“Driving Florida’s Sports Economy” Angela Adams Suggs, President and CEO of the Florida Sports Foundation shares the growing $70 billion economic impact of Florida’s sports industry before a November 7, 2023 meeting of The Economic Club of Florida.Show Notes (for complete Show Notes, please visit https://economic-club.com/podcasts-and-summaries/)Angela Adams Suggs told the Club that Florida is where the world comes to play.“Florida's economic impact is $70 billion dollars plus annually through amateur, recreational, professional and leisure sport,” she said.While major professional sports teams are important with three NFL teams, two NHL teams, two NBA teams, and two MLS teams, most of that number comes from non-major league activities, such as:Jump rope competitionsHorseshoe eventsSoftball tournamentsDance competitionsPickleball tournamentsShuffleboard tournamentsIn addition, Orlando will be hosting thousands of volleyball players for a tournament in July 2024.She added, “More than sixteen-million people come to eleven-hundred golf courses.  Twelve percent of the United States golf economy is right here in the state of Florida.”Plus, the state’s thousand miles of coastline, more than twelve-thousand miles of rivers and streams, and eight-thousand lakes attract fishermen year-round.Fifteen major league baseball teams hold their spring training in Florida’s Grapefruit League.  Suggs said many of them have renewed contracts, and many of the stadiums and facilities have recently undergone renovations.  The state hosts the Governor’s Baseball Dinner annually at various spring training sites.In all, sporting activities provide nearly a million jobs statewide.  “We need traffic control.  We need for people to come out and keep these parks clean.  We need ticket takers.  We need folks that are going to come in and print up all of the great signage that you see.  For our road races, you need people that are going to put barricades out.  You need people on our softball diamonds that are going to drag the fields,” Suggs said.While hurricane season means the Summer Olympics probably will not be hosted in the state, there are openings in other areas.“While we may not host the Games in Florida, we definitely are primed and ready to create opportunities for preparation to have a huge impact through the games,” she said.  She pointed out that a lot of nations have their Olympic teams train in various Florida communities....  (for complete Show Notes, please visit https://economic-club.com/podcasts-and-summaries/)