Orlando Selected as America’s Top Sports Event City.
The city was able to secure the title from the Sports Business Journal thanks to UCF’s sports accomplishments, local relationships, and talent pipeline.
Along with the UCF Knights, other notable events include college football bowl games, the NFL Pro Bowl, the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Orlando Magic basketball, Orlando City and Orlando Pride soccer, the country’s top tennis facility, and more.
Always great to catch up with the best sports Mayor in the country!! Appreciate all you do for Orlando’s Hometown Team! #OrlandoVsEverybody https://t.co/KkOkIzXpRs
— Coach Gus Malzahn (@CoachGusMalzahn) May 15, 2024
Every sport enthusiast will find much to enjoy in Orlando, so much so that the esteemed Sports Business Journal dubbed it today’s No. 1 Best Sports Business City of Attracting and Hosting Events.
Orlando’s ascent to the top of the rankings this year is evidence of the dynamic interplay amongst top-notch venues. Orlando is a unique place for sports business because of its committed sports commissions and vibrant community, according to Abe Madkour, publisher and executive editor of SBJ.
The Greater Orlando Sports Commission, local, county, and state governments, as well as the enthusiastic supporters of the numerous events held here, are all responsible for the success and synergy that result from their combined efforts.
The Knights, Orlando’s home team, are proud of the part they played in establishing the city’s standing as a major sports hub.
From its modest beginnings in 1969 with men’s basketball as its first varsity sport to its debut season in the Big 12 Conference in 2023, UCF has become the nation’s youngest Power Four program and has soared to extraordinary success. UCF, which boasts one of the best graduate sports business programs in the nation, has also supplied a pool of skilled graduates to some of the greatest sports companies in the country, including local franchises.
Additionally, the university has collaborated with local governments and the Greater Orlando Sports Commission to host parts of several significant events that significantly increase the region’s tourism industry. These include of the NFL Pro Bowl skills challenge, U.S. women’s soccer national team training sessions, NCAA postseason competition, and numerous other events.
Mayor Buddy Dyer of the City of Orlando states, “Sports have helped bring our community together over the years and showcase Orlando’s vibrancy and commitment to inclusion.” Sports stimulate economic growth in our area by increasing tourism and supporting local businesses and the hospitality sector. Sports are very significant in our community, from our neighborhood teams like the UCF Knights to the numerous regional, national, and international events we host.”
Terry Mohajir, vice president and director of athletics at UCF, believes that a big factor in the success of so many events, including UCF’s, is Orlando’s solid partnerships.
“We are grateful to live in a community where our leaders have high aspirations and collaborate closely to advance the economic growth, standard of living, and sense of community in our area,” Mohajir says. We also thank the numerous coaches, student-athletes, supporters, and benefactors who have contributed to the amazing expansion and accomplishment of our UCF athletics program. We are honored to represent Orlando in a Power Four conference and to highlight the positive social and economic effects it has on the area.
“A Startling Development”
ESPN senior writer Andrea Adelson claimed that she did not feel like the UCF football team, or the town, when she relocated to Orlando in 2006. Despite the fact that the state is home to three more Power Four programs, she saw that supporters of other teams really preferred their colors to the Knights.
Adelson is eager to note that things are very different now.
Adelson states, “It’s amazing to see the evolution over the last [18] years, but UCF deserves this.” “UCF constructed the buildings. The stadium on campus was erected by UCF. UCF’s dedication to football has allowed them to advance to the Big 12 conference at this time. Attending a football game is now considered an event. There are tailgating areas everywhere. The Memory Mall is all booked. Attending a UCF football game these days seems like you’re heading to any other college campus in some legendary program that has been around for a century.
Success for the Knights on the field has undoubtedly been beneficial, and not only in football.
The UCF teams won more league titles than any other conference team during their ten years as an American Athletic Conference member prior to their transition to the Big 12 (52 AAC titles from 2013–14 through 2022–23: 21 regular-season crowns and 31 more via conference postseason tournaments, league title games, or other conference champion designations).
The behind-the-scenes work of UCF Athletics staff members has simultaneously guaranteed a distinctive game day experience that keeps spectators interested and motivated to come back.
According to UCF Athletics Chief Branding Officer Jimmy Skiles ’06, “We are a modern college sports game day experience — for us, it’s not about doing the same thing we’ve done the last 20-30-40 years.” As we represent our university and campus community as accurately as we can, we want to keep growing as a team. We have paid attention to what our fans want, and we also work hard to be innovative and give them experiences that they may not even be aware they require yet.
“I think what makes Orlando so fun is that all of our sports franchises and teams, they are such different experiences across the board,” says Skiles. “Not every great pro-sports town has a great college team to complement it.” “We’re not at odds with one another or in a competition. We truly have a sense of being “Team Orlando” as we have a wide range of demands and experiences. That, in my opinion, makes us even more of a fantastic sports town.
The hot ticket in town is UCF. The past four years have shown a pattern of increasing season ticket sales and frequent sell-outs.
Season ticket sales records were set in all eight ticketed sports (football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, baseball, and softball) during the Knights’ 2023–24 Big 12 first season.
While the football team generated its fourth consecutive season of sold-out season tickets, the softball and volleyball teams had their first-ever season ticket sales.
The men’s basketball team broke a 13-year single-season attendance school record at the end of the 2023–24 regular season. A total of 130,076 fans attended the Knights’ 18 home games, which featured victories over three of the top 25 teams (No. 3 Kansas; No. 23 Oklahoma; No. 23 Texas Tech).
This season, every Big 12 home game for the football team has sold out; three months prior to kickoff, the first three games (against Oklahoma State, West Virginia, and Baylor) were declared sell-outs.
UCF’s capacity to lead the industry in innovation and technology has contributed to its success. A few universities nationwide, including UCF, have been invited to participate as beta testers for new features and products that Ticketmaster intends to introduce. Digital tickets and virtual venues for FBC Mortgage Stadium and Addition Financial Arena, which let ticket buyers view the field/court from a seat before making a purchase, are examples of recent adoptions.
“We have hit the goalposts that we have in recent years with a total team effort,” says Brooke Smoley, senior associate director of athletics for ticketing, strategy, and analytics. “It’s simple to argue that the move to the Big 12 is an alluring offer, but before this season, we were selling out for three years running. The effort that was put forward to make that happen makes me proud. In addition to working hard to keep it reasonably priced so that our fans can enjoy memorable experiences with their friends and family, our job is to create money that can support our teams’ ability to remain competitive.
While operating with a fraction of its peers’ budget in the interim, UCF is still a year away from becoming a full-share member of the Big 12 Conference. Nevertheless, it is imperative that UCF keeps its foot on the gas pedal by continuing to equally prioritize investment and fundraising in four key areas: personnel, facilities and maintenance costs, recruiting, and operating capital.
Putting money into this program entails improving and boosting the neighborhood it resides in.
Orlando Team
Both UCF’s new basketball arena and on-campus football stadium opened for business in 2007 on consecutive weekends. The two buildings came to serve as the cornerstones of the Kenneth G. Dixon Athletics Village, a thriving hub of competition.
Consider the recent March 1-3 weekend. From Friday to Sunday, 22 activities were held at UCF, including a professional volleyball match, a softball tournament, rivalry games, and a men’s basketball matchup against the nation’s eighth-ranked team.
According to Skiles, “the creation of the Athletics Village created a new opportunity to host and support all of Orlando’s events by opening up this whole new sports neighborhood in Orlando.”
UCF has made the most of its facilities to establish itself as a respected partner in Orlando’s sports scene, whether it is by holding the training sessions of international soccer teams, yearly bowl games, major events (such as the NFL Pro Bowl skills challenge and Harlem Globetrotters), or some of the biggest and best college football matchups in primetime.
Constructed by UCF
A skilled workforce is another way that UCF supports the city’s sports enterprises, in addition to the economic benefit of its collaborations and sporting events.
For over twenty years, the institution has been the home to one of the best graduate sports business programs in the nation, the DeVos Sport Business Management Program. Numerous more UCF alums hold significant positions with Orlando sports organizations in departments including marketing, ticket sales, strategy, and event administration.
It would be difficult to name a local sports organization without finding a UCF alum on staff.
The fact that UCF Athletics exists at all is evidence of keeping family business intact. Across 22 departments (sports health, brand growth, business operations, academics, and everything in between) and eight sports, including two head coaches (baseball’s Rich Wallace ’04 and spirit’s Linda Gooch ’85), approximately 25% of the full-time staff consists of alumni.
Here are a few instances of the numerous diligent Knights that support Team Orlando:
It would be difficult to name a local sports organization without finding a UCF alum on staff.
The fact that UCF Athletics exists at all is evidence of keeping family business intact. Across 22 departments (sports health, brand growth, business operations, academics, and everything in between) and eight sports, including two head coaches (baseball’s Rich Wallace ’04 and spirit’s Linda Gooch ’85), approximately 25% of the full-time staff consists of alumni.
Here are a few instances of the numerous diligent Knights that support Team Orlando:
- Orlando Magic: Alex Martins ’01MBA, CEO; and Shelly Wilkes ’02 ’04MBA ’04MS, executive vice president of marketing and social responsibility
- Orlando City Soccer: Jessica West ’12 ’14MBA ’15MS, vice president of facility and Operations; and Christopher Kamke ’09MBA ’10MS, chief strategy officer
- Orlando Pride: Taís Cotta ’17MBA ’18MS; manager, player affairs and administration, Savannah Blake ’19, data analyst/sport scientist
- United States Tennis Association: Reshina Warren ’09MBA ’10MS; and Jenna (Doerfler) Kelly ’13 ’14MBA ’15MS Director of National Events Engagement and Experience
- NASCAR: Derek Cowan ’09MBA ’10MS, partnership marketing
- Orlando Valkyires: Jean Racine ’17, media relations manager
- Track Shack (co-hosts of the 2024 USA Olympic Marathon Team Trials): Michelle Maretti ’95, director of finance; Kerrie Gregory ’16, wellness outreach/Galloway training director; and Caitlin Waldmiller ’16, office manager