Sporting Events: Big Business For Jacksonville
The recent March Madness NCAA Tournament basketball games played at the Veterans Memorial Arena helped to showcase Jacksonville as a sports destination.
These types of sports events and the 7 professional franchises that call Jacksonville home have a significant impact on our economy. A recent Financial News & Daily Record article pointed out that a study is being commissioned to better determine the financial impact sports have on our city.
JAXUSA Partnership Chair, Mark Frisch, is the owner of the Jacksonville Armada soccer team, which has grown from an idea three years ago to a business with 60 employees.
Our NFL team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, have full-time staff and players and also employs about 1,700 part-time employees on game days.
The PLAYERS Championship is a PGA tournament broadcast to a global television audience. It also has direct economic benefit to the local economy as more people who attend the tournament each year are from outside North Florida than from within and golf fans spend money while here.
Other events such as the Florida vs. Georgia football game, TaxSlayer Bowl, NCAA Track & Field, 26.2 with Donna and U.S. Aquatic Sports are held in Jacksonville with estimated total economic impact of more than $61 million, based only on tickets sold and room nights reserved in area hotels.
The study will help provide complete data on these major annual events as well as create an evaluation of the economic value all the professional sports franchises have to market Jacksonville as a sports destination.