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.