With franchises in professional baseball, football, basketball and hockey—and plenty of minor league action, too—not to mention nearly every class of motorsports racing there is, the Sunshine State is a year-round sports capital.
But you didn’t come to watch, you came to play—and you will, big time, when your event takes place at one of Florida’s many sports venues. From basketball courts to football fields to baseball stadiums to speedways, sport facilities can give ordinary gatherings that extra shot of adrenaline. It’s definitely a “win-win” situation.
Hoop Dreams
Miami’s American Airlines Arena, home of the NBA Miami Heat, does everything but invite attendees to suit up with the team, theming the event—be it a trade show, reception or general session—down to the last detail. Executives are introduced team-style, running out onto the arena floor as their headshots are projected onto the scoreboard. Throughout sessions, the scoreboard—which is lowered to allow for easy viewing—also can be used for PowerPoint presentations. Coffee breaks? How about the Miami Heat dancers’ “stretch breaks” to wake everyone up?
“I call it ‘business theater,’” says Jennifer Strum, the arena’s director of business development. “The whole idea of the arena is to make it interactive, so people actually participate in the event; they just don’t sit and watch.”
To that end, groups can choose from a host of team-building activities, including basketball and round-robin games as well as pep talks given by Heat coaches and trainers.
Meanwhile, conference and convention space is copious, with banquet seating for 1,200 on the arena floor, stadium-style seating for up to 20,000 and specialty venues like the East Plaza (overlooking Biscayne Bay and the Port of Miami), which can accommodate 2,500 for receptions. VIP suites can be used individually for small gatherings and game-night receptions, or they can be put together for a trade show-type event, which the South Beach Wine and Food Festival did recently, using the suites to showcase different foods and wines as guests strolled from suite to suite, sampling the wares.
Suites also are available at Orlando’s Amway Arena—home of the Orlando Magic—where group packages may include a “meet and greet” with a Magic celebrity and a food and wine (or beer) reception. The arena also offers complimentary banquet space with the purchase of group tickets; the most common scenario involves gathering on the luxury suite terrace level for a pre-game reception.
In October 2010, the Orlando Magic will move into new digs at the Orlando Event Center, currently under construction, so stay tuned for more event space.
Gridiron Groups
Jaguars are on the prowl in Jacksonville. And a few may put in an appearance, shaking hands and signing autographs, during a meeting at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, where the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars roam and the Super Bowl touched down in 2005. When the players aren’t using the field—a huge expanse of perfectly manicured lawn—your group can. Even the locker room turns into a meeting room here, along with the Crown Royal Touchdown Club, featuring 60,000 square feet of space and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking downtown Jacksonville and the port.
Of course, when you’re talking football, you’re talking tailgating, and groups can do just that at the stadium’s Pepsi Cabana Village. This 70,000-square-foot event space offers interactive games, Caribbean cookouts, tailgate barbecues and other culinary options for group gatherings.
In Tampa, Raymond James Stadium is where the groups “Arrrr”; that is, you can count on a pirate theme in the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where Super Bowl XLIII was tackled Feb. 1.
A variety of spaces can host between 50 and 50,000, including club lounges, the press box, the locker room, the east and west lower galley restaurants and the field itself.
“The stadium is one of our most popular off-site venues,” says Norwood Smith, vice president of sales for Tampa Bay & Company. “One option is arranging a progressive dinner, including a reception at the press room.”
Smith says most groups also try to incorporate the famed Buccaneer Cove into their programs. Located in the north end zone of the stadium, this replica fishing village includes a 103-foot pirate ship featuring huge, glowing red eyes, a mouth that breathes smoke and a talking, interactive parrot perched on its stern. A deck suitable for receptions surrounds the ship, and there’s also a small deck actually on the ship for SRO gatherings, or the entire Cove may be used by larger groups.
Next up on the Super Bowl circuit is Dolphin Stadium, which will host the big game for the fifth time in 2010, but is also renowned as the site of two World Series. This monster facility set between Greater Miami and Greater Fort Lauderdale pulls double duty as home base for NFL’s Miami Dolphins and MLB’s Florida Marlins (though the Marlins are scheduled for a new stadium in 2012). It also welcomes meeting and convention groups of up to 75,000, boasting a total of 350,000 square feet of event space—including the Gallery of Legends Museum—along with a full roster of football-themed programs.
“All kinds of experiential activities are available, from field programs to events in the press box or the Dolphins locker room, to name a few,” says George Torres, the stadium’s senior director of marketing and communications. “It’s what makes this venue unique for any occasion, so we work with event organizers to create extraordinary experiences.”
Strike Zone
Welcome to the big leagues. If your group hasn’t caught baseball fever yet, they will after a visit to one of Florida’s many baseball parks. Two-time World Series champs the Florida Marlins trade fastballs and sliders with Major League Baseball’s best at Dolphin Stadium, while the newly minted American League Champions the Tampa Bay Rays preside over Tropicana Field, which actually features live cownose rays housed in their own 10,000-gallon tank—right on the field.
But major stadiums aren’t the only option for baseball-themed meetings and events. A host of MLB teams conduct their spring training in the Sunshine State, forming Florida’s Grapefruit League of 16 teams, which includes the Atlanta Braves at Champion Stadium in Disney’s Wide World of Sports; the Washington Nationals at Space Coast Stadium in Melbourne; the New York Yankees at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa; the New York Mets at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie; the Houston Astros at Osceola Stadium in Kissimmee; and the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins, both in Fort Myers at City of Palms Park and the Lee County Sports Complex, respectively.
“Both venues have worked with groups in offering fun off-site events for meeting attendees,” says Lee Rose, a spokesperson for the Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel. “Various properties also are partnering with [the teams] to create packages to promote spring training here in Fort Myers.”
At Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie, groups can gather in small private suites, an open-air suite that holds up to 50, or a party terrace with a tiki bar that accommodates up to 150, with picnic food—dogs and burgers—on the menu.
“If we have enough advance notice, we can also set up a group softball or baseball game,” notes Katie Hatch, the facility’s group sales and community relations coordinator.
Up to Speed
Taking a break from the rat race doesn’t mean the race is over. On the contrary, it’s just beginning at Florida speedways, where attendees can get behind the wheel to put a new spin on their meeting experience.
At Daytona International Speedway—the holy grail of NASCAR—a variety of indoor and outdoor venues welcome group events, including the Bill France Room, which offers refreshment and dessert centers, elevator access and a staging area complete with podium and multimedia system offering a 61-inch plasma projection screen and LCD projector.
But during the event, don’t be surprised if people are itching to channel their inner 10-year-olds at the Daytona 500 Experience, a 60,000-square-foot motorsports attraction featuring timed pit stop competitions, race car design and video testing, and racing simulators like Acceleration Alley, which pits delegates against each other in the race for the checkered flag.
South of Daytona, NASCAR, IndyCar and Grand-Am championships are hosted at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, serving groups at the Champions Club and the new infield media center, which has two breakout rooms.
