''team Orlando'' Hopes To Woo The Tourism Industry With Ad Money, Then Save The Balance For A Possible Stadium.
Orlando's effort to entice a baseball expansion team kicked off Wednesday with its top two elected officials asking tourism leaders to support raising the resort tax to fund a Field of Dreams.
In setting out their first push to woo Major League Baseball, Orange County Chairman Linda Chapin and Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood got a lukewarm response from the tourism industry. But officials are expected to give their symbolic support to the tax increase beginning today.
In setting out their first push to woo Major League Baseball, Orange County Chairman Linda Chapin and Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood got a lukewarm response from the tourism industry. But officials are expected to give their symbolic support to the tax increase beginning today.
Chapin and Hood unveiled a ''Team Orlando'' logo for baseball promotions and asked tourism leaders to ''join the team'' by supporting a penny increase in the 4-cent tax on hotel rooms.
The extra penny would raise $12 million a year and be used to create blueprints for a 40,000-to-50,000 seat stadium near downtown's Florida Citrus Bowl. Most of the money would be salted away to build the stadium if baseball owners award Orlando a team.
The county has an existing contract with HOK, the award-winning firm that designed Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles. HOK also prepared the stadium models Orlando used in its unsuccessful 1991 bid for National League teams, which went to Denver and Miami.
Orlando's strategy centers on the expected expansion of Major League Baseball between 1995 and 1997 - when owners are expected to realign the American and National Leagues into three divisions each. Last month, Chapin nixed plans to land a spring training team, saying Orlando should concentrate on a big-league squad of its own.
Chapin and Hood believe they can get the tourism industry's support for several reasons.
First, an undetermined part of the new penny - but as much as $2.5 million a year - would expand tourism promotion efforts. Second, baseball and tourism are a natural fit, Chapin said.
While several larger cities with better demographics and financial clout are expected to vie for an expansion team, including Charlotte and St. Petersburg, Orlando is the only one that can boast 14 million tourists a year, including a large international family market.
Chapin said baseball - which is looking to expand its ties to international markets - will be impressed by Orlando's ability to fill a ballpark with families from ''Cedar Rapids, Salt Lake City and Singapore'' enjoying wholesome vacations. Those same families will be filling more than 57,600 Orange County hotel rooms.
If the baseball bid fails, tourism leaders said they want the money to pay off early more than $128 million in debt on the Orlando Arena, the Citrus Bowl and the county convention center.
Chad Martin and Dan Mahurin, president and president-elect of the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau, said they will recommend supporting the tax increase. The directors of the Central Florida Hotel-Motel Association will ask their members today to support the plan.
Support would mark a reversal for the industry, which two years ago balked at a half-cent tourist tax increase for a stadium.
The extra penny would raise $12 million a year and be used to create blueprints for a 40,000-to-50,000 seat stadium near downtown's Florida Citrus Bowl. Most of the money would be salted away to build the stadium if baseball owners award Orlando a team.
The county has an existing contract with HOK, the award-winning firm that designed Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles. HOK also prepared the stadium models Orlando used in its unsuccessful 1991 bid for National League teams, which went to Denver and Miami.
Orlando's strategy centers on the expected expansion of Major League Baseball between 1995 and 1997 - when owners are expected to realign the American and National Leagues into three divisions each. Last month, Chapin nixed plans to land a spring training team, saying Orlando should concentrate on a big-league squad of its own.
Chapin and Hood believe they can get the tourism industry's support for several reasons.
First, an undetermined part of the new penny - but as much as $2.5 million a year - would expand tourism promotion efforts. Second, baseball and tourism are a natural fit, Chapin said.
While several larger cities with better demographics and financial clout are expected to vie for an expansion team, including Charlotte and St. Petersburg, Orlando is the only one that can boast 14 million tourists a year, including a large international family market.
Chapin said baseball - which is looking to expand its ties to international markets - will be impressed by Orlando's ability to fill a ballpark with families from ''Cedar Rapids, Salt Lake City and Singapore'' enjoying wholesome vacations. Those same families will be filling more than 57,600 Orange County hotel rooms.
If the baseball bid fails, tourism leaders said they want the money to pay off early more than $128 million in debt on the Orlando Arena, the Citrus Bowl and the county convention center.
Chad Martin and Dan Mahurin, president and president-elect of the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau, said they will recommend supporting the tax increase. The directors of the Central Florida Hotel-Motel Association will ask their members today to support the plan.
Support would mark a reversal for the industry, which two years ago balked at a half-cent tourist tax increase for a stadium.
''Life is fluid,'' said Bill Peeper, executive director of the visitors bureau. ''Things change . . . Heaven forbid we put our feet in concrete and never revisit a situation. There was no economic merit for spring training. Major league is a different game.''
Not everyone was sold on the proposed tax increase.
Chapin and Hood were surprised that their announcement received a less than enthusiastic response from 1,200 tourism workers at the Buena Vista Palace.
''Tourism industry taxes should support things that drive the industry, like expansion of the convention center, where there is always a payback,'' said Jim Haughney, general manager of the Hilton at Walt Disney World.
Haughney said a higher tax will increase hotel bills by hundreds or thousands of dollars for large conventions. And that, he fears, might dissuade some businesses from meeting here.
''I would say that we have to be cautious,'' he said. ''I think we may be at the end of the funding (from tourists) in this area.''
Rather than putting together a last-minute baseball bid as they did in 1991, Orlando officials want to get community support for baseball early. And with the symbolic support of the tourism industry, Orange County commissioners are likely to vote to increase the bed tax.
If that happens, Hood said, the city would spend millions to buy land for the stadium and begin improving nearby roads.
The next part of the strategy is to gather an attractive ownership group to lead Orlando's effort.
Chapin and Hood have made no secret about their plans to recruit an ownership group led by a prominent minority business leader. This strategy is aimed directly at major-league owners, who continue to bristle at criticism that minorities have been shut out from upper management and team ownership.
''We've got an attractive market, an attractive community, a growing area, 14 million tourists, a large number of international visitors,'' Chapin said. ''An ownership group led by a prominent member of the minority community has got to be a winner.''
The rumored front-runner on the list is Jean Fugett, chief executive officer of the multibillion dollar Beatrice Foods conglomerate, America's largest black-owned business.
Fugett, a former NFL tight end, and a group of investors were recently outbid in the sweepstakes to buy the Baltimore Orioles.
Chapin and Hood refused to say whether they have approached Fugett. He could not be reached
Not everyone was sold on the proposed tax increase.
Chapin and Hood were surprised that their announcement received a less than enthusiastic response from 1,200 tourism workers at the Buena Vista Palace.
''Tourism industry taxes should support things that drive the industry, like expansion of the convention center, where there is always a payback,'' said Jim Haughney, general manager of the Hilton at Walt Disney World.
Haughney said a higher tax will increase hotel bills by hundreds or thousands of dollars for large conventions. And that, he fears, might dissuade some businesses from meeting here.
''I would say that we have to be cautious,'' he said. ''I think we may be at the end of the funding (from tourists) in this area.''
Rather than putting together a last-minute baseball bid as they did in 1991, Orlando officials want to get community support for baseball early. And with the symbolic support of the tourism industry, Orange County commissioners are likely to vote to increase the bed tax.
If that happens, Hood said, the city would spend millions to buy land for the stadium and begin improving nearby roads.
The next part of the strategy is to gather an attractive ownership group to lead Orlando's effort.
Chapin and Hood have made no secret about their plans to recruit an ownership group led by a prominent minority business leader. This strategy is aimed directly at major-league owners, who continue to bristle at criticism that minorities have been shut out from upper management and team ownership.
''We've got an attractive market, an attractive community, a growing area, 14 million tourists, a large number of international visitors,'' Chapin said. ''An ownership group led by a prominent member of the minority community has got to be a winner.''
The rumored front-runner on the list is Jean Fugett, chief executive officer of the multibillion dollar Beatrice Foods conglomerate, America's largest black-owned business.
Fugett, a former NFL tight end, and a group of investors were recently outbid in the sweepstakes to buy the Baltimore Orioles.
Chapin and Hood refused to say whether they have approached Fugett. He could not be reached
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