Positively Cleveland forms strategic alliance with Sports Commission
Cleveland’s embattled convention & visitors bureau, Positively Cleveland, forced to vacate it’s recently-renovated HQ in the Higbee’s building on Public Square, and under threat of Cuyahoga County Commissioners diverting their annual bed tax revenue to Chicago’s privately-owned Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. (MMPI) to operate the planned convention center and medical mart, has announced a strategic alliance with the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission. Both organizations would retain their finances, boards and staffing, but on 1/1/11 would be managed by a single chief executive, David Gilbert, currently president and CEO of the Sports Commission. Positively Cleveland President Dennis Roche would become a consultant to the alliance in 2011.
While serious issues remain about funding, governance and the role that such an alliance would play in marketing the region, given the undefined role of MMPI, the biggest question surrounds the status of the bed tax in the hands of the 3 lame-duck County Commissioners, Jimmy Dimora, Tim Hagan and Peter Lawson Jones, who have been attempting to fill a $6M hole in the annual fees they have promised MMPI. Currently, Positively Cleveland receives $6.5M per year in bed taxes to market the region & sell conventions and business meetings, of its $8M annual budget. The Sports Commission earns much of it’s $2.5M annual budget from its events, plus support from the City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County and Positively Cleveland.
The two organizations complement each other in mission and have achieved national recognition: Positively Cleveland was among the first groups to accredited by Destination Marketing Association International, meeting or exceeding international standards of excellence, and Dennis Roche was named on the the Top 16 CVB leaders for facing the unusual challenge of marketing Cuyahoga County. Cool Cleveland’s Thomas Mulready has served on the Positively Cleveland board for 6 years. The Sports Commission claims economic impact of $300M for attracting and managing over 100 amateur sporting events since 2000, and has been voted Sports Commission of the Year by the National Association of Sports Commissions.
The move comes as the region readies for some of the largest events and visitor infrastructure improvements in its history: a massive casino, a world-class medical mart, a highly competitive convention center, the 2012 Rock Hall Induction Ceremony, the 2013 Summer National Senior Games, and the 2014 Gay Games, which is believed to be the largest single sporting event the state of Ohio will have ever hosted.
Read the press release here
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