Tampa Bay loves its sports teams. You’ve got the Lightning for hockey, the Buccaneers for football and the Rays for baseball that attract folks for hundreds of games every year.
But there’s another huge presence that draws in a lot of attention: The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
The Sports Economy of St. Petersburg
The numbers are in for the first IndyCar Series broadcast of the season for the audience that watched Alex Palou and Josef Newgarden battle on the streets of St. Petersburg’s waterfront: 1.4 million viewers watched, a steep increase from last year’s race.
If you were anywhere near downtown St. Petersburg at the start of March, you probably heard the cars, as the streets alongside the municipal marina were transformed into a racetrack.
“With the yachts on the side, it’s a very high-class level of racing, which is awesome to be a part of,” said Hailie Deegan, one of the drivers.
Deegan, 23, started racing when she was 8. And she seems to get it from her dad, who helped start freestyle motocross and competed in the X Games for about 10 years.
Deegan previously spent time driving in NASCAR support series.
“I grew up dirt racing, and then I made the switch over to NASCAR when I was about 15. Won a few races in the NASCAR K&N series (now known as the ARCA Menards Series West), and then raced NASCAR trucks, and then XFinity," Deegan said.
This was Deegan’s first time competing in St. Petersburg.
There were tons of fans, from near and far, to take in the sights and sounds of the event.
Up close to the track, the noise is earsplitting. A lot of the fans wear ear protection.
Jessica Haynes can hear the engines from her home in St. Petersburg. It was her fifth time at the Grand Prix. But she’s been around motorsports her whole life.
“I actually grew up with NASCAR. My mom’s best friend was a NASCAR driver when I was little, so I kind of followed it from when I was maybe 5 and up and was behind the scenes,” Haynes said.
Bella Armstrong traveled from Dallas with her mom.
“We had to come to look for apartments anyway, and the race was this weekend, so we just scheduled it together," Armstrong said.
Lots of families also attend. For example, Rich Solomon and his son.
“He’s a Formula One fan, due to the Netflix series, 'Drive to Survive,' " Solomon said. "Since he got into racing, we just decided to start coming, and it’s probably been our fifth year now.”
Chris Steinocher is the president and CEO of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce. He says large sports events like the Grand Prix bring in a significant amount of revenue to the city. However, it’s not as much as people may think.
“I really believe while the sports industries, from the WWE [wrestling] events that we’ve had at the [Tropicana Field] site, they all contribute. But I believe it's still the beaches that lead us in our economy and our downtown art scene that will always continue to do it.”
Steinocher said while the Grand Prix brings in about $60 million, Pinellas County alone brings in $11 billion in tourism.
“That means you got to do a ton of Grand Prixes just to get to that $11 billion," Steinocher added.
The NCAA Women's Final Four in Tampa
Another major event this weekend is the NCAA Women’s Final Four at Amalie Arena.
The popularity of women’s basketball has been steadily growing, and it’s expected that about 30,000 people are expected in downtown Tampa for the tournament weekend.
Claire Lessinger is the vice president of events with the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, the regional nonprofit that bids to lure premier sports events. She also leads the committee that organizes the weekend tournament. This is the fourth time the NCAA women's Final Four has been in Tampa. The last one was in 2019.
While she admits to being biased, Lessinger said Tampa is the best site to host the games because it’s a great destination with even better weather.
“We're a destination city, but it's the warmth of our people and the continuity of the team that is bidding on and hosting these major events," Lessinger said.
Lessinger said it’s a significant financial investment to bring in the NCAA Women's Final Four, but the commission works with private partners to raise funds to host this event.
RELATED: Finding free fun in Tampa is a layup during the NCAA Women's Final Four
“This is a huge economic driver to our area and our region, and even equally as a priority to us is the social impact that these major events have in our community,” she said. “We're constantly, one, partnering with the NCAA because they have their own kind of philanthropic community initiatives, but also making sure that we're aligning those with our community's need and creating legacy programming that will last long after the confetti falls here.”
Tampa won the bid to host this weekend's tournament in 2019. The committee has been working ever since to put it together, but things really pick up once that confetti starts falling during the previous year’s national championship game.
She said she’s looking forward to some great games this week, and just a good weekend overall.
“I'm looking so forward to elevating the student-athlete, fan, visitor experience,” she said. “Kind of stopping and pausing and making sure I look around to say, ‘Wow, this is awesome.’ We brought this all to life and hope that everyone is smiling and having a tremendous time.”
The national semifinals are Friday and the championship is Sunday, but free public events ahead of the games tip off Thursday. Click here for the schedule.
You can listen to the full episode in the media player above.
