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World Rowing Championship returns to United States soil for the first time in since 1994. The competition could be one of the biggest single events in Southwest Florida history: it is expected to bring more than 40,000 attendants and 1,700 athletes from more than 60 countries with an economic impact of roughly $25 million.
Nathan Benderson Park was established in 2011, after Sarasota County awarded a private real estate firm, Benderson Development Co., a no-bid, multimillion-dollar contract to dredge and shape an excavation pit into the 600-acre park that exists today. Suncoast Aquatic Nature Center Associates, the nonprofit that operates the park, formed shortly after to handle park operations, and is supported through tourist tax revenues issued by Sarasota County.
Southwest Florida secured the world event in 2013, which launched nearly four years of preparation before the world rowing community’s eyes turn to Sarasota.
“There isn’t anything like this in the United States that I’m aware of,” Manatee County Commission Chairman Vanessa Baugh said. “We have the best, right here. It’s because Sarasota and Manatee and the people from both communities got together, worked together and this is what you can do when two counties work as one.
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