tells the story.
00:53:43 My job when we're done in Tommy's is to tell that story, why it was a good event, and here's
00:53:48 the reasoning.
00:53:50 That story also tells us, "Hey, we can provide more sponsorship."
00:53:54 And Tommy alluded to that.
00:53:55 We look at that and dissect it.
00:53:57 One of my philosophies, I may overpay for the first event because I know it's your first
00:54:02 event or destination, you have extra marketing.
00:54:04 You got extra labor, phone calls.
00:54:06 Instead of bringing one direct, you might have a couple to make sure it runs smooth.
00:54:10 Concessions, you may have to bring extra food trucks here because you're not sure with what
00:54:15 the service they offer.
00:54:16 And we understand that.
00:54:17 So that could be an option, but those are things that tell the story at the end of the
00:54:22 day and when your tournament's over.
00:54:24 We'll then take that, dissect it, and then create a report that our Tourist Development
00:54:28 Council will see.
00:54:30 They do, we do quarterly meetings and every year.
00:54:32 They're an advisory board for us.
00:54:33 We have a budget for the entire Visitor's Bureau, and I get a bucket as we call it.
00:54:37 Each department has a bucket.
00:54:39 But I have to report out what event, why did I bring that event, why is it a partnership,
00:54:44 where is it going from here, did you add another event?
00:54:47 Are we escalating it?
00:54:48 So again, it really tells the story at the end.
00:54:52 Right, and to add to all of Sean's points, and I know I alluded to it earlier, is when
00:54:58 we're trying to work with you in the first year, we ask a lot of the same questions,
00:55:02 right?
00:55:03 So after an event, you get, it's eight to nine questions, depending on if it's an individual
00:55:08 sport or if it's a team sport, right?
00:55:11 There's nine questions on individual, eight if it's a team sport.
00:55:14 It's just how we ask it.
00:55:16 And it asks things like, what were your event dates?
00:55:19 Do you know what your average hotel room rate was?
00:55:22 Some people use, you know, traveling teams, other hotel agencies.
00:55:28 We're not a play to stay kind of place, so we don't get involved too much into that,
00:55:33 but we do ask for the rate.
00:55:36 But we do work with down St. Germain also, because we understand that in this destination,
00:55:41 for instance, and all basically, a lot of Florida destinations, as definitely everybody
00:55:48 at this table, you'll see that your room rates are going to be much higher pre-Easter, right?
00:55:54 After Easter, they tend to just drop right down.
00:55:58 And that's when we see, and I know I came in a little bit late, I think you guys were
00:56:01 already talking about, you know, high and low times, right?
00:56:04 So we take all of that into accountability.
00:56:07 And that also plays a factor in what the bed tax is, on what your rate is.
00:56:11 You know, so we look at those things, and we do a lot of the same things that Sean said.
00:56:16 And really, when we report, those are the things that we have to report to.
00:56:20 We have a tourist development council here in Lee County as well.
00:56:23 We also report quarterly.
00:56:24 Again, we're not part of the VCB, but we are a county entity, and we do report that.
00:56:32 And we say, "Hey, here are the key events that we had," but we list out every single
00:56:37 event that we had for every single month that we're reporting on, and only obviously talk
00:56:42 about a select few, right?
00:56:44 But it's all there, it's all in their handbook.
00:56:45 They see it, they see what we've donated, they see what we haven't donated, whether
00:56:49 it's in-kind or not, they have the amount there that's the value, and that's how we
00:56:55 justify it.
00:56:56 So, you know, oh, sorry, real quick, I wanted to add, so the tourist development council
00:57:00 we keep speaking of, it is made up of hoteliers, restauranteurs, maybe attractions.
00:57:04 So there's nothing better than telling that story and having them say, "My gosh, my
00:57:09 hotel sold out in August, that would have never happened.
00:57:12 Thank you, tourist development council, for allowing Sean to bring that event in.
00:57:17 It could have been an attraction that that was our busiest day because of this event."
00:57:20 So again, telling that story is huge.
00:57:22 Yeah, and I know we're running up against time, but, you know, connectivity, you guys
00:57:26 have gotten some great technology.
00:57:27 I've seen some of the things that you're able to do, and that's going to help you
00:57:30 tell that story.
00:57:31 And again, these guys are just telling your story, so help them tell that story.
00:57:36 Technology is the easy way to do it.
00:57:37 I mean, it's better than the old days when we used to have to run out there and literally
00:57:40 count people on the field and tell our people.
00:57:43 It's like, you know, I don't know, was it 10 people on the field, 12?
00:57:46 I had a guy tell me one time, "No, we can play with eight."
00:57:48 I'm like, "No, no, nine on a baseball field," right?
00:57:52 And then there's the connectivity between your sports.
00:57:55 If you're working out of the same state, and I know that they had the state tables
00:58:01 yesterday, talk about how each of you are reporting your stuff.
00:58:04 Because if you're consistent between all your sports of how you're providing information
00:58:08 back to your destination, that consistency is what overall will help you in that state
00:58:13 to develop a better relationship and provide more money to you overall in funding.
00:58:18 And is there anyone in here from Texas?
00:58:21 Raise your hand if you're from Texas.
00:58:22 Yeah, in the back here.
00:58:24 Texas has the best funding mechanism in the country.
00:58:29 The absolute best.
00:58:31 It doesn't get any better.
00:58:32 So you guys, if you're not using Texas money, you better find out how to get it because
00:58:37 it just doesn't get much better.
00:58:39 Yeah, what Kevin means by that, if they'd say just for easy math, if the destination
00:58:43 is giving you $25,000 for an event, the state of Texas will match it with another 25.
00:58:49 Your 25 becomes 50 grand, just like that, when you're working with the destination.
00:58:54 So tap into these resources.
00:58:55 They can make a world of difference.
00:58:57 One thing that Kevin touched on, technology.
00:58:59 Your registration, you're ahead of the game when your board members were mentioning it
00:59:04 this morning.
00:59:05 You are ahead of the game when it comes to a certain number of aspects of the sports
00:59:08 tourism industry.
00:59:10 Your registration system, I think because of when they are paying for a team, is pulling
00:59:16 that zip code off of the credit card.
00:59:19 That zip code then is giving you a distance away from the tournament.
00:59:24 So you know how far away a team is coming from just through your system alone.
00:59:28 You don't have to go crunch any of that math.
00:59:29 It's provided for you in your registration system.
00:59:32 So that information is so valuable to these two guys sitting up here in any other destination
00:59:37 that you might work with out there.
00:59:39 So I'm going to turn things over to Kevin.
00:59:40 He's going to wrap it up and then we're not going anywhere.
00:59:42 We'll be here if there's any questions afterwards since we're filling the full time.
00:59:46 Thanks, Matt.
00:59:47 Yeah, we're going to close out.
00:59:49 You know, we kind of bumped up right against the time here.
00:59:52 We thought we'd have a few minutes for questions.
00:59:53 But if you have a question, we can take it real quick.
00:59:56 Let me know.
00:59:57 Anybody with any questions, anything that we can add, answer for you.
01:00:02 As Matt said, we're going to be around.
01:00:05 If you are in a state and you don't know our location, you're not sure who to work with
01:00:10 in your location, we pretty much know most of the people in the country.
01:00:14 And if we don't know them, we can find out who they are to connect you with them so that
01:00:18 you can go and begin your conversations for partnership with these destinations, understanding
01:00:24 what they're looking for and the things that they need to do.
01:00:27 So we appreciate you guys and appreciate your time, ladies and gentlemen.
01:00:30 It's early in the morning to be talking about all these numbers and economic impact, but
01:00:34 we do appreciate the time.
01:00:36 And thank you so much for being here.
01:00:38 Thank you.
01:00:39 Thank you, everyone.
01:00:40 [Applause]
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