What To Watch For This Week In Florida Sports (March 10-16, 2014)

WATCH FOR Bracketology to take on new meaning this year for Central Florida, as NCAA® March Madness® is coming to Orlando!

Both ESPN and CBS Sports’ brackets have the Florida Gators playing in Orlando as a #1 seed. Other teams that have shown up on mock brackets playing at the Amway Center include Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio State, Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth.

The top-ranked Gators finished the SEC Regular season with a perfect 18-0 record and enter the SEC Tournament with a 29-2 overall record.  The Gators first round opponent in the SEC Tournament will be either Texas A&M or Missouri on Friday.  Florida, along with 67 other teams, will learn their March Madness destinies on Sunday, March 16 with the announcement of the NCAA Tournament field.

The PASSION of March Madness will be on display at the second and third round of the 2014 NCAA® Division I Men’s Basketball Championship March 20th and 22nd at the Amway Center. Lower bowl tickets are sold out, but a limited number of seats in the upper bowl still remain. Single session tickets start at just $66 and are available for a limited time. Providing entry to 2 games, single session tickets are just over $30 per game.

The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship will attract thousands of fans from across the United States to Central Florida, generating millions in economic impact for the region. The event is expected to generate nearly $10 million of economic impact for the region. In addition, the international and national exposure generated from the media and live telecast will be immeasurable for Orlando and Orange County.

For general tournament information visit www.CentralFloridaSports.org/ncaa. The championship games are hosted locally by Stetson University, Central Florida Sports Commission, and Orlando Venues, in partnership with the City of Orlando and Orange County.

WATCH FOR a 14-turn, 1.8-mile IndyCar track to be completed in Downtown St. Petersburg for the Firestone St. Petersburg Grand Prix.  Once complete, race cars will screech alongside the waterfront at 170 miles per hour with more than 100,000 racing fans eager to catch a glimpse of crunching metal or cutthroat competition expected to attend.

The race, which will be held March 28-30, will go along an Albert Whitted Airport runway, wind around the Dalí Museum and up First Street SE, then snake around Pioneer Park and down Bay Shore Drive. Its creation requires 20,000 feet of steel-reinforced concrete barriers and 44,000 feet of chain-link fencing.

It is broadcast on four channels in 200 countries, bringing plenty of exposure to the area. “That’s something that you really can’t buy, that kind of attention,” said Vice Mayor Kanika Tomalin.

WATCH FOR the third stop of the March PGA Tour swing through Florida this week at the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort – Copperhead, in Palm Harbor.  At the first two stops, the Honda Classic, in Palm Beach Gardens, and the World Golf Championships in Miami, Russell Henley and Patrick Reed each walked away with more than $1 Million in winnings.

Among those battling for the total purse of $5.7 million this weekend is Jordan Spieth, who used Innisbrook as a springboard to last year’s Rookie of the Year season.  He leads a lineup featuring 10 of the top 30 in this week’s Official World Golf Ranking. U.S. Open champion Justin Rose and No. 11 Matt Kuchar also are committed.

The fourth and final stop on the March Florida swing is the Arnold Palmer Invitational, played at Orlando’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge, March 20-23. Now in its 36th year, the annual event is a boon for Central Florida, bringing in more than $20 million in economic impact for the region and more than 120,000 attendees. In addition, the event brings national exposure to the region, which helps further market Orlando as a destination not only for theme park attractions, but also for golfing and other amenities.

WATCH FOR the 32nd Annual USA Powerlifting Florida State Championships, to be held at the Bay Oaks Recreation Center in Fort Myers Beach, this weekend.

The competition will feature 86 of the best female and male powerlifters from the State of Florida. Divisions range, in male and female categories, from Teen (14-18) to Masters (40-79).

Among the athletes scheduled to compete are Florida International Senior Games & State Championships gold medalists Helen Hankerson, of Seffner, Ocala’s Marietta Roberts and Michael Paugh, of Cape Coral.

WATCH FOR the third weekend of Florida Grapefruit League stadiums to host near-capacity crowds.  Last weekend, Saturday, March 8 and Sunday, March 9 saw over 130,000 fans flock to 18 game statewide under sunny skies and 80 degree temperatures.

This weekend, the Tampa Bay Rays host the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday and Boston Red Sox, Sunday, at Charlotte County Stadium in Port Charlotte. 

After the Monday, March 10 schedule of games, more than 560,000 fans have attended 88 games in the 2014 Florida Spring Training season for an average of 6,377 per game.

The Weekly “What to Watch For in Florida Sports,” is compiled by the Florida Sports Foundation, the state’s lead sports promotion and development organization. Follow the Florida Sports Foundation on Facebook and on Twitter #fla_sports. Visit http://www.flasports.com for more information about the Florida Sports Foundation and the vibrant sports industry in the Sunshine State. Florida is Where The World Comes to Play.

What To Watch For This Week In Florida Sports (March 11-17)

Spring Training Baseball in March and Florida are a Perfect Pair

Today, March 12, marks approximately the midway point in the 2013 Florida Spring Training season.  The 36 days of Grapefruit League Baseball began with a full slate of games on Saturday, February 23 and concludes on Saturday, March 30.  Today being  day number 18.

A few things that have happened so far in the 14 Florida locations include….

A total of 128 games have been played with only one game rained out.  It came on Tuesday, February 26 in Bradenton. Through games of March 12 at total of 732,755 fans attended the 123 games played for an average of just under 6,000 fans per game.

The crowd of 11,022 to watch the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday, March 9 in Clearwater was a Bright House Field record.

The Tampa Bay Rays lead the Grapefruit League with 11 wins, as of Tuesday, March 12.  The Baltimore Orioles have a 10-4 record for the best winning percentage in the Grapefruit League.

The renovated McKechnie Field in Bradenton has been met with rave reviews.  “You’re in for a pleasant surprise after you pass through the main gate at our grand ol’ ballyard on Ninth Street West. The venerable 90-year-old ballpark is fresh off its most audacious overhaul yet, a $10 million renovation that includes 2,000 more seats, a fan plaza, larger restrooms, new concession stands and a host of other amenities.”

Florida Governor Rick Scott participated in the 16th “Let’s Get to Work Day” at Joker Marchant Stadium, Wednesday, February 27, and announced that he will work to provide $5 million annually to be used only for spring training facilities. During the workday, the Governor participated in daily operations for the Detroit Tigers Baseball team, including working at the concession stands, managing equipment and working with the grounds crew.

While current law provides some ability for local governments to incentivize spring training baseball, there is no predictability or a regular funding stream for spring training in Florida. That means if teams need renovations to their facilities, they must begin at square-one to secure funding and planning from the state and from local governments. Currently, 15 teams use Florida facilities for spring training, three teams’ leases come up for renewal in 2016, and two come up for renewal in 2017.

Under the initiative, local governments will be required to match at least 50 percent of project costs. State contributions for each project would be capped at $20 million and the Department of Economic Opportunity would review and approve the match to ensure it provides a return on investment for taxpayers.

Florida Basketball teams look to “The Big Dance”
The ninth-ranked Miami Hurricanes, who finished the regular season 24-6, won the Atlantic Coast Conference Regular Season Championship and enter the ACC tournament this weekend, as the top seed with a first round bye.

The Hurricanes are scheduled to play Friday at noon against the winner of Thursday’s matchup between No. 9 Georgia Tech and No. 8 Boston College.

The 11th-ranked University of Florida Gators, the 2012-13 SEC regular season champions, heads into postseason play as the top seed of the SEC Tournament.  Florida has a bye until the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. The team will take on either Georgia or LSU on Friday, March 15 in Nashville, Tenn.

Miami coach Jim Larranaga and Florida coach Billy Donovan each earned Conference Coach of the Year honors for their 2012-13 efforts.

The Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles were the first team in this year’s NCAA Tournament field of 68 to clinch a berth thanks to a conference automatic bid.  The Eagles defeated top-seeded Mercer 88-75 in the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship Game in Macon, Georgia.

The NCAA Men’s Tournament selection will be announced on Sunday, March 17 with the Women’s Tournament announced on Monday, March 18.

In anticipation of their tournament seed and destination, the 25th -ranked Florida State Seminoles women’s basketball team will host an NCAA Selection Show party at the President’s Box inside Doak Campbell Stadium. The doors will open to all fans at 6:30 p.m.

And if all of that college basketball news wasn’t enough… How about the Miami Heat? They’ve won 18 straight games, are sitting atop the league standings and have a very real chance of wrapping up the No. 1 seed in the East playoffs by the end of the month. They go for win number 19 tonight at home against the Atlanta Hawks and then travel to play the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night.

Indian River State College Swim Team Extends Championship Streak

Indian River State College’s men’s swim team, from Fort Pierce, didn’t simply claim its 39th consecutive national championship; it did so in perfect fashion.

The men won all six races in the NJCAA Swimming and Diving Championships capping a meet in which they won all 18 races. IRSC scored 1,832 points, while runner-up Daytona State College had 1,319.

“That was one for the books,” said IRSC coach Ryan Mallam, who just wrapped up his fourth year. “That’s a really hard thing to do because the level of competition has really been going up over the last few years.”

IRSC’s women were crowned as national champions for the 31st consecutive time and 35th overall. The women, which won four races Saturday, finished the championships with 1,648 points; second-place Daytona State had 951. The men’s streak is the longest in the nation at any collegiate level.

Could the Next U.S. Open Tennis Champion be from Florida?

If you’ve ever dreamed of playing in one of tennis’ Grand Slams, then the road to the 2013 US Open starts for Florida players in Tallahassee this May.

Entries will open on March 15 for the 2013 US Open National Playoffs, with the Florida event to be held on the campus of Florida State University in Tallahassee, starting on Saturday, May 25, through May 28.

The US Open remains the only of the four Grand Slams to open its qualifying to all players age 14 or over in men’s singles, women’s singles, and mixed doubles. The Florida winners in all three categories will advance to the national tournament featuring the USTA section winners.

The US Open National Playoffs men’s and women’s national singles champions earn a wildcard into the US Open Qualifying Tournament, held the week prior to the US Open. The US Open National Playoffs mixed doubles champions receive a wildcard into the main draw of the 2013 US Open Mixed Doubles.

“Anyone who dreams of playing in the US Open — top junior players, collegians, teaching professionals, ‘weekend warriors,’ or recreational players — can make that dream a reality through the US Open National Playoffs,” said Dave Haggerty, USTA chairman, CEO, and president.

Registration and additional information can be found at www.USOpen.org/NationalPlayoffs. More than 1,200 players competed in the 2012 US Open National Playoffs, ranging from experienced professionals who were once ranked in the Top 50, to upcoming junior players, to current and former college standouts, to recreational players of all playing abilities and walks of life. Participants included those competing for charities as well as pastors, musicians, lawyers, reporters and stay-at-home mothers. Former notable participants include Olympic skier Bode Miller and ESPN’s Mike Greenberg, who teamed with six-time US Open champion Chris Evert in mixed doubles.

Two Florida PGA Tour Stops in the books with three remaining

So far this month the PGA Tour has stopped at the PGA National Championship Course in Palm Beach Gardens and the Blue Monster at Doral, in Miami.  Stop number three of the month is coming up this weekend at Innisbruck Resort in Palm Harbor. 

Future stops include the Bay Hill Club and Lodge and the Isleworth Golf & Country Club in the Orlando area.

Tiger Woods won the World Golf Championship last week in Miami and is the defending champion at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge which begins on March 21.  If the defending champion and seven-time Bay Hill Champion were to add one more victory, he would tie Sam Snead with the most wins in a PGA TOUR event. Snead won the Greensboro tournament, now called the Wyndham Championship, eight times from1938 to 1965.

Last year’s Bay Hill win marked Woods’s 72nd PGA TOUR title, and he has since added three more as he moved past Jack Nicklaus into second place on the all-time victory list behind only Snead’s 82 wins. Only two players have ever successfully defended a title in the previous 34 years at Bay Hill. Loren Roberts won back-to-back in 1994- 95, while Woods won four in a row from 2000-03 and pulled off consecutive wins in 2008-09.

The State of Florida has seen the world’s best golfers in action the first weeks of March and has three more weekends to see the PGA Tour at its finest.

March 14 – 17 – Tampa Bay Championship Innisbrook Resort
Copperhead, Palm Harbor
Purse: $5,500,000 – 2012 Champion, Luke Donald

March 21 – 24 – Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard
Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando
Purse: $6,200,000 – 2012 Champion, Tiger Woods

Mar 25 – 26 – Tavistock Cup
Isleworth Golf & Country Club, Windermere
Purse: $2,170,000 – 2012 Champion, Ben Curtis

The Weekly “What to Watch For in Florida Sports,” is compiled by Florida Sports Foundation Director of Communications, Nick Gandy. Follow the Florida Sports Foundation on Facebook and on Twitter #fla_sports. Visit http://www.flasports.com for more information about the Florida Sports Foundation and the vibrant sports industry in the Sunshine State. Florida is Where The World Comes to Play.