Employers and Lawyers, Working Together


Employers and Lawyers, Working Together - Rackcdn.coma61b9fff757edc3fd448-4d2039c376381e50a12f273d6c14c5e0.r32.cf2.rackcdn.com/4...

0 downloads 273 Views 934KB Size

6 

TAMPA BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL

COVER STORY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

Orioles and Nationals television broadcasts on MASN, during Orioles radio broadcasts on 40 stations and occasionally during MASN’s other programming, which includes college basketball coverage and Washington Redskins games, analysis shows. Early tourism numbers in the 30-year deal with the Orioles show a significant uptick in the number of people vacationing in Sarasota from the Washington D.C.-Baltimore area. The estimated number of tourists coming to Sarasota from Maryland during the January to March months jumped from 7,200 in the Orioles’ first year in Sarasota in 2010 to 10,600 in 2013.

Birdland South Beyond the media buy, Visit Sarasota is leveraging its relationship with the club even further. MASN has luxury suites at Camden Yards, where the Orioles play, and in Nationals Park, and part of the contract gives Visit Sarasota an opportunity to host an event during a game in each park once per summer. The group invites Washington- and Baltimore-based travel and event planners to the game to enjoy a night out and hear a pitch on Sarasota as a destination. Visit Sarasota even hosted a group of area rowing coaches this past summer to

tell them about the newly opened regatta R GRAPEFRUIT LEAGUE CONTRACT LANDSCAPE facility at Nathan Benderson Park. Haley said some teams already have commitTampa Dunedin ted to coming down for practice camps in the winter. “Sarasota Day” at Orioles and Nation2013 Attendance: 164,796 2013 Attendance: 78,509 als games “has paid off every year we Contract through 2027 Contract through 2017 have done it,” Rissler said. The ads that run during the games refer to Sarasota as “Birdland South.” Lakeland Branding the two cities as being connected by the team is critical to establishing a long-term relationClearwater ship. The campaign, designed 2013 Attendance: 136,858 Contract through 2016 by Tampa’s Chappell Roberts, is called the Colors of Sarasota campaign, according to Erin 2013 Attendance: 138,313 Bradenton Gray, principal at the firm. Contract through 2023 Off the field, the sibling city branding has manifested itself in project coordination between Balti2013 Attendance: 93,433 more’s world famous National Aquarium Contract through 2037 and Sarasota’s Mote Marine Laboratory. Haley points out this kind of relationship between the two cities is evidence that the deal to bring the Orioles to SaraPort Charlotte sota in the springtime has blossomed into a year-round presence in each Sarasota other’s community. “We’re not drinking National Boh 2013 Attendance: 106,102 yet,” she said of Baltimore’s signaContract through 2028 2013 Attendance: 120,455 ture beer, National Bohemian. There Contract through 2039 are another 26 years on the contract, so it is probably just a matter of time.

Fort Myers R LONG

TERM ROOTS 2013 Attendance: 164,840 Contract through 2038

KEEPING WHAT WE HAVE The last wave of spring training teams to abandon their Florida homes for new stadium deals in the Arizona desert signed long-term deals and will not be coming back to the Sunshine State any time soon. The Reds and the Cleveland Indians left in 2008 and 2009, respectively. The Chicago White Sox left in 1997. The Los Angeles Dodgers left Vero Beach in 2008. Florida is still more likely to lose teams to Arizona during the next decade than it is to gain more because most of the Midwestern teams playing in Arizona are on long-term contracts while the teams playing in Florida have more options. In an effort to keep teams playing here and signing long-term deals, Gov. Rick Scott created an incentive plan earlier this year that provides willing municipalities with a $20 million match for new stadium construction or stadium renovations to keep a major league club or lure one. That state match jumps to $50 million to build a double-team facility, the trend that Arizona

has been using to poach Grapefruit League teams for years. “We must provide teams a predictable landscape, with an identified funding stream that allows local governments to make targeted investments to keep teams in their communities,” Scott said in February when he announced the new incentives. As Florida ramps up incentives to help pay for facilities upgrades, Sarasota’s deal shows a way to generate hotel room Gov. Rick Scott taxes that fund them. “The Legislature is encouraging these double facilities,” said John Webb, president of Florida Sports, a division of Enterprise Florida Inc. “I think that will be the wave of the future and it will be because of the expense of the

100 N Tampa St. Ste. 3600 Tampa, FL 33602 813-289-1247 www.ogletreedeakins.com

stadiums.” There are three MLB teams in the final years of their contracts with their spring training host cities in Florida. The Nationals’ contract with Brevard County ends in 2017 and the Houston Astros’ contract with Osceola County ends in 2016. In Tampa Bay, Dunedin has a deal that keeps the Toronto Blue Jays spring training home until 2017. The Jays have held spring training in Dunedin since the franchise began in 1977. Palm Beach Gardens might be the first city to take the governor up on his offer. The Astros and Blue Jays have signed letters of intent to move their spring training facilities to Florida’s east coast at the end of their current contracts. As that community puts together a stadium deal, there is an opportunity to make inroads into two separate markets that could mean big numbers for tourism there. There is no deal in place and Palm Beach Gardens officials are not talking about details

Fort Myers

2013 Attendance: 113,845 Contract through 2020 yet, including media buys similar to the arrangement between Visit Sarasota and the Baltimore Orioles. “Any media deal would be an important component for the return on the investment (from the city),” said Palm Beach Gardens spokesperson Tom McNicholas.

Employers and Law Working Togethe