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Pasco pulls out of Super Bowl sponsorship plan

Tourism board also hears AdventHealth has won naming rights for Wiregrass arena.
 
Mezzanine at the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County gives a birds-eye view of activity on the courts and training areas.
Mezzanine at the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County gives a birds-eye view of activity on the courts and training areas. [ Pasco County ]
Published Oct. 21, 2020

NEW PORT RICHEY — When Pasco tourism officials in June pitched the idea of spending $250,000 to buy into sponsorship of the Super Bowl in Tampa in February 2021, it seemed like the perfect fit for a county selling itself as Florida’s Sports Coast.

After all, the last Super Bowl drew a viewing audience of more than 100 million across 130 countries and brought in more than 5,800 credentialed media representatives and 125,000 outside visitors.

“We want to be a part of it,” Adam Thomas, director of the Florida Sports Coast Destination Management Organization, said at the time.

On Wednesday, he told the Pasco Tourist Development Council there is simply too much uncertainty over what the event will look like because of the coronavirus to make that investment through the Tampa Bay Sports Commission worthwhile. The tourism staff has decided to back out of its agreement and spend that money on other marketing efforts that would bring a more sure return.

"We felt like we couldn’t invest in the, “What if?' " he said. “We feel like it was not a good strategy for us.”

Mike Moore, chairman of both the County Commission and the Tourist Development Council said, that if tourism staff can use that money for something that will bring a return to Pasco County, “that’s what we want to do.”

Thomas also announced to the tourism board that the County Commission this week approved an agreement giving AdventHealth naming rights to the newly-opened arena at the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County. The venue is operated by Raddsports Pasco Wiregrass LLC.

As part of that agreement, RaddSports has the exclusive right to enter into licensing agreement with private parties for naming rights for the Wiregrass property as a whole or for individual facilities at the campus, contingent on the county’s approval.

The eight-year agreement also includes up to seven additional one-year terms. Raddsports will collect $10,000 per month to start with a cumulative payment for the first eight years of $996,000.

The venue will be the second major sports venue in Pasco County to bear the health care company’s name. The other is AdventHealth Center Ice in Wesley Chapel.