Sunshine Matters

Who knew creating jobs for Floridians could be so much fun?  Tourism – which employs more than one million Floridians – was the big winner at the “Share A Little Sunshine Showdown” football game between the Florida State Seminoles and the Florida Gators this past Saturday, Nov. 24.

Before the big rivalry game began, VISIT FLORIDA partnered with the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association, the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, the Florida Lottery and Emeril’s Florida television show to sponsor the “Emeril’s Florida Tailgate Challenge.”  The challenge pitted two students from each university in a competition to determine who could make the ultimate tailgate burger.  The competition was judged by Chef Justin Timineri, the Executive Chef for the Florida Department of Agriculture, Food Network Chopped champion Chef Joe Rego who is the Executive Chef at Tallahassee’s new Front Porch restaurant, and famed Chef Emeril Lagasse.  Facing a split vote, Emeril chose the Gators, but said it was a very close decision.

There were nearly 300 people in attendance at the tailgate, including several local legislative representatives, Coach Jimbo Fisher’s wife, Candi, and former University of Florida national championship winning quarterback, Chris Leak.   Guests were treated to great food from Tallahassee restaurant Andrew’s Downtown and a live taping of an episode of Emeril’s new show to be aired Superbowl Sunday.  Many thanks to the students, chefs and all those who helped make Emeril’s Florida Tailgate Challenge such a success.

As title sponsor of the Share A Little Sunshine Showdown game, VISIT FLORIDA and our partners garnered significant media attention, including in-person interviews with local television stations WTXL and WCTV, as well as WFSU Radio. While final numbers are still coming in, we already know that there were 83,429 fans in attendance at Doak Campbell Stadium, a television audience of nearly 8.5 million fans and earned media coverage to date of more than 63 million impressions.

Since every 85 visitors supports one Florida job, sharing the message of the importance of Florida tourism to this audience of over 71 million represents a huge win for our industry and our state.   Thank you again to all our partners, fans and everyone who supported the Share a Little Sunshine Showdown.

And for those of you who haven’t played the Florida Fan Game yet, you still have time before the Dec. 3 deadline to show your school spirit – and enter to win a Mazda SUV – by inviting friends and family to visit the Sunshine State.