This month marks the start of a new year in Frisco, but first things first – a flurry of activity to wrap up 2018.
It was a good year for Frisco. A year of groundbreaking developments, highly attended events and landscape-changing announcements for our fair city.
This month’s Coffee with the Mayor, a monthly opportunity for the community to connect with Mayor Jeff Cheney, covered the summarizing look back and a peek of what’s ahead in 2019.
PGA Plans Have Become Reality
The announcement that the PGA headquarters will relocate to Frisco was the culmination of years of work put forth by a Frisco resident and golf parent who partnered with the right folks to make it happen. The 2017 PGA Championship at Charlotte, North Carolina’s Quail Hollow Club was the jumping off point to put the gears in motion to make Frisco an irresistible place the PGA couldn’t ignore when choosing their new home.
Mayor Jeff Cheney describes how the project launched once the parties involved made the decision to go for it.
If it’s going to be Frisco, you have to be all in. We aren’t interested in just building golf courses. If it’s going to be Frisco it needs to be golf courses and a headquarters and more. When Stillwater Capital got involved and finally when the Rowling family came in and Omni Hotels became involved, this really took shape into something exciting.
The PGA development will bookend the Northern part of Frisco. We can expect luxury, education and an unseen way to experience watching a golf tournament with the bowl-like designed plans. The Rowling family wanted to make Frisco’s newest Omni property the nicest luxury resort hotel in the country, so we, as Frisco residents, are sure to be in store for an elevated treasure in our backyard.
First the partnership with the Dallas Cowboys that provides Frisco Independent School District use of the facilities at The Star, and now another partnership that enriches student access and training in top-notch digs. These resources impact performance outcomes as Frisco’s young athletes continue to thrive and get attention from colleges.
Mayor Cheney said there’s talk about a championship wall of sorts to display all of Frisco’s accomplishments in high school competition. Now that could be quite a city landmark to be proud of!
Visitors Continue to Frequent Frisco
2018 was a record-setting year for Visit Frisco, Frisco’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, seeing hotel room demand, visitors and revenue growth. Expect the hotels to keep coming. With a healthy occupancy rate and daily room rate, plus an even healthier forecast for visitors to Frisco, more heads in beds mean we need more rooms to put them in. A significant number of conventions and tradeshows are inked to visit Frisco as well, the largest convention being Advocare.
The opening of TrainTopia, the Skate Park at Northeast Community Park, new public art pieces, and several new restaurants opened in Frisco last year that all have an impact on tourism and job growth.
Visit Frisco’s Sports and Events team worked to secure high profile sporting events you’ll see in play in 2019 and beyond.
Boxing comes to Frisco February 2nd at The Ford Center when Eleider “Storm” Alvarez and Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev enter the ring. Shortly thereafter The Ford Center hosts the WOGA Classic, bringing international competition and gymnastics’ future Olympians to Frisco.
The Frisco College Baseball Classic comes to Dr Pepper Ballpark starting March 1st, 2019. Fans from all over Texas, Mississippi and Nebraska will flood into town for the head to head tournament action between the Texas Tech Red Raiders, Sam Houston State Bearkats, Mississippi State Bulldogs, and the Nebraska Huskers.
Then basketball tips off days later with both the Lone Star Conference and Conference USA’s Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships. The year will round out again with football at Toyota Stadium. The DXL Frisco Bowl then the Division I Football Championship games will bring in sold-out crowds again, no doubt. There’s no shortage of collegiate competition in Frisco!
This is in addition to the already powerful lineup of professional sports being played in Frisco. Between the Texas Legends, Dallas Cowboys, Frisco RoughRiders, Major League Lacrosse’s Dallas Rattlers, the Texas Revolution’s arena football action, and now two soccer clubs with FC Dallas and North Texas SC, you have a lot to cheer for in Frisco.
Toyota Stadium had a big year with the opening of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Besides the actual museum within the Hall of Fame experience, the Hall of Fame Club in the stadium provides event space where you’ll see corporate holiday parties, meetings, and events filling that space throughout the year.
Next up on Visit Frisco’s agenda in 2019 is increasing visitor engagement and a destination customer service and training program. A component of this program will focus on educating hotel, attraction, and restaurant front line staff on “all things Frisco”.
Stay in the Conversation
One last update to note from the mayor’s coffee chat – Exide is out of sight and closer to being out of the conversation than ever before. I’m referring to Frisco City Council’s long-time efforts dating back to a 2012 settlement to get the lead battery recycling plant in Frisco closed and cleaned up. This week, a vote approved an amendment that ends the dispute.
Be a part of the conversation. The monthly “Coffee with the Mayor” allows residents to sit down with Mayor Cheney and have a conversation, ask questions and hear his vision for Frisco. Find out details and how to RSVP for the events at https://mayorcheney.com/calendar/.
