A message from the PRESIDENT/CEO
ERIC D. HART, CVE
I am pleased to present the recommended Operating and Capital Budget for fiscal year 2025. This budget was developed by staff and included a review by the City of Tampa finance staff and the Authority’s Finance Committee. As with previous budget years, the Authority has implemented a strategic plan which continues to place an emphasis on revenue generation and capital improvements at the courses and this budget continues to reflect this philosophy.
The golf operations’ financial position has improved considerably during the past four fiscal years. This budget reflects this improved financial performance, as we are anticipating continued revenue strength in the coming fiscal year. The Authority’s financial expectations, set in the 2024 approved budget, are anticipated to be surpassed by $340,374. This is due to a combination of factors including favorable consistent course and weather conditions, continued strong demand in golf, along with higher per capita revenue generation in rounds played, food and beverage and merchandise sales. This budget reflects our continued belief that the sustained demand and spending trends will continue through the fiscal year. We have worked with the City to utilize these and prior year surplus generated funds to establish a $1.5 million operating reserve and to reinvest $5.032 million of these funds back into these community assets, which will be used for deferred maintenance items and further optimize revenue potential at the courses. During FY 2024, the Authority completed the Short Course and Toptracer Range improvements at Rogers Park. Staff has conservatively estimated revenue growth for these new revenue producing additions.
For FY 2025, we are conservatively forecasting the Authority courses will operate at a $251,714 loss in the fiscal year, due to renovations at the Rogers Park Golf Course. While we anticipate this loss, we are not requesting any operating subsidy from the City of Tampa and will manage any actual losses using the established operating reserve funds. Authority management continues to modify our business priorities for the golf courses, allowing us to adapt to changes within the operating environment, similar to privately operated golf courses.
Respectfully,
To plan, develop, promote and maintain a comprehensive complex of sports and recreation facilities for the use and enjoyment of the citizens of Tampa and Hillsborough County.
ABOUT
To stimulate economic vitality and improve the quality of life in Tampa Bay through compelling sports and entertainment offerings held at world-class venues.
THE AUTHORITY
Providing Sports and Entertainment to Tampa Bay.
The Tampa Sports Authority is an Independent Special District, created by the Florida Legislature in 1965, to construct and manage sports and recreational facilities in Hillsborough County. The Authority’s role is to stimulate economic vitality and improve the quality of life in Tampa Bay through compelling sports and entertainment offerings held at world-class venues. The Authority has no taxing power, but rather acts as an enterprise fund utilizing user-fees to subsidize its operating costs. As a result, all its major capital construction projects, from the original Tampa Stadium, golf courses, Hillsborough County Tournament SportsPlex, Amalie Arena, George Steinbrenner Field and Raymond James Stadium have been accomplished by working closely with the approvals and financial support of Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa.
Babe Zaharias, Rogers Park and Rocky Point are municipal golf courses owned by the City of Tampa. The Authority has managed these courses since the mid-1970’s, with the expressed mission of maintaining reasonably low prices for the benefit of the golfing public. We have hosted approximately 116,000 golfers in FY 2024. The Rogers Park additions of the Short Course along with Toptracer Range, will make Rogers Park one of the premier municipal golf courses in the state. Provided within this report is a survey of rates from several local public courses that shows the Authority continues to offer some of the most competitive green fee rates in the region.
CHART ORGANIZATIONAL
BOARD OF
Rocky Point Director of Golf Jim Hanks
Babe Zaharias
Rogers Park Sr. Director of Golf Travis J. Heidel
BOARD OF TAMPA SPORTS
JOHN JAEB
VICE CHAIRMAN CHAIR
BOCC APPOINTEE
TERM EXPIRES: 6/2027
BOCC APPOINTEE
TERM EXPIRES: 6/2025
PATRICK MANTEIGA SECRETARY/TREASURER
BOCC APPOINTEE
TERM EXPIRES: 6/2025
CITY APPOINTEE
TERM EXPIRES: 6/2025
CITY APPOINTEE
TERM EXPIRES: 6/2025
CITY APPOINTEE
TERM EXPIRES: 6/2027
TONY MUNIZ
LUCIANO PRIDA, JR. JOSEPH W. J. ROBINSON P.E.
PENNY PARKS
DIRECTORS AUTHORITY
DON DEFOSSET HONORABLE KEN HAGAN
GOVERNOR’S APPOINTEE
TERM EXPIRES: 6/2025
ANDY JOE SCAGLIONE
BOCC APPOINTEE
TERM EXPIRES: 6/2027
COUNTY COMISSIONER
TERM EXPIRES: 11/2024
MARK S. WOODARD
CITY APPOINTEE
TERM EXPIRES: 6/2027
CITY COUNCILMAN
TERM EXPIRES: 5/2025
ERIC D. HART, CVE PRESIDENT/CEO
CONTRACT TERM: 9/2029
STRATEGIC PLAN
As part of the Authority’s long-range planning efforts, a strategic plan was implemented with input from key stakeholders and our Board of Directors. The strategic plan identifies long-range strategic objectives, that will drive planning for the Authority over our diverse inventory of current and possible future business lines. This strategic plan is used as the main guiding document for the staff in managing the Authority’s business lines and help the Board and TSA leadership align behind long range strategic priorities.
Key Performance Indicators:
• Actionable strategic initiatives with key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Staff uses a quarterly “scorecard” to summarize performance toward achieved KPIs for each business line.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
• Diversify into and capitalize on new and profitable revenue sources
• Adopt proactive facility master planning while rapidly exploiting new or emerging sports and entertainment opportunities
• Create positive customer experiences
• Protect public assets while safeguarding our customers and their personally identifiable information
• Develop and maintain a diverse, innovative and engaged workforce
• Reduce reliance on County and City subsidy
• Build community support for the Tampa Sports Authority
• Expand our adoption of environmentally sustainable practices
TSA KPI SCORECARD
MARQUEE EVENTS
LADIES INVITATIONAL
The second annual Ladies Invitational was held at Babe Zaharias Golf Course on March 23, 2024. The event had 98 players participating and raised $3,550 for the charity Love4Paws.
CITY AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2024 City Amateur Championship was held on April 20th & 21st at Rogers Park Golf Course.
The winners were as follows:
Overall ChampionKyle Martin- 67-72=139 (pictured right)
Senior ChampionMichael Kelly- 71-69=140
Super Senior ChampionDick Caverly- 76-71=147
REQUESTS CONTRIBUTION
This year’s anticipated operating and maintenance expenses outlined in this document do not require an operating subsidy from the City of Tampa, as the Authority will fund any operating losses (if they occur) with our established budget stabilization reserve. The only contribution request being made to the City of Tampa for FY 2025 is for $600,000 of capital projects. The Authority has an existing interlocal agreement with the City of Tampa which states the City shall be responsible for any capital improvements or operating shortfalls realized by the courses.
REVENUE ASSUMPTIONS FOR FY 2025:
1) Total Operating Revenues for FY 2025 are budgeted at $5,791,330. This is $371,499 greater than the FY 2024 budget. During FY 2024, Operating Revenues are projected to be $606,208 better than budget. This is primarily due to the continued resurgence in golf coupled with the less price sensitivity of the new younger golf demographic, however these factors were muted somewhat due to the greens renovation at Babe Zaharias Golf Course. This resurgence has continued for several years now and only time will tell if it continues into the foreseeable future. We have created a series of new initiatives designed to retain our new surge in customers. We strengthened our relationship with the First-Tee Tampa Bay junior golf program by working with them to add a par 3 short course at Rogers Park that has allowed them to utilize much more “on course” time for the kids in their summer programs. We have also just opened a Toptracer range at Rogers Park Golf Course.
2) Adverse weather revenue losses were incorporated throughout the budget in lieu of projecting a specific month where adverse weather will affect revenues. The past four years have produced near perfect weather conditions and an amazing resurgence in the interest of golf, and therefore should cautiously be used as a point of comparison. With NOAA stating that “El Nino” conditions could arise in 2024/25, the adverse weather losses may increase as a result.
3) During FY 2024, the three courses are projected to combine for approximately 116,000 paid rounds of golf. This represents an decrease of 3,000 rounds over FY 2023, due to a greens renovation at Babe Zaharias Golf Course. We continually re-evaluate our rate structure compared to our local market. The use of dynamic pricing and the loyalty rewards program continue to show a positive impact on green fee revenues. We will continue to either reduce rates or increase rates during non-peak and peak time frames to maximize revenues.
4) In marketing, we have successfully redesigned our loyalty program to include a more attractive rewards program. Golf Local has grown to over 2500 member families. We offer two major gift card programs, “Dads and Grads” – May through June and Holiday Gift Cards November through December. We will promote initiatives utilizing a multi layered approach consisting of email, text, ad displays, signage, geofencing, and social media.
REQUESTS CONTRIBUTION
EXPENSE ASSUMPTIONS FOR FY 2025:
1) Total expenses for FY 2025 are budgeted at $6,043,044. This is $559,101 more than FY 2024 budget this increase is, due to variable expenses related to revenue strength as well as staffing to support the TopTracer initiative.
2) Budgeted full-time salary numbers include a 3.25% COLA increase and additional (0-3%) merit increases for eligible employees.
3) Impact of 7.69% minimum wage increase is incorporated into the part-time labor budget.
4) Health insurance premium costs increased as the County anticipates a 2% premium increase.
5) Increase in overall (non-health) insurance costs, as insurance coverage for the facilities was slightly more than originally budgeted, due to insurance market weakness for Florida insureds and course revenue strength. Audited general liability premiums are based upon course revenues, therefore the increase in revenues yields an increase in premiums.
6) A 7.8% increase in Retirement costs has been included based on the revised FRS contribution rates effective July 1, 2024.
BUDGET NOTES
1) Accrual Accounting: The Authority’s golf course budget is presented on an accrual basis. Monthly financial statements along with budget documents are presented on a full accrual basis of accounting.
2) Total City of Tampa Contribution: Contribution amount is a sum of present year operational profits/ (losses) and capital investments.
3) “Due to” Amounts: No “due to” amounts are present between the golf courses and Raymond James Stadium. “Due to’s” between the individual golf courses are present throughout the year but are reconciled quarterly and zero balanced at fiscal year-end.
4) Depreciation: Depreciation has been included in the Authority’s audited financial statements. The Authority has worked with the City Administration and Authority auditors to determine that depreciation expense for the course is better suited to be represented on the Authority’s annual financial audit. Depreciation is not included in any financial requests from the Authority to the City of Tampa since it is a non-cash occurrence within the financial statements. Depreciation will not be included in the monthly financial statement for ease of reading but will be included in the year end audited financial statements.
5) Salaries: Wages include full-time, part-time and over-time estimates and corresponding benefits such as social security, retirement and health insurance.
6) Capital Costs: Reimbursement for proposed capital costs is provided by the City of Tampa net of any operating surplus.
7) Income Tax: The Authority is a governmental agency and therefore exempt from federal and state income taxes under provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and the Florida income tax code, respectively. There are no provisions for income taxes in the budget.
BABE ZAHARIAS ROCKY POINT
OPERATING REVENUE
OPERATING EXPENSES
OPERATIONS & EXPENSES
ROGERS PARK
CAPITAL
PROJECTS
THE SHORT COURSE AT ROGERS PARK
The Short Course at Rogers Park broke ground in 2022 and officially opened on November 5th, 2023. The Short Course is a collaboration between the City of Tampa, the Tampa Sports Authority, the Tampa YMCA, and First Tee - Tampa Bay. World-renowned golf course architect Steve Smyers and PGA TOUR professional Gary Koch volunteered their time and services to design the Short Course. Their mission was to create a fun and challenging experience for golfers of all levels.
A complete sprinkler head replacement was done throughout the entire golf course. This was necessary due to aging sprinkler heads and to allow us to achieve more efficent watering practices.
CAPITAL Fy 2024 PROJECTS
TOPTRACER RANGE AT ROGERS PARK
The Toptracer Range at Rogers Park is the #1 range technology in golf for a reason! The technology behind the Toptracer Range are cameras and sensors that create a 3D space where objects entering that space are tracked. Last year’s opening of the Par 3 Short Course combined with the Toptracer Range, will make Rogers Park one of the premier municipal golf courses in the state. Toptracer Range opened to the public on July 15, 2024.
BABE ZAHARIAS GREENS RENOVATION
New, modern TifEagle greens are being installed at all greens to replace the current 25 year old greens. In addition, green complex bunkers have been fitted with new drainage and sand.
PROPOSED CAPITAL
PROJECTS
TSA REINVESTMENT
PRO GRAM
ROGERS PARK GREENS RENOVATION
All greens at Rogers Park will be replaced with new, modern TifEagle greens. All bunkers around the greens will be fitted with new drainage and sand.
ROCKY POINT CLUB HOUSE RENOVATION
The clubhouse will receive a complete modernization included a complete redesign of the restaurant and bar and renovations of the existing restrooms. The Pro Shop will also be transformed into a more retail friendly facility with improved storage and office areas.
ROCKY POINT & ROGERS PARK PARKING LOT RENOVATIONS
A complete redesign and repaving of the parking lots at Rogers Park and Rocky Point will take place in 2025. The increased parking capacity will better serve the volume of golfers at Rocky Point and the increased traffic at Rogers Park, due to the Short Course and Toptracer Range additions.
PAID PLAYER COMPARISON
PAID PLAYERS COMPARISON
*Denotes reduced play due to green renovations
GREEN FEES COMPARISON
GREEN FEES COMPARISON
