Sports Tourism Facilities Liaison

Our Sports Tourism Facility Liaison represents the interests of Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources as a premier sports destination through management of partnerships and contracts with operators of Sarasota County-owned premier sports tourism facilities, including but not limited to Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, Nathan Benderson Park Conservancy and Sarasota Sharks. This position helps to support successful implementation of Sarasota County sports tourism strategies with an economic impact of $100M annually!

The ideal candidate has an ability to manage/lead a unit project/program, is well versed in the sporting industry and is more than able to build and maintain relationships with partners, coworkers, and the community.

This position starts out paying between $63,000.00 - $70,000.00, based upon experience, benefits begin within 60 days of hire, and there are opportunities for advancement.

In this role, you will be responsible for...

Sports Tourism Contract Administration

• Develop effective and communicative relationships with partners. Perform contractual oversight of sports tourism facility operating agreements. Foster communication and community engagement between organizations, the County and the community. Ensure contractual obligations are met. Manage and track budgets, expenditures, and hard requirements associated with contracts ensuring compliance.
• Serve as a co-liaison to Major League Baseball franchises including the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles. Responsible for managing the agreement/MOU with the franchises. Project, facilitate, and manage financial commitments.
• Develop strategies, oversight practices, guidelines and processes for the long-term use of County owned assets. Serve as the fixed asset designee for County owned assets contained within the facilities.
• Review, analyze and evaluate existing facility agreements and identify opportunities for future improvement and implement effective solutions. Assist in negotiation of modification to agreements leveraging availability to fully optimize use of County owned facilities.
• Conduct routine check-in meetings with facility operators; assist in preparation and execution of meetings with County leadership and facility operators.
• Manage proactive assessments of fraud awareness, prevention, detection and risk mitigation activities in area of responsibility; oversee financial, compliance, operational and performance audits; review audit findings and ensure appropriate controls are established and implemented.

Facility Projects

• In coordination with internal and external partners, strategically plan capital investments enhancing existing sports tourism assets leveraging a high economic return on investment. Inventory existing assets, evaluate opportunities for enhancement and assist in the development of plans for facility upgrades required to enhance sports tourism initiatives.
• Develop and manage budget allocations. Review and recommend financial commitments. Monitor expenditures during the year and make recommendations for budget modifications. Prepare detailed analysis and make recommendation regarding projects and programs that impact the annual budget.
• Manage capital project plans for MLB facilities. Working in conjunction with each club and Facilities Maintenance division, track progress and spending on all annually planned projects. Prepare project and budget status reports for PRNR management and club review. Manage the creation and prioritization of annual project plans.
• Review emergency capital project requests from MLB clubs, evaluate against operating agreements and consults County subject matter experts to determine eligibility for approval.
• Facilitate procurement process for projects.
• Coordinate with Facilities Maintenance and Parks Planning and Design divisions on major capital projects at sports tourism facilities; communicate project updates and timelines with facility partners.
• Coordinate routine facility inspections; maintain records of inspection reports and distributions to appropriate parties.
• Participate in planning and preparation for major capital improvements such as facility additions or expansions. Develop relevant materials such as board documents, presentations, draft agreements, etc.

Operations

• Review and processes reimbursement requests from facility operators for operations, maintenance and/or capital project expenses. Maintain records of all requests and their status. Communicate with facility partners on status updates, approvals/denials, necessary revisions, and other messaging as needed.
• Track trends, maintain records and keep statistical data obtained from multiple sources. Produce reports, presentations and other material. Communicate and disperse information.
• Manage various programs related to facility operating agreements, such as the distribution of Spring Training Game tickets for Economic and Tourism development purposes.
• Actively engage in the transfer of knowledge and succession planning fostering relationships with facility partners.

Sports Tourism Events

• Participate in the development of County-wide sports tourism development strategy through knowledge and feedback of facility operations, capabilities, etc.
• Research best practices for development and operation of sports facilities and hosting in partnership with Visit Sarasota and other partners. Develop, maintain, and implement policy and/or guidelines detailing the parameters of usage of County owned assets for sports tourism related events.
• Implement defined sports tourism development strategy through communicating event opportunities with facility partners, providing facility information for bids and evaluating facility readiness for events.
• As needed, support major events occurring within assigned facilities, including Sports Ambassador coordination, pre-planning, facility preparation, etc.

Work Hours:

• Full-Time, 40 hours per week.

• Must be flexible, Sunday - Saturday. Typical hours: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

• Work schedules may vary due to split shifts, rotations, on-call, emergencies etc.

• Evening and weekends required on occasion, based on sports tourism event schedules/needs.

  
  

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in Public Administration, Business, Tourism, Recreation, Leisure Services, Sports Management, or job-related field -AND- Three (3) years of professional experience with an associated field.

• • OR- Seven (7) years of professional job-related experience can be substituted at management discretion for the required education.

• Valid Florida Driver's License by date of hire.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Masters degree in a related field.

• Certification by Sports ETA as an STS.

• Certified Parks and Recreation Professional (CPRP).

• Previous experience with managing contracts and/.or professional sports facility operations.