From Quiet Backup to Starter

Background
Located on Florida’s West Coast, just below Sarasota, the Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach area has long been one of Florida’s most out-of-the-way, under-the-radar destinations. Boasting quaint, historic downtowns and a serene coastline dotted with isolated islands, the area promises an extraordinarily relaxed getaway, filled with Old Florida charm. Yet the area has long been one of Florida’s top destinations for sport tourism at every level – youth, amateur, collegiate, interscholastic, international, and professional. It offers a safe, secure environment for athletes, families and fans, and provides every amenity – from superb accommodations to complete convention facilities. It’s no wonder the area has attracted the attention of Major League Baseball, making it the spring training home of the Tampa Bay Rays. In addition, it was one of the country’s earliest to embrace the growing sport of pickleball, resulting in the area’s world-class PicklePlex sports complex, offering 24 sanctioned courts, lighted for night play. The area offers every conceivable indoor and outdoor venue and even boasts one of the country’s top BMX tracks.

Aqua designs new plays
Although the area had been active in sports tourism for years, it had mostly relied on direct sales. The area had never defined its brand within the state nor focused the stories of its individual offerings. After successfully branding the destination, the agency applied the new brand to the area’s sports marketing efforts. It then took an individual, deep dive on each of its sports offerings, developing each offering’s story for the individual markets, and finding new ways to extoll and amplify each.

The effort resulted in a new positioning for the area within the state, telling its complete sports story and providing a depth of enticing information for every sport offered. The destination’s new branded website now exploded in a wealth of sports marketing information, and new sales and information materials were constructed, including videos and comprehensive brochures for each sport. In addition, the agency provided new presence at sports marketing conventions, providing a new booth area and materials.

Improved averages. Big wins.
As a result of the effort, the destination turned sports tourism into a major economic driver, generating tens of millions of dollars in visitor spending, thousands of room nights, and national-caliber events, most notably:

• The efforts helped recruit or support more than 60 events across baseball, softball, basketball, BMX, swimming, pickleball and others.
• The revitalized program generated over 36,000 hotel room nights annually.
• Sports marketing now annually generates more than $51 million dollars in economic impact for the county.
• Its efforts brought the attention of the U.S. Sports Congress, which decided to hold its annual event in the destination, bringing over 200 senior-level decision-makers from sport governing bodies and destinations from around the country.