Tampa Bay is a pro-sports town. You’ve got the Lightning for hockey, the Buccaneers for football, and the Rays for baseball — that attracts folks for hundreds of games in the area 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 it, as the streets alongside the marina were transformed into a racetrack for the race.
Hailie Deegan raced for the first time in St. Petersburg at this year’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
“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 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 ten years. Deegan, herself, was a NASCAR driver before switching over to IndyCar racing.
“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. Pete.
There were tons of fans, from near and far, in St. Pete to take in the sights and sounds of the Grand Prix.
Up close to the track, the noise is earsplitting. A lot of the fans wear earplugs or earmuffs.
Jessica Haynes can hear the sound of the IndyCars flying around the track from her home in St. Pete. It was her fifth time at the Grand Prix. But she’s been around motor racing 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 five 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 the Grand Prix. For example, Rich Solomon and his son.
“He’s a Formula 1 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 Steeinocher is the president and CEO of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce. He says large sporting events like the Grand Prix do bring in a significant amount of revenue into the city. However, it’s not as much as people may think.
“I really believe while the sports industries, from the WWE events that we’ve had at The Trop 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.”
Steeinocher 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 Prix’s just to get to that 11 billion,” Steeinocher added.
Chris Steeinocher, the president and CEO of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce, says The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg brings in about $60 million a year.
The Final Four in Tampa
Another big event coming to the Tampa Bay area this weekend is the NCAA Women’s Final Four Championship.
The popularity of women’s basketball has been steadily growing, and it’s expected that this weekend, about some 30,000 fans are expected to descend on Tampa for the tournament weekend.
Claire Lessinger is the VP of Events at the Tampa Bay Sports Commission. She also leads the committee that organizes the championship weekend. This is the fourth time the Final Four has been in Tampa. The last one was in 2019.
While she admits to being biased, Lessinger said Tampa is the best team 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 host the Final Four, but the Commission works with private partners to raise the funds to host this event.
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“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 year’s tournament in 2019. They’ve been working ever since to put it together, but things really pick up once that confetti starts falling during the previous year’s championship game.
She said that this year, she’s looking forward to some really great games, 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 Final Four Weekend kicks off this Thursday at 3 p.m. Click here for the schedule of events.
You can listen to the full episode in the media player above.