Seminole County losing millions on cancelled youth sports events

Youth sports impacted by coronavirus

Youth sports are on hold right now due to the coronavirus pandemic and that's having an impact on local economies.

SANFORD, Fla. - Seminole County officials say cancelled youth sports tournaments has cost them more than $10 million. The events typically bring out of towners to the area who stay in local hotels and eat at nearby restaurants.

“We can’t wait to hear the crack of the bats. The cheers of the crowd,” said Danny Trosset, Director of Sports Tourism in Seminole County.

The baseball diamonds at Boombah Sports Complex sit quiet these days.

“Usually, we’re going into our busy season. May going into summer is when travel ball is in full swing,” Trosset said.

Because of COVID-19, in mid-march, Seminole County had to close its facilities that usually host youth tournaments. The economic hit in just a couple months has been major.

“We’ve lost about 40 events which equates to about 12,000 hotel rooms,” Trosset explained.

He says all of that equals more than $10 million. On top of that, the county is missing around $250,000 in revenue that would have come in from teams renting the fields.

“We feel it’s all in the open, that the kids need to get back to reality, it’s an outdoor sport,” said Tonya Waters, the central Florida director for the United States Specialty Sports Association.

Waters says went to Facebook to get some feedback from her softball players and parents about getting back to the game.

“The majority of my teams are all board and wanting to play as soon as possible,” she said.

Seminole county officials swinging for this summer to host games again.

Seminole county sports tourism says it working with its emergency management team to come up with a safe plan for reopening.