Seminole County leaders propose new district for sports tourism

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – Leaders in Seminole County want to build a multi-million-dollar indoor sports facility, and they say they don’t need any taxpayer money to do it.

Recently, the Board of County Commissioners took the next steps necessary to create what’s called a Tourism Improvement District.

It would create a new tourism funding stream by allowing hotels to tack on an extra fee to a visitor’s bill for each room night’s stay.

“It’s really a win-win for everybody,” said Commissioner Jay Zembower.

News 6 spoke with Zembower about the plans and how vital sports tourism is to the county.

“Unlike Osceola and Orange counties, we don’t have the big theme parks,” Zembower said. “We have two things: sports tourism and eco-tourism. So we have to pay close attention to how those trends are going, and what we’ve seen is by 2028, those trends plateau.

The Boombah Sports Complex near Sanford’s Airport brings in millions of dollars in revenue every year when players and families pack the facility for tournaments. All of those people end up staying in and spending money in Seminole County.

County leaders hope an indoor sports facility will be a “Boombah 2.0.” Data presented to the Board at a recent meeting showed the projected economic impact could double revenue in the coming years and by year 5 it could bring in more than $34 million dollars from out-of-county visitors.

The county wants to create a Tourism Improvement District (TID) to pay for the facility that could cost up to $100 million. It would be built at a site near Cameron Avenue and Lake Mary Boulevard where existing soccer fields are at Moore’s Station.

“It’s for cheerleading events, volleyball, basketball, graduation ceremonies,” said Zembower.

The TID would be funded by the hoteliers, not taxpayers. Larger hotels would be asked to tack on an extra fee for each room for each night. It would be in addition to the current tourist tax and state sales tax, and it would be up to the hotels to set and collect the TID assessment.

General managers at local hotels who addressed the Board of County Commissioners said they support it.

“During COVID, our hotel closed its doors for two months,” said Jaclyn Lorigan, the general manager of the Hilton Inn in Altamonte Springs. Lorigan said the sports tourism industry in Seminole County “saved many jobs and kept our hotel alive.”

“You have successfully taken hotels that were literally crashing two years ago when COVID hit to making us successful,” said Bruce Skwarlo, general manager of the Orlando Mariott Lake Mary. “We wouldn’t have done what we did if it was not for sports tourism.”

Skwarlo called the indoor sports venue “the next step.”

The county needs a majority of the hoteliers to support the creation of the Tourism Improvement District. Once they have that, they plan to take the next steps. If all goes according to plan, they could start collecting funds in February 2025.