Tourism Development Commission - February 18, 2025

e
morning everyone welcome to the tourism
development commission regular meeting
uh this morning here at City Hall on
February 18th uh Steve if you wouldn't
mind calling uh our role please uh
chairperson Alpa present Vice chair
Miner present commissioner kelberg
present commissioner Marian here
commissioner Thompson pres commissioner
sobec pres commissioner Montgomery here
M chair we have a quum thank you very
much Steve appreciate that um just as a
side note we are moving to to the end of
the meeting item two on on our agenda um
in the matter of time um number three we
have the approval of the last minutes
from January 21st uh hosted at our
wonderful Scottsdale Stadium
um do I have a motion for
approval I move that we approve the
minutes thank you do we have a second on
that I'll second thank you all in favor
I I thank you very much next item on the
agenda experience Scottdale second
quarter performance measure reports um
Rachel Pearson uh will be presenting
this morning welcome
Rachel good morning Commissioners thank
you so much chair Alpa uh thank you for
having me this morning Rachel Pearson
with experience Scottdale and I'm here
to give you a few highlights from our
second quarter but before I do that um I
wanted to mention that tomorrow is
actually the inaugural destinations
Professionals Day so this is something
that destinations International is
bringing forward to really recognize the
contributions of organizations like ours
there are over 10,000 Global destination
organizations like Experian Scottdale
and the individuals as many of you know
that work in organizations like ours are
extremely passionate about the
communities that they represent and are
committed to ensuring an incredible
quality of life for their residents
ensuring that we've got great talent
coming into the industry um we're
fostering culture and Community um
within each of our individual places and
really just finding ways to grow the
local economy and support our Public
Services through the work that we do
experience Scottdale has been serving
our community since 1987 and we have 40
individuals who are experts in their
area whether it is marketing or sales or
our tourism trade our finance team um
everybody in our organization is working
every single day on behalf of this
community it is through that work that
experienc scotdale during the second
quarter was recognized by the Arizona
lodging and tourism Association as the
tourism honory of the year and for that
they really chose folks that were
excelling in their respective Fields
making a significant impact on Arizona's
communities and enriching the lives of
those around them and so it is with that
work and that focus in mind that we have
been working towards our 17 performance
measures on behalf of the city
during this last quarter so the last
time I was here um and that's not a
mistake we have a video coming up but um
I talk to you a little bit about our
newest commercial called Scottdale is
calling um we've been airing it
nationwide it ran um on British Airways
Long Haul flights and starting in
November we were able to debut the
commercial in Time Square and really
excited about the opportunity that we
have been given an incredible
opportunity and it is now airing around
the clock so I want you to get a feel
for as if you were there so we're going
to watch a short video thank you Holly
[Music]
sure short trip to New York with that
video thank you so oops on to the next
one there we go so the last time uh I
spoke to you we also talked about some
new event activations that our team has
been participating in and creating
including the fa flavors of Arizona
event that we hosted for K Nast in New
York City this quarter we hosted an
event activation in San Diego one of our
key feeder markets we had a sold out VIP
dinner you can see a photo of that in
the middle there um that was for the
delmare Food and Wine Festival we were
able to really take Scottsdale's chefs
um who several of whom came with us and
tell our culinary story to this very
luxury audience and our F future
Travelers we then participated in their
um their two-day Grand tasting event and
we had over 2,000 Festival goers that
stopped by our booth now keep in mind
this is a Food and Wine Festival we had
no food or wine at our booth and yet our
prize wheel was spun every 12 seconds
folks were really excited to win that
teal cowboy hat you can see promoting
Scottdale and some other great prizes
learning more about everything they can
do here in Scottsdale and really that
combination of our culinary and the
Western experience are all strategies
that are outlined in the Strategic plan
um that was approved by the TDC and our
Council um to ensure that we're
continuing to find every Avenue that we
can to push those elements of our
community out there we were able to also
gain some incredible exposure through a
partnership with San Diego magazine so
that we could Market to a much broader
audience um and make sure that the word
about Scottsdale is getting out to that
important market now those Partnerships
are great for us but we also know that
having that organic media coverage that
we get the earned media coverage um is
so important in inspiring and
influencing Travelers on where to go so
we were thrilled in November we hosted
for the 13th time travel Classics West
writers conference and you've possibly
heard us talk about this before um it
has been coming here again this is the
13th year it comes here about every
other year we are the only destination
that gets this conference back um on a
regular basis and it's really because of
the incredible relationship that our
vice president of communications many of
you know has with the journalists and
with the conference organizer so with
this conference what makes it unique is
these travel writers and editors we had
67 that came out this time from Top
Publications they are really coming to
learn and Pitch each other but they also
have an opportunity to experience the
destination and we were so pleased many
of those folks not only got to see the
destination during the conference but
also um quite a few I want to say it was
about a dozen or two um elected to come
early or stay late because they wanted
to explore even more of Scott day and
what's great about that is that they're
learning about the destination they're
finding editors they can pitch to
editors are looking for Freelancers that
can write these incredible stories and
they're coming up with um Scottdale
content that we know that we're going to
see for months and even years to
come sorry those were the those were
some photos of all these folks Milling
around our community so I also want to
talk about um some of our trade show
activations um those of you who have had
the pleasure of being on a trade show
floor know that it is Booth after Booth
after Booth after Booth they all start
to kind of blend together so our team
has been looking for new and unique ways
to stand out um and at imex America
which is the largest trade show for the
global meetings and events industry we
were able to meet uh with over 40
planners during one-on-one booked
appointments pre-booked appointments but
we also through this activation that we
did with local artist Lauren Lee she was
there on site in our booth um she had
painted this um in that third photo you
can see that beautiful suitcase that she
hand painted plus she was painting live
on site that's the photo you see in the
middle there um and people were coming
by to learn more about Lauren learn
about Scottdale and enter to win one of
those incredible prizes and with that
opportunity we were able to connect with
more than 400 additional Meeting
Planners during the
show our our uh convention sales team
also during the last quarter of course
were always bringing clients into the
destination so really pleased we had our
Canadian meeting planner familiarization
tour as well as our Scottdale meetings
showcase and that's a little bit of a a
reverse trade show in that we bring the
Meeting Planners out here and we host a
trade show for them where about 40 of
our members are able to have those
one-on-one type of appointments with
them plus they get to explore the
destination so with that I want to say
thank you so much those are just a
couple of highlights there's a lot more
listed in the report that you received
and next time you're going to hear more
about our spring training activations as
well as our advertising campaign in
Mexico um a first for us and something
we're really excited to share those
results as those continue to come in I'm
happy to answer any questions if you
have them Rachel thank you very much uh
very good presentation very good
highlights great information um I will
say that during the um SNL 50th we also
had some really good press um Scott
Dale yes exactly so I just want to kind
of point that out because I was sitting
on my couch watching and and uh this the
sketch came on and and I was like oh
well this would be good so um was very
excited about that but thank you again
for the team and everybody Rachel sacko
is a gem and um and I I think the world
of all of you so thank you very much
Commissioners have any other questions
or
comments thank you thanks so much
appreciate it
next item on the agenda uh is Arizona
bike week uh this is a funding request
for a tax expenditure up to 75,000 to
support a one-year event funding
agreement uh with FX promotions Lisa is
it Seer M Madam chair just just before
Lisa starts just for clarification the
agenda you just went through it said
75,000 the requested amount here today
is $
62,200 based on the funding criteria
Lisa also has that in her Pres
presentation as well uh again Steve I'm
sorry
62250 250 got it and that's based on our
funding criteria wonderful thank you for
the clarification St Lisa you have the
floor thank you thank you very much I'm
Lisa sear and I along with my partner
Christina Anderson produce Arizona bike
week this is our 28th Annual event we're
very excited um it continues to grow
Leaps and Bounds over the rate of uh
typical rally growth our event is
knocking on the door of some of the
biggest rallies in the country that have
been around 80 years or more so we're
very proud of that fact and it's a very
visual event you kind of have to see it
to fully grasp the energy and excitement
so I do have a little video that I
wanted to show you this is an actual um
ad that we're running as you can see
West world of Scottdale is prominently
displayed on all of our average iing
and let me see if I can get that okay
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
so that's just a very brief look at our
event um we invite you all to
come thank you um we invite you all to
come and experience in person it's um
The Passion of the writing Community is
unparalleled uh they love their bikes
they love to show off their bikes they
love to look at other bikes they love to
celebrate their Leisure activity more
than any other group I've ever come
across and um they come to have a great
time they come to uh just enjoy and take
it all in you saw uh the concerts that
we produce are a big part of our event
music and motorcycles go hand inand most
Riders love music second only to their
motorcycles so our concert lineup this
year is as dynamic as ever and where're
um it has really helped us to grow our
event by doing an all-inclusive one
ticket get you into everything including
a major concert each night uh as I said
we're 28 years old we started off in 97
it was just a small gathering of local
enthusiasts it's grown massively the
biggest jump our attendance took was in
' 06 when we started doing nightly
concerts so now we're as much a music
festival as we are motorcycle rally and
that draws a whole different demographic
of music
lovers so a lot of people who come to
our vent aren't
necessarily motorcycle enthusiasts but
they are music enthusiasts so we kind of
appeal to a couple of different kind of
Base
audiences we are a woman owned and
operated business which is unique in the
motorcycle rally world I think we're the
only major motorcycle rally in the
country in entirely owned and operated
by women not just myself and my partner
all of our staff at yearound staff at
the office are also
women not
moving okay thank you um it consists as
I said of two major components the power
yard is kind of the heartbeat of our
event that's where all of the daytime
activities go on we've got um last year
we had 230 vendors we're still getting
in they come in right up until the day
of the event so um we hope to end up
with a few more than that this year
um that's where all of our stunt shows
go on our bike shows that type of thing
um and then the Rockyard is where the
concert goes on I don't know why it's
not
clicking sorry okay okay um so as I said
the power yard it's nonstop energy and
excit
our event schedule has about 170 line
items on it right now and by the time we
hit the event we'll probably have closer
to 200 we're still adding items to our
event
schedule daily we have people who
contact us and say they want to come out
to the event they want to do something
so four different stunt shows we have a
stunt show that's identical twin
brothers performing stunts in the spun
Arena they do a lot of Tandem stents
it's a very unique thing we have the
aerial jumper who go off a ramp and do
their stunts 35 feet in the air we have
the globe of death which is a big steel
cage where two Riders go all around
upside down within inches of each other
and it's pretty um intense it's
Precision riding at its finest for sure
and then we have a new scent show we
brought out because evidently doing
stunts on two wheels wasn't scary enough
now we've got electric unicycles coming
out and these are just a wheel with a
motor on top no handlebars no seat
couple of foot pegs and they steer
completely with their legs and core and
these things go 50 miles an hour and if
that's not scary enough just to try to
ride one they're going to do stunts on
it including jumps in the equidone so
that's pretty exciting so just the stunt
shows alone are enough to draw people to
the event without all of the other
things we have those are very
familyfriendly type of activities the
stump Riders all love to see kids around
the arena as they go around and they
give them all high fives and it's a
really big part of um the stunt shows to
have the kids at the event we um have
live music on multiple stages we have um
daily charity rides Charities are a big
part of the biker community
um we do Factory demo rides the major
motorcycle manufacturers all come out
and give free demo rides for people who
are looking for a new bike and we have
all kinds of contests and games we have
bike shows we have more bike shows than
we've ever had before um we have some
new ones which is really exciting we
have the legendary rats hole bike show
this is a the oldest running bike show
in the motorcycle community and um it
started off as just people participating
in the show rather than showing off
their fancy bikes they were showing off
their rat bikes so the um one rule of
this event and this is the only bike
show I'm aware of that it has to run so
you have to start it in order to be in
the show other than that um they've
expanded the show now to include more
custom bikes and things like that but
the heart of that event is really the
rat bikes that come into it so it's very
prestigious for us to get that show here
it might not sound prestigious in the
motorcycle Community it's a big nod to
us being a major player in in the rally
world so we're excited to have that we
have um several other new shows coming
in as well I'll talk about some of those
a little
later um the Rockyard is our concert
arena we
um as you saw in the video this year's
lineup is Jackal Stone Temple Pilots mud
Vin and Five Finger Death Punch and
these are all very big names in The Rock
World um we offer a very reasonably
priced ticket to see these concerts what
we try to do is create a situation where
people who may not be able to afford to
go to four concerts in a week um are
able to do that with our concert series
our five-day pass is about
$100
and so um you can't go see a concert for
$100 anywhere we do this by making it
all inclusive by making it um you know
spreading the costs across all of our
attendees it helps keep those ticket
prices down your funding helps us to
keep those ticket prices down this is
how we've gotten to grow the event as
quickly as we have
faster than any other rally has grown in
history is because we're offering
tremendous value to get people in to get
people to come out and check it out to
get people to travel and explore more
have more funds left over to go do other
things our attendees are explorers they
get out they see the city they don't
come and stay in one
place these are our out of area
attendance statistics
um we had a big jump last year I think
we were at 44% out of area um in 23 and
last year it was
54% so we kind of broke that halfway
mark of over half of our attendees being
from out of Maricopa County and
um
47% of those out of area visitors stayed
in Scottdale hotels so we did a total
well based this is based on our survey
we do a postevent survey and um these
are calculations based on that we had a
sample size of
770 surveys um counted for
5579 room nights and the median daily
spending was
$339 we also sell out all of the
campgrounds at Westworld um we take over
handle the administration the registra
reservations and the check-in process
because we have massive numbers of
people coming in all in one day so it's
easiest for us to staff it rather than
putting that burden onto Westworld so we
take those all over we buy out all the
Lots we have them at um over 200
temporary RV spaces so we end up with um
I think close to 600 RV spaces we
usually have about aund tent campers as
well all of those room nights are
subject to bed tax so all of those fees
that we're collecting for the campsites
um do produce bed
taxs um the impact survey that the city
of Scott sale did this year estimated a$
15.2
million um visitor expenditures related
back to Arizona Bike Week
our consumers tend to be in their mid
40s um 58%
male uh they like to do all sorts of
outdoor adventure activities they um
were incorporating more and more vendors
for off-road types of activities and
camping and that kind of thing and um
they also enjoy shopping and dining
we've gotten to be known
as kind of the rally for the elite biker
so the professional who likes to ride on
the weekends um they come to our rally
because Westworld is nice it's clean
most of the other rallies are not in
nice locations they're dirty they're
muddy they're the portons are bad so um
so they do like to come to Scottsdale
where they can get some upscale
amenities they love to find dining and
shopping and that sort of
thing we um employ Geo fencing and
ticketing data to get our attendance
tracking done and
um as I said we're growing quite quickly
we did have a rough weather year in
24 unfortunately which we never have the
first week of April but it rained and it
was cold and it it did affect our local
attendance not our out ofate attendance
um we're fair weather writers here in
the Phoenix area because we can afford
to be so um the people who live here
locally just decided not to come out as
many times and um we're hoping to be
back on track with our perfect April
weather this year so we can start
growing our attendance at the rate that
it's been growing um
2026 uh 2027 will be our um 30th
anniversary anniversary years are really
big in the rally world so we're
expecting a big jump in attendance on
that
year our funding request as Steve said
um is broken is for
$622 um 10,000 of that is for um SEO web
development that you know our company
operates 51 weeks out of the year on the
internet and one week out of the year um
on site so th those are really important
elements to get the word out to make
sure that people are finding us um
digital advertising we incorporate all
forms of digital advertising everything
you can think of I couldn't begin to
Rattle them all off we hire experts to
do that everybody you know you might be
an expert in one part of Google one
element of Google and it's very
complicated it continues to get more
complicated I continue to hear
terminology from our contractors that I
haven't heard before and they continue
to educate us on new and different ways
you know they're answering they're
asking questions online and answering
them so when somebody else asks that
question there's an answer that comes up
so they're utilizing AI they're
utilizing every Avenue you can think of
and they're constantly schooling us and
what we need to do to continue to Target
and retarget
people um we're also bringing in um flat
track racing we used to have flat track
racing um it kind of tends to EB and
flow in
popularity uh motorcycle racing is huge
in California
and consistently here it it goes up and
down in popularity we're bringing back
FL track racing because we're seeing a
Resurgence of popularity and it's a
really good way for us to activate the
equidone we try to activate as
many spaces at Westworld as possible so
this is going to be um a really good way
of utilizing that space bringing people
into the eadom they sit down they watch
flat track racing the company that we've
contracted with with is also
incorporating some fun races bike games
blindfolded races jousting limbo things
like that to keep it a little bit um
light-hearted as
well this is our total marketing
campaign
um we put most of our marketing into
digital um a little bit into print our
the only reason we're doing as much
print as we're still doing is because
our publication the guide to write is a
souvenir for our attendees we distribute
it uh about six weeks before the event
it's going out right now and um it goes
to Harley-Davidson dealerships all over
the country they put it out for um their
customers they go they it drives them to
the dealerships people go collect their
guide toide they want to know what's
going on before they get here so um
people have been collecting those since
the first event so we can't stop
printing it even if we wanted to we do
an E edition but they want that paper
Edition to add to their
collection other than that we we put
most of our effort into
digital um we do have a massive
marketing campaign and we are getting
millions of impr
um social media is still huge for
advertising it it is really the best
bank forer Buck but um we do all sorts
of other
streaming that sort of thing
um and as I said we do have some print
distribution as
well Community impact um as I said the
biker community loves a charity they
they they're all about Brotherhood and
generosity they're very philanthropic
they're just good people so we do
charity rights we do make donations we
do uh auctions and that sort of thing
and any way we can help out the
different charities we're ready to reach
out and do
that so to add to our diversity this
year we have Incorporated a bike ship
vla is the Mexican Mexican amican nod to
motorcycle customization they're very
unique in that they are they're all
works of art a lot of custom engraving a
lot of um detailed airbrush they're
almost like murals on Wheels uh when we
reached out to
somebody gentleman named clay about
doing a vla show he was so excited he's
so high energy he's an influencer and
he's already got over a hundred bikes
signed up for this show a typical first
year bike show you're lucky to get about
25 bikes in it so and there's also no
incentive to pre-register for a bike
show so most people don't so we could
easily have 200 bikes in this first year
veha bike show we're very excited about
that most of the trends Motorsports
Trends come out of California and this
is no exception this was started by the
chano community in Southern California
and it is sweeping the nation we're
already seeing other events we were the
first to advertise vla bike show we're
already seeing other rallies start to
advertise that they're doing V bike
shows now so we do like to be Trend
Setters and you know um imitation is the
most sincere form of flattery but uh so
the vub bike show is very exciting we
also have a Native American charity ride
the Thunderbird throttle um and these
are all helping us reach different
demographics again um our request is for
62250 because there was a change in the
criteria that didn't allow us to apply
for the full
75,000 I do feel that our event um being
the size it is uh being the second
largest event at westw World um we're
doing the attendance in five days that
other events are getting in 10 days so I
I respectfully request that you would
consider the full 75,000 I'm not really
fully understanding the new criteria but
I did adhere to it because that's what
it said um I do feel that we're doing a
a considerable amount of international
advertising all of our digital is
international but evident that was the
um change in the funding criteria that
didn't allow us to get the full 75 I
want to thank you for your time are
there any
questions thank you very much Lisa I
appreciate that Steve can you just speak
to that for for just a moment yeah it's
it's as Lisa said it's based on the
international criteria we put in um
there's a percentage amount based on how
much actual spend is related to the
total marketing budget and then we
utilize that it was more beneficial
actually to get the 6250 is to move away
from that International side of it so
that was put in as you may recall going
into this fiscal year because it just
balance out better so that's why it's
reduced got it okay thank you Steve uh
Commissioners have any questions I'd
like to say something um I actually had
the opportunity to attend last year I've
never attended before and oh my gosh
there is a lot going on and I know you
mentioned some of the Charities you
support but one of the reasons I
attended is because you guys donated to
a veterans organ ganization that I
support and gave them space to be there
all weekend to support veterans so
something you didn't mention that I was
I thought was very cool and I'm sorry
for the weather last year it was awful
it'll be better this year but wow what a
big energy filled event so
congratulations ladies you did a great
job thank you very much Commissioners
have any other comments go ahead I have
one question about six slides back you
were talking about the percentages of
people out of town I was confused on
what percentage of what the percentage
of what number was it that unique out of
town visitor number or was it of the
95,000 um it was a a percentage of our
ticket purchases so $100 per ticket and
you sold was it
95,000 we didn't sell 95,000 tickets
because we have a lot of fed day tickets
I can't recall
38,000 does that sound right to you the
number of tickets we sld I guess I was
just trying to get the number of people
that stay in hotels and I couldn't
decipher it from that oh okay
um is that a first timer a
unique no the unique um is is as opposed
to attendance is based on people who
came through the gates every year and
then because they we do sell a lot of
five-day tickets people make multiple
visits so the unique visitors from out
of town was 12,000 and whatever that
number was and so um
you know our unique total visors was
like double that so um but they do use
those five-day passes an average of
about two and a half times
so I think I'm so confused but I don't
want to bore everybody with my confusion
so that's fine thank
you I just have one question um very
impressive uh longevity and and revenue
to the to the um Community thank you
very much I'm curious do you have the
you talk about the escalation of the the
the event over the next few years but
you also say you're using 200 temporary
spaces do you have the capacity and what
you need to grow to that
150,000 Northstar um factor and again it
seems like you're being creative with
the vla and the Native American trying
to continue to grow that which is also
impressive I'm just curious on Space how
you basically would add another 10
15,000 per day to get there so with the
campsites that we're selling out at West
right now we've got anywhere between two
and three, people staying on site the
whole week um so far those campsites
based on when we're selling out we know
that we have enough RV campsites um
moving forward we may be building
additional temporary lots to accommodate
um there are there there are
some camping lots that are not available
to us at
Westworld um because there are temporary
burns on them that that they don't want
to take down that's something you know I
think
there's an ol lot I can't recall how
many exactly spaces there are in there I
think around 40 but um so there there
are some other permanent pedestals that
we aren't able to utilize that maybe
down the road we could or we could add
additional temporary Lots we also have a
lot of Hotel visitors and and we
continue to build on our um Hotel
website we Outsource to crew Fair our
hotel partner and they create a site for
us and um so
okay Lisa thank you again for for your
presentation and thank you for your time
um it is a marvelous event it's been
here a very very long time so I applaud
um you and your team being an all-woman
team I applaud that too so thank you
very much uh the item on the agenda is
an ask for $
62,200
and we will entertain a motion at that
amount do we have a motion I move to
fund the
62,200 very good do we have a
second I second that thank you very much
all in favor I I thank you very much
much Steve thanks Lisa appreciate
it next item on the agenda is the 2026
women's final four funding uh this is a
presentation and a commission discussion
regarding the forthcoming funding
request to uh to support the Region's
effort in hosting the
2026 NCAA Women's final four Kyle
hedstrom uh Phoenix final four local
organizing committee welcome good good
morning good morning good morning
Commissioners and thank you for having
us here today um it feels great uh just
coming back from New York recently to be
back in this the other city that never
sleeps um as SNL mentioned uh my name is
kle ham and I'm here today to get you
excited informed and ready uh for the
2026 NCA women's final four before I do
that just a couple interesting notes
this is the sixth major event that
Arizona will be hosting in the last 12
12 years uh which is a record and
Scottdale um has been a major part of
all of those so so thank you ahead of
time and and
retroactively um for that
support so just a little bit about us we
are a 501c3 that has continued on from
the men's final four which was last year
um and we're about 409 days away um in
terms of the 2026 final four when it
will be here and um we've already begun
the planning um for for for the
tournament and for the final four when
it comes um and we're sure it's going to
be an amazing event again um our guiding
principles do not change depending on
the event there are three uh showcase
Arizona on a global platform hosting
these major events these it's commercial
for Arizona it's a commercial for all of
our cities here um um and and all of our
amazing amenities fuel the economic
engine for the region right when these
events come through there's obviously a
tremendous economic impact and a direct
impact on our local businesses and
vendors and the tourism industry of
course and then leave the lasting Legacy
this is a one week of time that we're
talking about um but we want to make
sure that we're we're capitalizing on
that opportunity and driving back um
Community Support um and giving that
will will long Outlast uh the 2026 final
four
week um so just a little bit about some
of the results um this will be our first
time hosting the women's final four and
why that's important is that for us to
continue um our our uh track record with
the
NCA we need to continue to do that well
we've done that well as I mentioned six
times over the last 12 years so we need
to continue to do that and um and we
we're already looking at at those um at
those metrics or those kpis that we want
to make sure that we're keeping in our
targets to to you know meet or exceed um
as we look at uh as what has been done
in the past um won't go through all of
these but I think the ticket price and
the viewership is very interesting both
of those are on par with a men's final
four um and in fact viewership did
exceed men's on on the championship game
so tremendous amount of impact a
tremendous amount of um uh commitment
that it takes and and that we give back
to the community Through the event as it
comes through um in
2026 um and we want to continue to show
NCA that we can meet these these
challenges and and rise to the
opportunity so that they can continue to
bring their Championship events back to
Arizona getting into some
some data and I'm taking a quick look at
some of the tourism uh data around the
2024 men's final four um it continues to
show a trend of incremental success for
Scottsdale again won't go through all of
this but through some thirdparty data we
can see that the
incremental uh hotel and short
short-term rental tax uh for 2024 this
is looking at the 202 four final four
weekend and comparing it to the same
weekend the year prior we are looking at
a 581,000
incremental tax um dollars that were
driven back to the city of Scottdale so
um tremendous in terms of uh of the
results um and a tremendous partnership
with the city um to drive a lot of that
um and then as we look ahead to 2026 and
the women's final four um there are
there is a a large uh room Block in
place uh with a couple other things that
I'll touch on in a minute so we can we
look ahead uh and look or get excited
for some additional um success in
26 a little bit on the marketing
inclusion um want to highlight some of
the continued partnership and planning
elements from here on through and it's
these are elements that we've built over
these past 12 years years um in
partnership with the city and with our
our our partners at Experience
Scottsdale finding ways that we are
enhancing the event we're driving the
message and uh we're engaging residents
and visitors alike so obviously our
website it's a number one destination
for anyone that's going to be Googling
2026 women's final four um so
incorporating the city into that with a
phenomenal travel information and
ability to plan your your trip to to to
Arizona um marketing Communications
Council this is something that we set up
a couple years back where we have a
collection of uh of all the cities and a
few other key stakeholders who are part
of this Council and guide um the
marketing Communications plan leading
all the way up to the final four and of
course social media rounding that out um
a lot of opportunity there um some of it
we saw as we had a phenomenal uh uh
Bridge activation over the canal for
men's final four where we really tapped
into that and drove some some
competitions and some really good
engagement so Community engagement um
the trophy tour is similar to what we've
done in the past um but we are able to
bring this to select Scottdale events so
that's the trophy um we be doing
giveaways um there is a sweep Stakes all
kinds of fun to engage um the event
attendees uh we've got the read to the
final four um this is a phenomenal
program my daughter uh who goes to
cooches um she'll finally be a third
grader this program has run specifically
targeting third graders so as a dad you
can imagine I'm very excited to both be
working on this and hopefully
encouraging my daughter to to read uh a
million minutes um there were 20 million
minutes um for 2024 so we're looking
we're looking ahead to engaging as many
Scottsdale schools and schools across
the state as we possibly can um so we
did a phenomenal job we've continued
that on so this will be our third year
in a row running this program Incredible
engagement support across across the
state from both pivate private and
public
sectors um our business connect
program is um our um our supplier
diversity initiative which is women
veteran minority and lgbtq businesses
that can qualify um if they provide
event related services so we focus on
bringing them
together and um providing them
opportunities to to network um to
receive bids or opportunities to bid on
on projects and and overall over all the
year engage with them U there were about
20 plus businesses Scottdale businesses
as part of that program last year
volunteers um can't do any of these
events without without a very large
volunteer base uh we continue to see
amazing engagement from across the state
for volunteers I'm sure all of you have
seen that um 20% of our volunteers
actually came from Scottdale so we love
that we want to continue to make sure
that that opportunity is presented and
um we have that continued
engagement the last one here is is
unique and very exciting um we've been
working with um as I mentioned our
partners at experiened scotdale to
identify 18 team Hotel here in Scottdale
that will host one of the women's teams
that will be part of the final four um
so we're working on that right now and
um uh we'll work also to collaborate on
ways to engage and welcome that group um
because that is the team the band the
sponsors the um Administration and a a
very large group so very exciting as we
we hone in on where those team hotels
would
be events and planning long list here
again stay with me here fam trip uh we
will host the NCA the media in this case
the broadcast Partners ESPN and all of
the sponsors related to the than this
summer so making sure um that uh as as
you all can identify um your the
Scottsdale representative to be included
in that fam trip um so that we are
representing the state as a whole to to
the NCA the ESPN and all the sponsors
and talking about the great Scottdale
venues or opportunities u in terms of
experiences that they can have as
they're looking to finalize their plans
for
2026 so kind of similar with the
Scottdale venues um and the NCA planning
trips we want to make sure that we're
putting those opportunities in front of
all these folks um ahead of time and
then re reiterating that as as we're
doing and going through our planning uh
we also want to host the NCA at a at a
planning
um event here in Scottsdale we did that
last year it was phenomenal they loved
it um yeah and just make sure that we're
we're we're highlighting as many uh
venues and experiences as we can uh
throughout the planning CEO forum is one
that um personally I'm I I really enjoy
this one is where we inviting CEOs from
around the country to come to Arizona
and learn wise is a great place to move
your business um so we'll be hosting um
that program
um again around the 2026 final four and
are exploring hosting that program at a
Scottdale
Resort um again a ton of opportunities
to engage with not only those CEOs but
our partners and um and and everyone
that's a part of that so the last two
here the Legends Legacy reception and
NCA so these are two specific events
that we will be helping the NCA execute
so finding um great spot uh venue and or
experiences around these will be
incredibly important as we lead up to
the event um uh the Legends and Legacy
are just local Legends highlighting them
and giving them the recognition um for
what they have done um in the year past
um as it might relate to college or the
NCA or women's women's basketball and
then the NCA salute is excuse me hosting
players and the NCA committee that
dictates women's B basketball for a
night and it's a very unique and local
experience um that we want to put
together and so continue to work on
those two and identifying the best place
to host
them the last bit is just some of the
Scottdale access that we would include
um this is you know mimicked after what
we've done in past events but we've got
several several different Hospitality
elements and and events that we will be
hosting leading up to the final four but
of course the game uh the final four
games and the championship including
tickets um tailgate um and access across
the
board and that is it flew through that
so look forward as it said this is going
to be the sixth major event in 12 years
something that no other city or state
has accomplished and through all of them
city of Scotsdale has been a tremendous
partner so we want to continue that
continue our relationship and we want to
continue to work together with you all
and execute a record-breaking final
floor that any questions thank you very
much Kyle appreciate your presentation
um Steve do we have a an a number that
that they're looking for in General yet
or we do as I recall it's around
220,000 okay uh for support um and staff
will be coming back at a future meeting
uh with some analysis related to that
okay deliverables more numbers on rooms
those kind of things like similar what
we did for the men's final four sure so
we'll be coming back with that number
and a request for funding okay very good
thank you for the clarification
commission I should note that's Pro the
request amounts probably half of what
the men's was um so it's it's been
reduced for the women's okay very good
Commissioners have questions comments
just one more ignorant moment from me is
the game in Glendale or is it in Phoenix
the game is at the Suns of mercury Arena
it's foot okay thank you
very good thank you Kyle thank you thank
you we look forward to seeing you again
thanks next item on the agenda is the
tourism funding request for the stadium
CIP project uh for 2024 2025 and future
year
2526 um the presentation and discussion
and possible recommendation to include
uh up to a total of 6.6 million funding
for for for year 20 2425 and 2526
tourism Development Fund for the
Scottdale center field burm the
scoreboard the gate a entry Plaza and
day park Capital project chrish Walsh
Parks and Recreation manager and Croy
ea uh strategic projects uh staff
contact thanks gentlemen thanks for
being here yeah thank you and that's a
lot to say so thank you morning you
covered it just to the te thank you um
yeah so once again I'm I'm Chris Walsh
Sparks and Recreation manager I oversee
uh the Scottdale Stadium team who
facilitates and maintains uh the
Scottdale
stadium so I know I was uh presented at
last month's meeting and a few of you
were able to attend and and go out and
walk our recent completed left field
burn project and
I'll take you through first some maybe
some history and then kind of uh looking
forward on on what we're looking to get
done
so so really in 2015 we
began uh discussions with the Giants and
the Scott stale charos in in regards to
kind of long-term goals for for everyone
um for the Giants obviously it was
professional baseball improvements um we
started some of those improvements
actually uh in 2017
2018 uh Fan Experience enhancements
facility maintenance operation updates
just kind of bringing the facility up to
speed on certain certain areas and in
2019 we we reached the the new baseball
facilities agreement which includes the
city the San Francisco Giants and the
Scottdale charos and in 2020 um so while
that contract was signed in 2019 we went
right to work we had 10 months to to
complete uh phase one which was really
our 42,000 ft Clubhouse which involves
the 10,000 sare foot of our Fieldhouse
space which is our multiuse space our
banion our banon room space which is on
the third level uh some press level
Renovations and uh some some other um
improvements that that were a little bit
smaller along the way in
2023 we started our phase two and really
the the the reason for that Gap was
obviously covid um had had set us on a
pause there but in 2023 we had completed
the the first base deck and the third
base concession pads and I'll I've got
an aerial uh to kind of highlight those
and in this
2024 we started to work on the left
field berm the deck and the restroom and
the day park uh which is what some of
you had toured last month so and we're
looking to do starting here uh
potentially in April would be um the the
phase two what we would call Phase 2 C
which is really the continuation of the
leftfield burm and day park over to the
batter's eye with the gayday uh Plaza
improvements um which really is kind of
the the final element of of the
project so here before you on on the
left side of the screen just highlighted
some areas from 2017
2023 again this is pretty this
represents you know just how much of an
impact we've made we've almost touched
the entire Tire Campus of the stadium uh
on the left side the the two half Fields
those were done right around the the
winter time of 2017 2018 we moved just
to the south of those two half fields we
improved uh some protection to the homes
to the east with with 80 foot uh poles
and netting and then we moved just to
the west of that practice field with our
uh 42,000 square foot Clubhouse and
operations building for our staff uh
press level
Renovations um the first Bas patios
included and then on that third base
side that little blue strip that that
was really an improvement to help kind
of uh in increase circulation for fans
and provide a a uh space for vendors
during spring training and even during
special events so and then on the right
side 2017 2026 really Paints the paints
the larger picture um the the
highlighted yellow area is really uh
what what is now just our left field
burm deck day park um which will be
available to all spring training gas
starting uh in in just a few days so we
we open the season on Sunday and we're
really excited uh so what I'm really
here to talk to you about today is is
the the green portion the the lime green
portion um is the the continuation of
what would be an elevated uh Concourse
and
Plaza uh as well as the the gate
improvements um and as you can see the
the parking lot that is uh all the way
up on the top of your screen there that
is part of a bond 2019 voter approved
project uh to increase parking uh in
that in that back lot so we thought it
would be wise there's probably some
construction efficiencies there to run
those two projects together um but that
is a separately funded project as part
of the
bond so again just some photos for those
of you that may not be familiar that's
uh the the upper left is the the new
Giants Clubhouse SL locker room which um
you know we're able to kind of give
tours of and people really enjoy it when
when they're come to look to to host
their event and then down on the lower
right hand side uh the the corner there
is is really kind of our anchor Event
Center which is 10,000 square foot and
I'm I'm sure some of you probably have
taken part of those conversations back
in 2019 or maybe' even uh been an
attendee at our event uh hosted
here uh these are just some examples of
of our multiuse
uh inside of our inside of our
Fieldhouse so we do everything from
trade shows to uh small conferences to
really large gal events
um our first base patio uh that was
again completed in 2024 we use this for
a number of different things we used it
for the Pack 12 baseball tournament um
the Giants obviously use this during
spring training whether it's a single
day ticket or maybe it's a a group type
type type sales package um but this is a
really popular space before we had built
this space we had just simply some
aluminum bleachers that you know while
they were that they were okay seats for
spring training um you know I think the
the fans and the competitive nature of
Cactus League Baseball facilities now um
fans are looking for something a little
bit different as well as you know our
our event clients throughout the
remainder of the year um just just
really want to be outside and enjoy the
great Arizona weather so this space has
been a very popular space throughout the
year for hosting conference launches or
even smaller events so um it's right
size between the Fieldhouse and our Char
Lodge um so it just goes to show that
we've really concentrated and really
tried to figure out a way to make sure
that things not only work for spring
training but also for us throughout the
remainder of the year
the left field burm uh is opening on
Sunday we're super excited we've got the
uh covered deck there as you can see um
and then we've got about 35 trees out on
that berm um for for the remainder of
the year and uh our intent is to open
this as soon as spring training
concludes so folks can come in while
while the stadium is unreserved and and
the facility staff to you know come in
grab have a bite to eat have your lunch
maybe read a book there um I think our
staff are talking with the library folks
about you know maybe maybe uh bringing
some of the the the kiddos over and
having some story times over there since
it's you
know we're really excited we're we've
always got folks around the the stadium
that are trying to peek through the
gates and things like that so this will
this will provide an opportunity for
those that are in the Oldtown area to
come come in watch our ground screw
maybe see what's going on at the stadium
so and this is uh these two
illustrations are really just the
concept that that we had during the
design phase and kind of what we
delivered on so I feel like um you know
we did exactly what we said we were
going to do so it's pretty exciting to
see how it turned
out just a few more
renderings okay so the the Centerfield
the Centerfield BM day park Pro project
gate a improvements um what that
essentially does for us is it connects
the left field
burm through uh over to kind of our
batter's eye area which provides um
improved Ada access right now the the
left field burm uh the The Hardscape
there just is pretty much stops and and
you run into kind of the the grassy burm
there so um you know it brings the
elevation up provides some additional
viewing corridors it also allows us then
throughout the year to be able to open
up gate F off of drink water and have
those folks flow through and exit out on
the on the 75th Street um and with the
the parking lot project um you know we
looked at maybe some potential ways to
also improve gate a so you know if we've
got additional parking back here um
we've got pretty limited parking in in
the front of of Osborne parking lot for
events so typically they they use the
parking garage uh between us and the
Civic Center Library um so you know it
it it would certainly enhance that sense
of arrival right now um we do have a
gate back there but it's tucked away and
it's it's uh uh really adjacent to our
two trash compactors and some kind of
back a house space so not necessarily
the most inviting uh gate it is utilized
it does function uh does serve a purpose
during spring but we felt like uh with
our growing event business at the
stadium we could um you know utilize
this and take some of the pressure off
both the parking garage and our our
front gate there
so so just some renderings um the top
left is the uh looking from the north
back towards the the field field and and
right now the we do have a small walkway
that leads out on the grass burn but
again you can kind of see uh the the
connection there that that would be from
the essentially the batter's eye all the
way over to left field burn so and we
would we would actually gain um we would
definitely gain some some viewing
Corridor space as well as just some
functional space for not only spring
training but but our special events
throughout the year um and and the
Giants are currently exploring uh
replacing the scoreboard so if that was
the case we would want to we would want
to elevate that board so you have some
viewing Corridor under underneath there
and keep that pedestrian flow
going just some additional renderings
looking from from the field kind of that
connection piece right now we we lose
that uh that Hardscape connection uh at
the end of our new left field burn patio
space space
so and I'm sure you all have some
questions be happy to answer any of
those thank you very much Chris
appreciate the uh presentation um
Commissioners have
questions I just have one question do we
I don't even know if it's um that we
speak about do we know the revenues of
this Stadium to the like how much you
make on a in 24 or 23 like what would I
don't know if that's something we talk
about for this amount of money or if
that's something that's discussed
somewhere
else yeah so our our revenues are
derived from a a number of different
different Avenues right so you've we've
got as part of the new agreement we've
got the the Giants uh reimbursement
we've got some reimbursement from from
the charos as well as far as um the
maintenance and operation and expense to
to maintain the the facility throughout
the year um they've also put in capital
dollars uh as well as our food and
beverage Partners um as part of this
phase one project but you know typically
outside of that we're right around
three4 of a million dollars um in in
revenue from special events food and
beverage packages um and you know our
our staff they are small But Mighty uh
they're a dedicated team of
professionals that are always looking at
ways to continue to activate the stadium
and and really balance out what we can
do um creatively whether it's an
internal event or something that we
partner you know uh from an event host
with so Lance thanks so much for your
question Steve if you could just give us
just a bit of clarification on the ask I
know there's it's a split um for funding
I'm I'm gonna let Rachel please Rachel
yep uh chair and commission actually we
have been crunching numbers all weekend
so if I may call uh Judy Doyle senior
director of operations for all of our
best places in Scottdale she may have
the most upto-date information thank you
very much appreciate
it good morning chair and Commissioners
yes I'm Judy Doyle yeah we were
crunching some numbers over the weekend
and um unfortunately I don't have what
that overall split would be uh we are
looking at potentially just asking for
the general fund portion in fiscal year
2425 which is about 3.3
million and then that tourism funds
potentially in
2526 the stadium facility fund is also
going to contribute a million dollars to
the
project but as I said we're still trying
to talk with our Capital project
management team to confirm that we can
uh split that over the two fiscal years
so overall the project is almost $1
million 6.6 million would be from the
tourism Development Fund very good and
also too with the bond there was a
mention of bond funding that was uh
going to facilitate some of the cost is
that uh inclusive of the 6.6 or is
that chair and uh members of the
commission the reference to the bond
funding was for phase one of the project
uh which has been completed
okay okay very good thank you very much
Commissioners have questions I have a
question it looked like it started in
2019 correct 2025 now yeah I'm just
going to do easy math said seven years
so if we were to do the payback on
quarter three quers of a million dollars
in the next six years are we're going to
have to start this project all over
again and just be getting paid paid off
and then start another $6 million
project I'm just a little concerned at
how it pays itself off and how we
benefit especially when we don't have
all the metrics so everyone can make a
you know a business decision here and
certainly and that's a great question
and certainly you know we have our
Revenue that continues to come in but we
also have I think some indirect benefits
right from hotel room nights the impact
of of spring training and you know this
to to finalize
this project and I'm not you know uh I'm
not saying that we'll never do anything
again but this really kind of completes
our our Loop of of the property now
there's some other Capital Pro projects
that you know upkeep of the stadium and
things like that but really this is you
know um what we've always been working
towards as part of the you know what
started as 2015 master plan
so real quick so with this um with these
projects is there any more opportunity
for ticket sales because it looks like
there's going to be more accessible
seating and things like that so does
this increase your ability to maybe
bring in more Revenue yeah and you know
while I think we'll discuss that with
the Giants they're certainly enhanced
viewing um I I can't tell you today you
know if our attendance or if our Max
Capacity would go from 12 to 12250 you
know um because it's it's also about
experience right um you know but we we
certainly that's certainly something to
to look at as we move through this
so I would just going to say I mean it's
750 per year but let's be honest it's
probably half of that um when you take
out the cost of of what it takes to
operate that that facility I I think I
would like to see what the impact is for
spring training what the impact is to
the community and fairness to making
this large of a decision for this long
of a term I don't disagree that it's a a
very important part of the community but
I think In fairness we should see what
that number is of how many Hotel nights
or what that spring training is like we
do for every other person that comes in
front of us um that is asking for far
less money um that's just my opinion so
we but that's how I would look at it
thank you very much Steve can you speak
to that mam chair Commissioners the
latest report we've receiv received was
2023 I believe it's correct um there was
in that report as I recall there was
nothing specifically drawn out from the
Scott still Stadium the last one I saw
was from 2018 which did have numbers um
that's kind of dated U but we have some
economic impact numbers associated with
scell Stadium specifically from
2018 in a lot of cases I I have a
tendency to agree with what uh
commissioner Marin just said with
regards to the numbers and the figures
and everything else to substantiate
you know a 6.6 ask of of the stadium now
uh the stadium is a huge resource to our
city and to our community and a huge um
driver to you know everything that we
have within our city there's so much
that goes into spring training I just
think we need a bit more information
Steve
honestly so there there's no opin you
rather have more information prior to
making a recommendation is that to
clarify I think we need a bit more
information and if the Commissioners um
have any other opinions or any other um
questions please please I have one other
question as well I think our major
competitors here too I'd like to see how
we um compete against Sloan Park and
Salt River Fields which I think we all
know are the three you know most popular
venues for spring training and see what
that economic impact is to US versus you
know those competitors and see what we
can do in the future if we're going to
make this in investment to be on par
with what they have as
well to address that we can I can send
out the latest report to the commission
following this meeting okay that would
be great Steve thank
you Croy is there anything else that you
would like to add to any of this
information
excuse us chair and commission it's a
bit of a timing issue as you know we
want to do a project so that it will be
finished in time for spring training
next year and so I think that
understanding if bringing it back in
another whole month um will work for
continuing the project this in 25 26
uh good morning uh my name's cak bla um
I work on strategic projects for the
city of Scottdale um chair and members
of the commission um
we'll be able to come back and provide
more detailed uh responses to those
questions I think we have good
information for you on those um the date
of the next meeting
is March March 18th um I think we can
make that work as far as with the
council um dates um we have a we'll
probably be going that evening to the
council uh for the issuance of the
contract and I think if we have uh
everything lined up in an order I think
we would be able to move that forward
than the same time frame okay that
sounds great um do you need a motion on
this Steve to continue okay okay very
good Troy uh Croy thank you very much
thank you Chris thank you Judy thank you
everybody for the presentation the
information thanking my Commissioners
for all of their great question
questions and and and car and concern on
this project thank you we look forward
to uh hearing about it in
March uh the next item on the agenda is
the Scottdale jazz festival new event
funding request presentation and
commission discussion and possible
recommendation to council for uh bed tax
expenditure up to 30,000 to support a
one-year event funding agreement with
International Jazz day Arizona
Foundation Doc Jones will be here to
present welcome
gentlemen good morning commission uh
good morning uh chairperson Alpa Vice
chair thank you for hearing us this
morning uh as we present to you I also
want to express some sincere thanks to
the extraordinary City staff who has
helped us uh navigating this process and
um we love and appreciate because they
work uh incredibly hard every day um for
on behalf of this great community and we
want to express our sincere thank to
them it's been uh an interesting lots of
changes at the city right now and we
want to know we want them to know how
much we appreciate their work um I think
I know everybody here but just in case
I'm ger vman president CE of scoty Arts
I'm here in a small supporting role
because we joined um our friends at the
Jazz Festival this year as the location
partner um so I'll fade back in a second
and I think operate the clicker um but I
want to introduce to you um The Man
Behind jazz festival I've known him
since I've been here almost seven years
now and he has really worked on behalf
of jazz in this community and across the
valley for many decades often starting
Grassroots and then moving forward to
really make sure that jazz has its
rightful place here in Arizona so I'll
turn it over to my friend William Doc
Jones thank you very much welcome to ger
I'm I'm sorry good morning uh councils
and once again we want to thank
everybody St Steve has really worked
with us for a number of years now as you
know and I'm get this clicker ready to
go what is the sky jazz festival
Scottdale jazz festival first of all
brings attention to this art form that
was created here in America and
exploited all over the world my base and
my foundation and blueprint is from New
Orleans and New Orleans has started with
300 people 40 years ago and now over
100,000 people show up so one of the
things that we want to bring attention
to is that we have and have an
opportunity to grow and become a
national destination for this art form
called Jazz
introducing and the p uh the purpose who
I am my name is William Doc Jones I've
been musician and educator for over 40
years um and one of the things that I'm
proud of is that we have a nonprofit
organization
501c3 that has been doing things all
over the city uh really over the state
in terms of helping young people keep uh
keep going in this uh art form my
relationship with Herby Hancock and
United Nations is turned turn out to be
something special they started 12 years
ago and now 196 countries on
International Jazz day have some kind of
event
going I don't know if this
is
start and I'd like to congratulate Doc
Jones and the international Jazz day a
foundation for their great work bringing
International jazz Jaz Day Celebrations
to the State of Arizona on behalf of
UNESCO and the tonis monk Institute of
jazz I wish you success most of all have
a happy International Jazz
day and I don't know where to go from
there I
guess the partnership as we just said
for years I've been working to get this
relationship with the skytale Arts
because of their great work that they've
done and once we join forces we have an
opportunity to truly bring the whole
state involved in what we're doing in
terms of just not jazz is a big genre
it's a lot of different parts to Jazz
Latin jazz smooth jazz the whole
scenario so that's one of the things so
this collaboration with him bring uh
brings our invent now to a Next Level
and I
guess one of the things here is the type
of talent this year here we was able to
bring in a 12 time Grammy Award winner
which is Rick Brown and Richard Elliott
this group up under them turning point
they're well known all over the world
and they joined us for the first time
this
year projected
attendance we we know this year we hit
uh last year we hit 2700 we had to stop
selling tickets we're going to be up
around 3,000 so we're looking forward to
Growing that um marketing I have a
person that I brought on to help me with
marketing and she would just say a
little things a few words Alicia would
you mind say just a few words about our
marketing
strategy good morning Commissioners
thank you for having me uh my name is
Alicia haod I'm helping with marketing
for the Scottsville Jazz Festival this
year um my background is in me marketing
and television production for 20 years
so I'm bringing my values and resources
to this Festival we are working with our
local TV stations to get him on air
segments starting last week leading up
through March and April we have Channel
10 that is ready to air in segment every
single weekend for four weeks in a row
to get the repetition and remind people
to buy tickets um we are working with
the city lifestyle luxury brand to get
them into every magazine here in the
valley from Scottsdale Paradise Valley
Chandler Gilbert auki tempy um surprise
Tucson and more there's 12 Publications
they're all going to put something in
their magazine to promote the event
event as well as P pictures of the event
post to show the fund to lead up to want
to buy tickets for next year as well uh
social media and influencers are being
involved to try to bring more awareness
um as well with it we're doing more
Google ads to bring in some more
National and international as we all
know Chicago New Orleans we have a lot
of visitors from there they are massive
Jazz fans so we are targeting our
audience and marketing towards them to
bring them into the city for out ofate
tourism uh we're working on podcasting
we've done editorials in the magazine
radio spots commercials as well so
that's how we're using our local and
National um resources to bring more
awareness to Scotts J Festival to get
more people
here this is um the reasons that I do
what I do once again International JZ a
foundation works with inner city kids as
well as young people uh that want to
learn this music we don't teach them to
become professional musicians but just
allow them to be able to tap into their
creative uh uh their creative energies
on that how did I wind up in Scottsdale
you know I've been doing things all over
the state really for the last 14 years
but I was introduced to a gentleman um
his name is Max Max rber we just want to
just say something quick to them Max is
the former president of uh the Rotary
Club as well as uh sister cities and
this is this is my mentor and this is
the reason that I do what I do for
because of
Max as doc says I'm Max rumo I've been
before the commission before and uh have
been able to watch it grow and succeed
uh this year one of the things I thought
we should mention to you is the fact
that uh we're going to uh Doc is going
to lead a group of musicians from the
valley including one from Chicago to go
into son
Mexico in order to uh promote the
Scottdale jazz festival it'll be March
the 12th through the 17th uh going
hitting the plan is to hit three cities
down there in order to get uh more uh
awareness of jazz and more awareness of
the Scotto jazz festival down in that
area and uh I guess I could also say
I've been had the pleasure working with
Doc for the last several years and uh uh
say that he delivers and I think that
you'll see that that'll happen if you
support his mission again this year
thank
you this is a financial summary doc you
man go through the financial
summary sure we created a very solid and
very conservative budget for the event
as you can see we expect that our total
event expenses are running right around
165,000 for the year um so the ask or
making of the commission at 30 ,000 is
right in line with I think where we are
in terms of event expenses um last year
we uh actually last year was a bit of a
breakout year for the event I think we
by far succeeded that goal um but
exceeded that goal but I think for this
year we again wanted to under ask and
overd deliver hopefully at the end of
the
year that under as part uh it they had
to really work with me to bring that ask
down and the reason is that we're now at
this threshold the threshold
of turning this into a major event and I
understand why they was asked me to know
to bring it down and that was because of
our marketing budget our marketing
budget was only
$20,000 but two weeks ago uh our title
sponsor has pledged to put 65,000 into
my marketing budget so we now have a
solid marketing budget and I would ask
the commission to consider possible
funds that you did last year and if it's
a Poss possibility that you will we
really have I can turn this into a
really big event this year thank
you marketing some supporters as you of
course you know Rachel and and the new
uh CEO of um the Fiesta Bowl last year
did commercials for us and did a great
job which helped push this over he was
the he was on the board of directors for
the jazz festival in Washington before
he took on this job so he understand the
value of of a jazz festival and the
growth and what it can bring
economically to the state and to the
city once again this is uh Herby me and
him talking about what is the what is
the long-term goal some of you guys see
that football over there with all the
brains on it well my vision is to put on
the Super Bowl of jazz festival UNESCO
and HBY Hancock every year selects a
city to do their host do their Global
event and right now it takes a lot to
get the global event here but I know
we're in the right lane now with the
partnership that I have that by 2028 we
could have the United Nations right here
in the state in the city of of Scottdale
with this event which will turn into a
7day u we 7-Day presentation so that's
where we at now please please consider
uh the budget that we have that we ask
and possibly give me my budget from last
year of my grand from last
year and if you do this is what happened
did you take
[Music]
this I'm bring this group in from car
where we can get more money
[Music]
[Music]
once again thank you very much for you
entertain me and uh hope to see you at
the Jazz Festival this year any
questions thank you very much doc thank
you gerd thank you very much if if I can
uh give you one closing thought um as I
mentioned I've known doc since my I
think second month here when he was
celebrating International jazz festival
out on the uh on the small not yet
renovated Civic Center areas and um I've
watched uh this Festival grow over the
years from a very grassroot sting to
what now is scel JazzFest I think even
through the pandemic Doc's combination
of tenacity and buoyancy has somehow
allowed this to go forward and grow and
last year I think really was a bit of a
breakout here we had a tremendous
success moving to the beautiful new East
Bowl just outside of this building here
which makes for a great location for
this um at that point I thought we would
it behoove us to partner with the
organization to give it some longterm
stability to allow us to look forward to
let's say what happens in five years
when this is a two or three Day Festival
and it encompasses the entire Civic
Center I think Scott sell is a fabulous
location for jazz I think we should uh
really be proud of this as one of our
heritage art forms in this country and I
think bringing it to this wonderful
setting out here is amazing we wanted to
make a modest ask this year in line with
the tier one prerequisites uh in the TDC
guidelines and uh we ask you to
hopefully support this thank you so much
thank you very much gentl I appreciate
it um I just wanted to make a quick
comment um with regards to the event on
the 26th of April um I see that you're
featuring Quincy Jones and all of his
music and I'm a huge huge lover of
Quincy and and everything that he's done
for sure so it was really nice to see
that in the little um information that
we received so I applaud you for that
Commissioners have any questions
concerns I think last year what was the
number last year
Steve the amount funded last year excuse
me was
$65,000 right this is agendized at
30,000 this year based on uh the request
that came to us last week when we put
together the packet so it's up to 30,000
is the okay
ask okay since there's no question
questions I would entertain a motion to
approve the $30,000 request to support
uh the one-year funding event for the
Scottdale jazz
festival I move to support the $30,000
ask thank you very much do we have a
second I second it thank you very much
all in favor I I thank thank you
appreciate
it thanks so much uh next item on the
agenda is the event program funding
requests uh it appears that we have a
total of five and uh the total ask for
this is 79,000 79,000 between the
community event funding program with
total is 55,000 two event venue fee
programs at 24,000 so the recommendation
from staff is requesting a to approve
the funding as presented very good any
questions on any of the either community
events or event venue fee uh programs
I move to recommend Community event
funding at 55 and the event venue
funding total request at 24 very good do
we have a second on the total request of
79,000 I'll second that very good all in
favor I I thank you very thank you thank
you very
much next item uh would be staff reports
mam chair in the interest of time I know
we've an hour and a half into the
meeting unless you has some specific
questions I think we'll come back next
month and and kind of bring it together
maybe in a three Monon three-month data
collection presentation sure we can do
that Steve absolutely um and so the line
item two uh did you want to slot that in
there before the commissioner's report
okay so line item to the ex election of
the chair and vice chair um I I can't
say enough about staff and the team and
everybody that I have had a chance to
work with during this full year of of
being a chair of this commission um I've
served on other Commissions in the past
and I've provided um a board chair
support um and I have to say that uh the
information and the um uh the the trust
and the
absolute um encouragement from staff and
from other Commissioners uh has been
tremendous so with that I am stepping
down and I would like to nominate uh
Anna manir to fulfill the um role as
chair uh and I'm I'm hoping Steve that I
can recommend that um yes you can you
can go through the process for both if
you like okay chair and vice chair great
um so I would entertain a motion uh to
approve uh Anna maner for the chair
position for the next year I'll make
that motion to approve Anam manir for
the chair position very good do we have
a second second that motion all in favor
I thank you very much appreciate that
very very much uh welcome
thanks um so and then the second item uh
would be for the vice chair um and I I
believe that I'm going to let Anna speak
to that um so by all means thank you so
much um and thank you all for your
confidence um in me stepping in as chair
for the next year
um I would like to um make a nomination
for the vice chair the chair and vice
chair work so closely with staff um and
I think if Chris Montgomery would be
willing to step in with me and have the
the time to do so um with your tenure on
on the commission and your knowledge in
business and things I would be honored
to have you accept the role should we
get the
Motions I would make that
motion I would second very very good are
you willing to accept I guess we should
ask I I didn't know what the process was
um I'm voting for me deal I
figured all those in favor of Chris
Montgomery San as our vice chair
I thank
you so line item 11 I'll just finish the
meeting out so um line item 11 is the
commissioner's report um I just wanted
to say a few things so um I had a chance
to walk in the prodal soul parade I had
an absolute blast um I'm a graduate of
Scottsdale Community College um ecoin
science uh huge fan of that program and
I couldn't have been more deeply honored
and have had the chance to do that saw
some friends along the way saw Brent and
Rachel and uh my buddy Bob Frost down at
the uh West
Museum um you know he gave me a big hug
so that was awesome um I wanted to uh
speak a bit about the Arizona Music
Festival um Alan napin um actually came
to our board um and talked about the
Arizona festival at the Arizona Music
Festival that is um and it's held out at
Highlands church it's a huge venue and I
had the chance I purchased my own ticket
I went and saw a performer yesterday
afternoon yes they have um opportunities
in the afternoon and um I saw this young
woman who uh does a very good job of a
Whitney Houston impression and she did
an amazing concert um uh up dancing and
singing and all of this stuff and it was
a huge crowd so and I had a chance to to
see Allan and shake his hand and thank
him for the U opportunity to attend this
event and and um that he hosts this huge
event and there's so many people and I
was listening to some of the
conversations that were going on around
um and everybody loved it every single
person was like that was fantastic every
concert here and I had a chance to ask a
couple people and they just love it so
um I'm just really really thrilled about
that um and I I just again want to thank
staff and everyone that has um certainly
helped me in this in this chair role and
um thanks thank you everybody if anybody
has anything else to um speak
about okay very good we will entertain a
motion to oh any public comment no
public comment okay very good um and
identifying future agenda
items next month we'll probably be
presenting the event funding programs
just as you know an update and then
request you know some feedback regarding
them that's our four funding programs
that we just went through today um we'll
probably have an update again on the
staff report a little more detailed on
that um and I believe I don't know if
Rachel you have anything oh the stadium
will be coming forth as we discussed a
little bit earlier is there anything
from the commission you'd like to hear
about uh no not at this time Steve I
think you got it for sure uh entertain a
motion to adjourn the
meeting I second that all right motion I
mission to ituring the meeting we have a
second sorry
second okay very good all in
favor thanks so much thank you thank you