The JAX Chamber and the St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce Ponte Vedra Beach Division held its annual joint Chamber at Noon event featuring THE PLAYERS Executive Director Lee Smith on Thursday Jan. 9.
Smith spoke to the Chamber members and the more than 100 local business owners in attendance about the economic impacts the tournament continues to have on the community.
“It’s a global awareness platform for Northeast Florida, the PGA Tour, Duval County, St. Johns County and the surrounding areas,” Smith said.
According to Smith, an example of how that occurs is that 50 million hours of last year’s television broadcast was consumed worldwide across 225 different countries and delivered in 28 different languages.
“You talk about the opportunity to put together a commercial for our Chambers and the area,” Smith said. “Our global footprint is only going to continue to expand as we go forward.”
Some of the ways in which THE PLAYERS and PGA Tour are looking to grow the footprint is with the recent creation of the PGA Studios and the world feed broadcast.
On top of that global exposure, there is an even more direct local economic footprint that leaves quite a positive mark annually.
“There’s about 19,000 hotel rooms within about a 30-mile radius of TPC Sawgrass, and those hotel rooms are about 90% occupied during the week of THE PLAYERS and last year we had about 680,000 passengers come through Jacksonville International Airport, which were both the busiest weeks of the year,” Smith said.
Many of the conversations during the joint Chamber at Noon dealt with how those in attendance use THE PLAYERS and what they get out of it, and much of the answers were the same as they use it as a unique networking opportunity.
“Whether its entertaining perspective clients or entertaining current clients on a renewal basis or a fundraising apparatus for you to entertain, we have a lot of partners that can help you do all those different things when it comes down to being that economic impact instrument,” Smith said.
This year will mark the 51st THE PLAYERS Championship when it gets underway on March 11 to 16, and over the years it has generated $234 million in annual economic impact in Northeast Florida, which also includes the helping support more than 300 local charities during that time.
That impact goes further than just the money produced but they also contribute once again in even more direct ways by including locally owned restaurants as part of their food and drink selections for spectators on the grounds during the tournament.
Twenty-three locally owned restaurants were a part of last year’s event, and that list is expected to grow even more with Bagels R Us and Carolina Jax set to come into the fold this year.
“We’re always excited to have it where if folks eat the other 51 weeks of the year at Taco Lu, that they can come out to TPC the week of and still have those tacos,” Smith said. “we’re excited to continue and expand that tradition.”