The City and the Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) are parties to City Secretary Contract No. 44949, a Professional Services Agreement under which the CVB markets and promotes Fort Worth as a business and leisure destination (Agreement). Funding for the CVB's general marketing and promotional activities and services is derived from a percentage allocation of the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) collections that the City receives and that are not otherwise restricted or dedicated to a specific purpose by state law or local ordinance or agreement. During the annual budget process, the City allocates additional HOT funds into two special accounts to assist in attracting, maintaining, and retaining convention and equestrian-related business at the City's public facilities – the Fort Worth Convention Center Public Facilities Fund and the Will Rogers Memorial Center Public Facilities Fund (collective, SPFFs), along with a separate fund to support the Fort Worth Herd. In 2016, a sports marketing study was conducted and recognized that there was great opportunity and need for the expansion of the sports tourism services by the CVB. It found that Fort Worth has a sizable market with numerous positive attributes and sports tourism and events should be among the top priorities. To more effectively serve the sports tourism market, staff recommends allocating $100,000.00 into a new Sports Marketing Fund (SMF), which will be used for specialized sports marketing services to attract, secure, and host sporting events that will enhance the area's sports marketing program and create a positive economic impact for the City of Fort Worth. Funding for the SMF would be in addition to and fall outside of the above-stated funding models and would not affect the general funding percentage. The adopted Fiscal Year 2017 Budget was increased by $100,000.00 for the purpose of funding the Sports Marketing Fund. |
