At the direction of the City Commission given at the January 15, 2020 City Commission meeting all requests for sponsorships have been deferred until the City’s Sponsorship Guidelines are approved. We recommend this request be similarly deferred.

At the December 9th, 2020 City Commission Meeting, Vice-Mayor Meiner submitted a discussion item regarding the 2021 Pro Footvolley Tournament's potential sponsorship on North Beach.

The initial request by the event producer included:

1) a cash sponsorship not to exceed $25,000,

2) a waiver of City special event permit fees in an amount not to exceed $15,000, and

3) a City contribution for event-related public services (Police, Fire, and Sanitation), in an amount not to exceed $15,000.

As part of the discussion, Mr. Sergio Menezes of Pro Footvolley Tour retracted his initial request for cash sponsorship and confirmed his request to be solely for the waiver of City special event permit fees, in an amount not to exceed $15,000. A City contribution for event-related public services (Police, Fire, and Sanitation), in an amount not to exceed $15,000 for the entire Footvolley season.

Miami Beach previously hosted the 2018 World Footvolley Classic in North Beach. The event organizers requested and received a waiver of $7,546.00 in special event fees (including applications fee, permit fee, vehicle access passes, square footage fees, sales tax on square footage fees, and Police administrative fees).

The Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee met on December 18th, 2020, and discussed the sponsorship of City services waiver request by the event organizer, Sergio Menezes of Pro Footvolley Tour.

The Administration shared that the event organizer's request of the City services waiver summed up to form each department's submittal of projected fees for the complete event timeline of 26 weeks, from March through October 2021, 4 days a week every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 4 hours a day.

The Administration also shared that there was not enough time allotted to perform the due diligence on this request to provide an informed decision. In gathering past information from the event, the previous event partner, the City of Hollywood CRA, was contacted for a reference. The City of Hollywood CRA did not recommend partnering with the Pro Footvolley Tournament due to no return on investment (ROI). Upon receiving this information, the FERC directed the Administration to conduct further investigation and provide the following information at the January 13th Commission meeting:

1. Provide an economic analysis of past Pro Footvolley events sponsored by the City of Miami Beach and identify potential economic benefits. 
2. Contact past City of Miami Beach staff who oversaw or worked on past Pro Footvolley events for references.

Following the directive from the December 18th, 2020 FERC meeting, the Administration conducted further due diligence on the previous Pro Footvolley Tournament held in the City of Miami Beach in 2018. Previous staff that directly worked on this event did not recommend partnering with the event organizer. Staff reported issues arose with the event organizer's inability to manage the event, which placed burden on City staff and resources. City staff found the event organizer did not adhere to the City's policies and regulations when coordinating the tournament. This resulted in the event organizer receiving Code violations, the case is under ‘Fine Owed’ status, and the fine of $1,000 is still owed.

The proposed location would be directly on the beach, in the North Beach area of Miami Beach, between 71st Street and 72nd Street.  The 2021 Pro Footvolley season to be held during the months of March through October, includes matches scheduled every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 12-4pm.

The Pro Footvolley will be a solely broadcast event with zero (0) attendees (due to Covid restrictions). The total attendance during the activations are as follows: 

Footvolley Players (20)

Competition Referees (5)

Pro Footvolley Staff (5)

Video Production Staff (10)

Total On-Site Personnel (40)

Special events taking place in Miami Beach which seek funding typically apply through the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority (“MBVCA”), a public-private entity that offers reimbursable grants from resort tax collection. The approval and value of these grants is based on target criteria the event must demonstrate, including Miami Beach hotel room nights and media impressions. The minimum number of Miami Beach hotel room nights for MBVCA grant consideration is 350, unless the event occurs in North Beach, where the minimum requirement is 75 Miami Beach hotel room nights. Accordingly, the event needs to work with VCA to establish the impact the event will have on hotel room nights in Miami Beach.

Following the July 2019 Commission meeting, the FootVolley organizers met with the VCA and missed the August 30th deadline for funding for FY 19/20, as they are now moving their event to after February 1st 2020, which would put them in the next cycle of VCA funding.

The following is the total cost of City Services to cover the Pro Footvolley Tournament for twenty-six (26) weeks, four (4) days a week, at four (4) hours a day:

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

City Services Waivers include:

Miami Beach Police                         $22,800

Miami Beach Fire                            $29,120

Miami Beach Sanitation                   $7,760

Miami Beach Special Event            $3,016

Miami Beach Parks                         $11,796

Total City Service Fee Waivers    $74,492