Orlando wants to host an NBA All-Star Week in 2029 or 2030 and Olympic qualifying competitions in 2028 for flag football, skateboarding and other sports to be included in the Summer Games in Los Angeles, but organizers say they need $35 million in tourist tax money to do both.
Jason Siegel, who heads up the Greater Orlando Sports Commission, detailed funding appeals Friday to the county Tourist Development Council, which offered its unanimous endorsement of both proposals. The requests must yet earn approval of the Orange County commission.
“It’s our chance to wow the world,” Siegel told the tourist-tax advisory panel.
He asked for $20 million for the weeklong basketball showcase and $15 million for the Olympic qualifying competitions to pay for venue staffing, event security, public safety and other costs related to hosting marquee events to be broadcast to a global audience. The county regularly opens its hefty tourist-tax purse to attract events believed to boost its profile.
He said the hoops showcase is more expensive because its costs include hotel lodging for athletes and their families.
“Host cities are responsible for all expenses,” Siegel said.
The city’s reward would be luring sports fans from all over the globe and boosting Orlando’s image as a top tourist destination not only for families seeking theme park adventures, but also as a place to see world-class athletes from all over the globe compete in new sports.
The Olympic qualifying events would be centered around the campus of Camping World Stadium, which is undergoing a $400 million renovation to improve fan experiences. Siegel said 600 athletes representing more than 150 nations will seek to earn a spot in Los Angeles in team sports like flag football and beach volleyball, or individual competitions like BMX freestyle riding, skateboarding and sport climbing.
If Orlando’s bid is selected, the city would be the last stop for many athletes before the Summer Games in 2028.
“We wanted to be the final stop on the road to Los Angeles,” Siegel said. “We want qualifiers to feel the excitement and energy here in Orlando.”
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A year ago, the local advisory panel recommended Orange County commissioners spend $10 million in tourist-tax revenue to sweeten Orlando’s bid for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars to play their 2027 home schedule at Camping World Stadium while the team’s usual venue, Everbank Stadium, undergoes a billion dollar makeover. The Jags then selected Orlando over Gainesville for their temporary home, although the deal still awaits an expected approval from NFL owners.
Orlando has twice hosted the showcase event for the NBA’s stars — in 1992 and in 2012. The game and its featured events have evolved since then, appealing to such a wider world audience that the league changed the game format to better fit its global reach.
The hoops event no longer pits the best of the league’s Eastern Conference vs the best of its Western Conference. The league, instead, separates its elite players into three superstar squads. Two feature U.S.-born stars like Golden State’s Stephen Curry and the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James, the league’s all-time scoring leader. A world team is made up of foreign-born players like Serbia’s Nikola Jokić, a three-time league MVP, and Canadian-born Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was voted the league’s MVP last year.
Hosting fees were not disclosed by the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission which helped bring the 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend to the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, nor by organizers who brought the 2025 event to the Chase Center in San Francisco.
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While reticent about revealing costs, the league and its civic partners crow about the estimated benefits.
They often describe the promotional value and economic impacts of the event as a “slam dunk” for the host city.
NBA events in San Francisco in 2025 were expected to generate an estimated $350 million in total economic impact for the Bay Area, including spending from tens of thousands of visitors including players, media and league staff expected to stay for the week of festivities.
Promoters also champion the value of the global spotlight shined on the game and its host city.
Siegel said the NBA events would likely be worth more to Orlando, a city dependent on tourism.
The All-Star Game is a multi-day event, traditionally staged in February and sometimes viewed as the halfway mark for the league which tips off in November and ends with the NBA Finals to crown its champion in June. All-Star festivities include celebrity games, a slam dunk contest, a three-point shooting competition and other events to showcase player skills and the league’s rising stars.
Siegel said the events broadcast on NBC, Peacock and Telemundo are augmented by social media posts of star players and celebrities that generate hundreds of millions of impressions on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X and other social media platforms.
The bid to win the events is the latest effort by community leaders to raise Orlando’s civic sports image.
Long associated with college football bowl games, Orlando boasts two professional soccer teams, including a women’s team that won a championship two years ago. It is slated to host World Cup games and a local group is vying to bring a professional baseball to I-Drive.
shudak@orlandosentinel.com