The Brief
- Pinellas County has hosted more than 50 sporting events ranging from softball to sailing since the fall, resulting in 51,000 hotel room nights.
- Visit St. Pete Clearwater officials report that these events have generated $30 million in local spending.
- While the new Sprowls Horizon Sports Park has increased capacity for baseball and softball, officials say a lack of rectangular fields for sports like soccer remains a competitive challenge.
ST PETERSBURG, Fla – Since October, Pinellas County has hosted 53 sporting events, generating $30 million in direct spending, according to Caleb Peterson, Director of the VSPC Sports Commission.
“You guys have all heard about some of the college softball that we’ve done,” Peterson told the Tourist Development Council on Wednesday. “This year, we had two tournaments back-to-back, the NFCA and the ESPN softball tournaments. In those two events, we had 12 ranked teams that competed, including the number one and number two teams in the country,” Peterson said. “It’s just an example that the best teams in the country come to Clearwater to start their year.”
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