HOSPITALITY

www.instituteofhospitality.org THE MAGAZINE FOR HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS

ISSUE 25 | SPRING 2012

How sport tourism works in the US

and what London can learn

The Institutes new

president
Read Sir David Michels insights
into management and leaderhip

BRICs and windows

Is the UK ready for a radical
change in global tourism?

Hospital catering:
the way forward
How to push food and nutrition
up the NHS agenda
FEATURE

Sporting
chance
By targeting families and using cross-marketing
and media technology to drive tourism, a sports
complex in Florida is turning a healthy profit.
Could this be the blueprint for Londons Olympic
venues? By Christian Sylt and Caroline Reid.

O
n striding through the giant gates at the entrance
of the Wide World of Sports in Orlando it soon
becomes apparent that this is no ordinary sports
complex. Its tall yellow towers and spotlessly-clean
sweeping archways resemble those found in
Mediterranean towns and give visitors a regal feeling of arrival.
Up close it can be seen that its wrought-iron railings form the
shapes of baseball bats and inside the ballpark clubhouse
even the light fixtures resemble ballplayers.
The same attention to detail is found throughout the
complex, no mean feat given its sprawling size. Its 250 acres
comprise facilities for hosting over 70 types of sports. Theres
an 11,500-seat baseball park, four multi-sports fields, a track
and field complex, a six-field softball complex, 10 tennis
courts and two indoor arenas with the flagship big enough to Wide World of Sports in Orlando is run by sports broadcaster ESPN.
accommodate 12 volleyball courts. The intricate touches give
the game away about its heritage.
It is run by ESPN, a sports broadcaster recently ranked by and amateur oriented. Crucial to this strategy has been the
Forbes magazine as the second most valuable brand in sport with Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), the largest amateur sports
an estimated worth of US$11bn. The complex was the brainchild organisation in the US.
of ESPNs majority owner, the Walt Disney Company and it was The AAU announced its support of the Wide World of
designed by the same people who build Disneys cutting-edge Sports several years before the complex opened in March
theme park rides. Perhaps surprisingly, its purpose was to drive 1997 and even relocated its headquarters to Disney World.
guests to nearby Disney World the worlds most-visited theme It committed to staging more than 30 national events
park complex. If ever there was an example of the power of annually at the venue and it hosts 12 national basketball
sports to drive tourism then the Wide World of Sports is it. events alone there each year as well as others in baseball,
gymnastics, inline hockey, track & field and wrestling.
Amateur
Disney isnt renowned for its investments in athletics but the Talent scouts
Wide World of Sports is at the heart of the business model The top managers and scouts from Americas National
behind its colossal vacation complex in Orlando. With more Basketball Association (NBA) come to the AAU national
than 300,000 athletes competing there annually, this is no championships to recruit the best college talent before each
Mickey Mouse investment. season begins and the same is true with other sports.
There are no cute and cuddly characters in sight at the We have a number of football tournaments that bring
venue and an even bigger surprise comes when the games dozens of teams representing their countries here across a
begin. What makes the Wide World of Sports truly unique is variety of different age groups, says Ken Potrock, senior
that the vast majority of the events staged there are youth vice-president of Disney Sports Enterprises. He adds that they

18 HOSPITALITY ISSUE 25 | Spring 2012 www.instituteofhospitality.org

 FEATURE

Marathon runners pass through

Disney Worlds theme parks.

London itself would

be a draw for youth athletes
just as Disney World is in
Orlando.

range from three on three football matches, with competitors

aged as young as five or six, to collegiate level football where
European players come here to compete in All Star competitions
to get recognised by US college coaches so they can get
scholarships to American universities.
Getting these extra guests to Disney World was one of
the key reasons for the creation of the Wide World of Sports.
Our research has indicated that 85% of the athletes that
come to compete would not have come here otherwise. It is
such a lovely complement to the Walt Disney World resort
because it brings an incremental visitor that wasnt necessarily
coming previously, says Potrock.
In between matches in a tournament, or after the games
have finished, the competitors tend to visit the nearby theme
parks so it is good synergy for Disneys business. Since the
athletes tend to be young, they inevitably come with their
families, which brings even more business Disneys way.
It creates bespoke packages for competitors so, for example, Nearly 27,000 took part in the Disney
they can get park tickets valid after 2pm which is useful if they World Marathon in January 2012.
have been training in the morning.

www.instituteofhospitality.org ISSUE 25 | Spring 2012 HOSPITALITY 19

FEATURE

Timing
Many of the big sports events
are cleverly timed to coincide
with the slowest times of the
year for Disneys parks. In
January, a marathon passes
through the theme parks and
in December Disneys Soccer Competitors can be as
Showcase, the biggest youth football tournament in the US, young as five or six.

takes place. It features more than 500 teams from over 20

countries and in 2009 the under-16 boys division was won
by a team from Manchester.
The Wide World of Sports certainly has a prestigious
patronage and the list of young athletes who competed there
and went on to reach the top of their games reads like a roll-
call of sports stars. They include former Wimbledon
champion Lleyton Hewitt and Chinas NBA star Yao Ming.
American soccer star Freddie Adu played in the Soccer
Showcase when he was just 12-years-old. However, aspiring
to these lofty heights is only one of the hooks which lure kids
to the complex.
The Wide World of Sports has hosted practice events for
teams in the three primary American professional sports
leagues and in February every year the Atlanta Braves Major
League Baseball team holds its spring training there. Pete
Sampras and Serena Williams have played on its tennis
courts, Marion Jones has trained on its track and the British
Olympic Association (BOA) has even made the transatlantic
journey for warm-weather training there. The idea of being
able to play in the spike or sneaker marks of professional
athletes is a big deal for kids, says Potrock.
Although previous host cities have struggled to find a
commercial use for some of their venues, The Olympic Park
Legacy Company says that it intends all of its venues to
continue to be used for sport after the games have finished.
Operators have already been appointed for the acquatic
centre and the handball arena and the tenant of the main
stadium is due to be announced before the Games start. The
Olympic venues would be easy to repurpose for use by youth
teams, comments Potrock, and London itself would also be a
draw for youth athletes just as Disney World is in Orlando.
People all over Europe might be interested in competing
at brand new facilities and London is a substantial tourist
destination in its own right. That potentially becomes what
you would call a competitive advantage, says Potrock. He
adds that there might be football competitions happening
throughout the country or even throughout Europe but London
could position itself by saying to athletes: you want to come
here because we have got all of these great amenities and
opportunities.

Competitive advantage The majority of events are youth

Potrock says that the Orlando location is its biggest and amateur-oriented.

competitive advantage. We think about what we call the

double dip which is that I am competing at a great facility for
my sport and I also get to experience Walt Disney World.
The competition is on the fields and the celebration is at
Disney World. It seems to work because what we have seen
is that in our rough economy, where youth athletes have
many tournaments to go to but their families cant afford to
travel to them all, we typically win. This is because they can
double dip and make a vacation out of it too by going to
Disney World. We never fall off that list. Potrock believes
that there is no reason why the organisers of the London
Olympics cant emulate this.

The complex uses 42

robotic HD-quality cameras
which are remotely controlled
from the broadcast centre. The softball pitches
are just a fraction of
the total facilties.

20 HOSPITALITY ISSUE 25 | Spring 2012 www.instituteofhospitality.org


The entrance
to the Wide
World of Sports
complex.
Media exposure
The facilities in Orlando are only half of the story. ESPN got
involved to give kids even more reason to come. In February
2010 ESPN invested in 40 digital boards and Jumbotron
screens around the facility which show clips of action, narrated
by personalities from ESPNs programmes. Potrock explains
that his team, created this ESPN experience to make people
feel like when they compete here, they have made it to the
big time. Often, literally, they have made it on to ESPN and
what makes that so special to us is that no other sports
facility anywhere in the world can say that. In addition to
the authentic on-site experience, participants can end up on
television as action from the complex is streamed to a
dedicated channel in Disney's 27,000 hotel rooms nearby.
This alone is believed to reach up to 10m people annually.
The feed is put together by a team of around 40 staff in
the 2,500 square-feet broadcast centre onsite but they are
aided by a wealth of high-tech touches. Dotted around the
complex are 42 robotic HD-quality cameras which can be
remotely controlled from the broadcast centre. It eliminates
the need for multiple camera operators at each event, which
makes it very cost-efficient to produce shows there.
Potrock says he cant imagine a similar venue being built at
one of Disneys international parks in the near future but events
like the marathon, which dont require bespoke facilities, are
more likely. We would love to be able to explore an endurance
race at Disneyland Paris. We would love to explore one in
Japan and Hong Kong. I think those all make sense, he says.
The Soccer Showcase attracts 500 boy and girl teams.
In 2009 it was won by a team from Manchester.
www.instituteofhospitality.org
FEATURE
Wide World of Sports:
Quick Facts
Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida, opened
in 1997. It is run by the sports broadcaster ESPN
and was designed and built by ESPNs majority
owner, Disney.
More than 300,000 athletes compete each
year, mostly in amateur and youth-oriented events.
Getting extra guests to visit Disney World was
one of the main reasons for creating Wide World
of Sports.
Many big sport events are held during Disney Worlds
low season (December-January).
The venue is expanding, with the addition of
six new sports fields and one of the largest
bowling alleys in the world.
Profitable
The Wide World of Sports complex is thought to have annual
revenues in the region of a couple of hundred million dollars
and its initial construction costs were around $120m making
it Disneys single biggest sports investment after its ownership
of ESPN itself. The facilitys revenue streams come from
event registration, gate sales, merchandise, food & beverage
and event and facility sponsorship. It makes a nice profit,
says Potrock.
Expansion onsite is either funded by Disney and cashflow,
sponsorship or third parties who then own the relevant facility
and pay rent. We are building six new fields for soccer, lacrosse,
field hockey, football and we are very comfortable that we
will fill that addition for much of the year, says Potrock.
He is also planning a 100-lane bowling alley which will
be one of the largest worldwide. The reason for its size is that
the United States Bowling Congress controls the two biggest
bowling tournaments in the world and the Wide World of
Sports is aiming to land them on a rotational basis for the
next 20 years. Potrock says that this will
attract around 85,000 spectators and
take five months to execute so, since
each participant attends with several
family members it will bring to central
Florida probably a quarter of a million
people that would most likely not have
come otherwise. Our challenge right now
is that we are successful. In many peak
times of the year we have more demand
than we have capacity.
Christian Sylt and Caroline Reid
are freelance journalists.
ISSUE 25 | Spring 2012 HOSPITALITY 21