Tag: ESPN

According to Mark Pino of the Orlando Sentinel, It looks like Walt Disney World will finally recieve its own bowling alley:

Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex is expanding its strike zone with what could be the biggest bowling stadium in the country. Planned for 100 lanes, stadium-style seating and a restaurant, the facility would be complete in about 18 months. When not used for tournaments, the stadium would be open to the public, Disney officials said Monday.

“It’s big. It will be big for the area,” said Ray Turgeon of Winter Springs, a bowler who had heard rumors about the facility and the tournaments it will host. “For a lot of new bowlers who have not bowled in a national tournament, it would be great.”

Disney officials said an unnamed company will build and operate the 160,000-square-foot stadium, which would be used for events or open to guests except during United States Bowling Congress tournaments. The organization will bring 13 events to Central Florida starting in 2011 and running through 2029. Each tournament is played over a four- to six-month period.

Disney officials said it was too soon to talk about the facility’s name or its cost or the third party under negotiation to build it. A spokeswoman said those details might be available in a couple of months.

The bowling mecca would be the latest addition to a growing constellation of facilities at the 220-acre Wide World of Sports that includes a basketball arena and baseball stadium — spring-training home of the Atlanta Braves. Other sports played there include football, soccer, softball, track and field, lacrosse, volleyball, martial arts, and endurance events.

The Disney facility would be complete in early 2010 and would host the 2011 United States Bowling Congress Open Championship — an event guaranteed to put thousands of visitors in Osceola hotel rooms, according to a deal approved Monday.

The tournaments are widely regarded as the world’s largest participatory sporting event, said Jack Mordini, the bowling congress’ vice president of tournaments and events. Mordini said members want to travel to vacation destinations like Central Florida for tournaments.

John Berglund, executive director of the Bowling Proprietors Association of America, said the deal would be great for bowling and Disney. “Bowling is a tremendous family sport, and Disney is a tremendous family venue,” he said. The deal is expected to generate $750 million for the area from 2011 through 2029, when the bowling congress will host seven open and six women’s championships, the county said.

Osceola County will pay the bowling congress, with the hopes of getting bowlers to fill rooms at struggling hotels. The county will use tourist-development taxes to pay $1 million to the USBC on the first day of active competition, with a total of about $13 million over the life of the agreement. The payments will be reduced if the number of hotel rooms booked is lower than set out in the agreement. Other cities in the running for the USBC tournaments were Wichita, Kan.; Tulsa, Okla.; Corpus Christi, Texas; and Reno, Nev.

NEW YORK (May 13, 2008) — Aligning the world’s No. 1 family vacation destination with the worldwide leader in sports, Walt Disney World Resort and ESPN are joining forces to re-brand Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex with the ESPN brand, creating an entertaining and immersive experience for the nearly 2 million athletes, coaches and spectators who come through the Disney sports complex each year.

Plans for the re-branding initiative — which was announced today during the ESPN upfront presentation to advertisers and sponsors — are still in the development stage, but initial concepts involve renaming the sports complex and incorporating the signature elements of ESPN throughout the 220-acre facility, which is a leading venue for amateur and professional sports in the country. The project aims to enhance the experience of both athletes and spectators by connecting them to their favorite ESPN programs, personalities and elements. It also will provide advertisers new sponsorship opportunities at the grass roots level.

“This is a natural and exciting pairing of two powerful brands to create a one-of-a-kind, immersive sports venue that will enable athletes, coaches and guests to experience sports in a whole new way,” said Jay Rasulo, chairman of Disney Parks and Resorts. “This project builds on our collaborative successes and positions us to explore more opportunities with ESPN to create new experiences for guests at Walt Disney World Resort.”

“Our involvement in the Disney sports complex will provide greater opportunities for us to connect directly with athletes, coaches and fans in a highly immersive way,” said George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN Inc. and ABC Sports, and co-chairman of Disney Media Networks. “Our involvement also provides us with a unique and exciting new media platform that will enable our advertisers and sponsors to reach new customers and bring their products and services to life.”

The re-branding of the Disney sports complex is the latest initiative in the growing sports business at Walt Disney World Resort. In December, the sports complex debuted additional outdoor playing fields for football, soccer, lacrosse and field hockey competitions. And this summer the sports complex will open Jostens Center, a new state-of-the-art field house that will allow Disney to accommodate twice as many indoor sports events each year. Additional expansion plans are being explored.

The Disney sports complex annually hosts more than 180 events in 50 different sports involving athletes from more than 70 countries. Among those events are the Atlanta Braves spring training season, a Tampa Bay Rays regular-season series, the Major League Baseball Draft, the NBA Pre-Draft Camp, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers training camp, Chelsea Football Club events, the Pop Warner Super Bowl, AAU National Championships, Varsity All-Star Cheerleading competitions, USSSA events and the Walt Disney World Marathon, one of the top marathons in the nation. ESPN televised 20 sporting events from the complex in the last year. Walt Disney World Resort and ESPN also annually work together to host the popular ESPN The Weekend event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.