Coastal Sporting Events Score Big For Owners
By Clayton Wallace
It was July along the Alabama Gulf Coast, and 10,000 people were in the area enjoying the sunshine. It may sound like a typical July day at the beach, but these visitors were not playing at the beach. They were participants and fans attending tournaments at the baseball and softball field complexes in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. Getting them to the area has been the result of aggressive sports marketing efforts, said local hospitality industry officials, adding that 2010 is shaping up to be a good year for sporting events as well.
Sports marketing along the Alabama and Northwest Florida gulf coast areas has grown to pay big dividends in terms of condo rentals and tourism dollars.
Panama City Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) President and CEO Dan Rowe said his organization has been actively marketing to sporting events for the past decade. Alabama Gulf Coast CVB Sales Director Beth Gendler said although the CVB has been seeking out sporting events for several years, in the past two they have increased their staff and efforts in that arena.
"The USSSA Global World Series events held here over two weekends in July brought about $3 million to the area. About half of that was in rentals," Gendler said. "Those events really boosted the room nights by about 8,000 during those tournaments."
"Amateur sports are a big part of what we do here," Rowe said. "We've been able to attract the right kind of athletes and the right kind of tournaments to have great baseball, softball and volleyball tournaments here on the beach."
Gendler said the extra attention paid to sports marketing has paid dividends, especially in 2009. In 2006, sports-related room nights were only 5,200. "Before 2007, it was just me marketing it part-time. In 2007, the Alabama Gulf Coast Sports Commission (a division of the CVB) brought on a full-time employee for sports marketing," she said. "In 2007 and 2008, sports-related room nights were just above 10,000, but you need time to build these events."
In 2009, 51 sporting events netted more than 23,000 room nights on the Alabama Gulf Coast. "That accounts for more than $3 million from rentals with more than $3.5 million in additional spending," she said.
Gendler said she is excited about the growth of not only the number and size of the events but also about the area businesses that sponsor the events. "Looking to 2010, we have a 17 percent increase in our sponsors from 2009," she said. "That's almost a $50,000 increase in sponsorships, including several new sponsors." According to Gendler, the Sports Commission has renewed all sponsors from 2009, except for one. "We're working with them right now to get them on board for 2010."
Vacation rental management companies are stepping forward with more sponsorships for 2010, Gendler said. "We've had more of them come on board for 2010," she said. "In fact, our two biggest sponsors-what we call title sponsors-are Kaiser Realty and ‰ Brett/Robinson Vacation Rentals. It's a great value for the exposure they receive."
Rowe said Panama City Beach primarily attracts summer tournaments. "For seven weeks in the summertime you can't go anywhere in Panama City Beach without seeing young adult athletes," he said.
Gendler said her CVB's marketing efforts in past years have tended to run to the "shoulder seasons" just before and after the summer. "We've always heavily marketed the 'shoulder season,' but our increased inventory in the past couple of years now allows us expand to hold some great events even during our peak season," she said.
"We've been persistent in pursuing this market and it has been successful," Rowe said. Gendler said the success rate of the CVB/sports commission's marketing efforts has been very good, and she looks to continue the efforts. "We can't anticipate anything but growth," she said.
