by David Chapman
Staff Writer
The teams that will play in this year’s Gator Bowl will be announced Sunday and the possible candidates, along with their traveling fan bases, have the tourism and economic industry hopeful.
The New Year’s Day game will pit a Big 10 and Southeastern Conference school against each other after realigning from a Big East and Atlantic Coast Conference showdown from 1996-2006.
From 2007-10, the game was slightly altered featuring an ACC team against a Big East or Big 12 team or Notre Dame.
The change and onfield results this year have prognosticators picking match-ups, including Florida, Georgia or Mississippi State from the SEC and Iowa, Michigan or Penn State from the Big 10.
National media pundits predict a Florida-Penn State game.
The rumored participants do share a common trait.
“They travel well,” said Mike Bouda, Jacksonville Economic Development Commission sports coordinator. “There’s no such thing as a bad match-up.”
From an economic impact standpoint, Bouda said the game is a “win-win” regardless of which two teams are announced because of the economic impact of the game.
Last year’s game featured Florida State University, with retiring coach Bobby Bowden, and West Virginia, another team that traditionally travels well. It brought in $23.4 million in total economic impact from visitor spending with 27,161 room nights, according to Lyndsay Rossman, Visit Jacksonville senior director of corporate communications.
Yet, with the new arrangements and several Midwest teams in the mix to make the trek south, Rossman is optimistic those numbers will be trumped.
Tourism dollars usually factor into the selection process, she said, and the economic impact the teams bring is vital to many area hoteliers and business owners, especially with this year’s annual Florida-Georgia game lagging in expected economic impact.
“It’s absolutely important for several reasons,” she said of the Gator Bowl game. “The economic impact, putting ‘heads in beds’ ... all businesses in the hospitality industry see an impact from this game.”
Following Sunday’s announcement of the teams, Visit Jacksonville officials will begin contacting the selected schools to inform them of where to stay and what to do while in town over the New Year’s holiday, while also working with area hotels to ensure they’re prepared for the fans.
Any match-up preferences tourism officials hope to see?
“We don’t have any,” she said. “We welcome any fans with open arms.”
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