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A win on the field, but not off

Gators fans got to see their team win in Tampa this year. Trouble is, area businesses wish they'd been fans from out of state instead.

By STEVE HUETTEL
Published May 4, 2006

Hawkeyes fans spent $3 per day for every $2 Gators visitors did, shows a survey conducted for the Tampa Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau, Hillsborough County's tourism marketing agency.

They stayed twice as long in the Tampa Bay area and were more much likely to rent a hotel room.

Overall, Outback fans purchased 16,447 ''room nights'' in Hillsborough, the third-largest number in the bowl's 20-year history.

But the lopsided spending underscores an argument tourism officials to made the Outback Bowl committee last year: Many Florida fans would stay in Tampa Bay only for the game and not pack the economic punch of an out-of-state team's following.

Pinellas hotel managers sold about 2,000 room nights, nearly all to Iowa fans, said Carole Ketterhagen, executive director of the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

"The Iowa impact was the only Pinellas impact from the Outback Bowl,'' she said. "In other years, we had impact from both teams.''

The bowl committee considers the spending potential of each school's fans when selecting a team from the Big 10 and Southeastern Conference, said Jim McVay, chief executive of the Outback Bowl.

But the group also must try to pick teams that will sell the most tickets and attract the biggest television audience - the main concern of bowl sponsors and the broadcasting network, he said.

"No matter who (is selected), it's a plus,'' McVay said. "If it's 500 room nights, that's 500 more than if there were no bowl game.''

Only games matching the University of South Carolina and Ohio State in 2001 and 2002 generated more room nights than this year's game, he said.

"This was a huge home run for the hospitality industry,'' said McVay. "We feel good.''

Ketterhagen and Paul Catoe, chief executive of the Tampa Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau, serve as nonvoting members of the Outback Bowl committee.

Both urged the board to pass over Florida, which had played in two of the previous three Outback Bowls.

Ketterhagen wanted South Carolina. Besides its track record for bringing lots of loyal fans, the university was coming off an unexpectedly strong season under a popular leader: former Florida head coach Steve Spurrier.

McVay says South Carolina's record wasn't good enough to qualify under conference rules.

Attracting Gators fans in Florida to make an extended trip to Tampa is an uphill battle, says Bob Morrison, executive director of the Hillsborough County Hotel and Motel Association.

"You can sell warm weather in the Midwest and the Northeast,'' he says. "But you can't sell warm weather to someone who resides in Florida.''

Morrison wants tourism officials to come up with a plan to sell Sunshine State residents on traveling to the area whenever a Florida college sports team plays here.

The plan could include sponsoring special events or packaging hotel deals with tickets to attractions like Busch Gardens for family and friends who aren't interested in sports.

"We need to move from game promotion to destination promotion,'' he said.

Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.

[Last modified May 4, 2006, 07:02:01]