Florida Sports Foundation

With ideal year round weather and incredible facilities, Florida is Where the World Comes to Play. If it’s golf you want, at last count, Florida boasted more than 1,100 golf courses and over 55 million rounds played annually. A natural home to fishers and boaters, Florida offers over 1,000 miles of coastline, 8,426 miles of shore line, approximately 7,800 natural lakes and 12,000 miles of rivers and streams.

Florida is home to ten major professional sports franchises in Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, National Football League and National Hockey League and Major League Soccer. Additionally, Florida is the home of 15 Major League Baseball teams who participate in the Florida Grapefruit League Spring Training, NASCAR, the Daytona 500 and the PGA Tour, LPGA and the PGA of America.

The Florida Sports Foundation, a 501(C) 3 non-profit corporation, is the official sports promotion and development organization for the State of Florida. It is charged with the promotion and development of professional, amateur, recreational sports, and physical fitness opportunities that produce a thriving Florida sports industry and environment. With a seemingly endless list of sporting ventures and venues, the Florida Sports Foundation strives to promote Florida’s unique sports industry. The Foundation’s staff is dedicated to serving the needs and interests of Florida’s sports community and assists with all questions concerning Florida sporting activities and issues.

MISSION & VISION

To create the thriving sports industry and environment, the Florida Sports Foundation:

• Provides grants to support sporting events that bring out-of-state visitors to Florida
• Produces and distributes annual golf, fishing and boating, and baseball spring training guides for both in-state and out-of-state tourists; and
• Organizes the annual Sunshine State Games, an Olympic-style festival for Floridians of all ages, and the Florida Senior Games State Championships for senior athletes, age 50 and over.

To learn more, please visithttp://www.playinflorida.com/