Tourism Strong In Sarasota, Bradenton Area Despite MLB Spring Training Delays

SARASOTA-BRADENTON, FL — With the disruption to the spring training schedule and the delay of Major League Baseball’s opening day because of failed negotiations between team owners and players, Florida can expect a significant economic impact because of the missed games.

Every March, spring training is a tourism draw for Florida, which welcomes 15 MLB teams as they prepare for the upcoming season. Spring training is a longtime tradition in the state, going back more than 100 years, according to the Florida Sports Foundation. In 2019 alone, more than 1.5 million baseball fans attended spring training facilities, and $687.1 million is pumped into the state’s economy each year because of these preseason games.

But what does this mean for Sarasota and Manatee counties this spring? The region boasts three MLB spring training centers — the Atlanta Braves at CoolToday Park near Venice and North Port, the Baltimore Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, and the Pittsburgh Pirates at LECOM Park in Bradenton.

Business and tourism experts in the region say that while it’s disappointing that spring training games have been delayed and there will be an economic hit to the area, there won’t be a significant impact on tourism.

“Spring training is a big deal. Just the Orioles alone have a $33 million economic impact, and I believe the Braves are right around $30 million … . You could add those together and it’s a pretty significant hit to the local economy,” said Heather Kasten, president and CEO of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce. “Just the far-reaching nature of their fans. They come and stay a few days and stay at hotels and eat at our restaurants and shop in our shops. It is a significant impact.”

Between snowbirds and tourists, it’s one of the busiest times of year in the Sarasota and Bradenton areas, though, making it easy for the region to weather the impact from spring training delays.

“We are Florida, and this is our prime, peak season, and the hotels and the restaurants are still very full and robust, and still experiencing a great average daily rate,” she told Patch. “Although the impact is significant, it’s not going to hurt the economy as much as other markets.”

There are plenty of other things for visitors to the area to do, Kasten added, from the beaches to the arts.

“We have so many incredible community assets — the arts, Mote, Selby Gardens, the Bay projects, the beaches alone — with all of these things rolled up, people want to be here, and certainly baseball is part of that as well, but it’s not the only thing,” she said. “And we are seeing people in droves.”

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Kathy Lehner, the president and CEO of the Venice Area Chamber of Commerce, said tourism is just as strong south of Sarasota in the Venice area.

“I can’t say that I’ve seen a difference in visitors,” she told Patch. “Maybe some have come especially for the games, and of course there’s a disappointment of not being able to attend, but they’re finding other avenues of things to do. They’re just redirecting where they’re going and how they’re spending time on those days. And they’re still having a good time.”

In Manatee County, the Pirates pump about $40 million into the local economy in a typical year, said Elliott Falcione, director of the Bradenton Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

As the region recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, visitors are clamoring to come to Florida and tourism is expected to generate $1.5 billion to the Manatee County economy this year — with or without spring training, he told Patch.

“I don’t expect any kind of tourism retraction even if there’s no spring training at all,” he told Patch. “I think there will be a shift to more leisure and family vacations — non-sport vacationers — to the area instead.”

There’s a lot of “pent-up demand” for domestic travelers who haven’t vacationed much since the start of the pandemic, Falcione said. International travelers — Canadians, Germans, Swiss, British — are starting to come back, as well, he added.

And many of those people itching to travel are drawn to the Sarasota and Bradenton areas.

“We’re known as a detox vacation. People want to leave the hustle and bustle of everyday work behind and relax,” he said.

Even without the beach, there are other things to do, including local attractions and arts venues, he noted. And sports-related travel only makes up about 15 percent of Manatee County’s tourism.

“IMG, the Premier Sports Campus and, yes, the Pittsburgh Pirates,” Falcione said. “That really helps us augment the gaps throughout the year.”

He added, “But if one of those falls through, like spring training, it won’t break us. If you don’t diversify in any business that you run, you are subject to a lot of ebbs and flows. We’re blessed geographically where we’re at to be able to offer visitors so much. If the economy goes sour or one market faces adversity, there’s still an artery of visitors in other markets. It makes my job really easy.”