Head football coach Joe Taylor is rallying the FAMU faithful to help the university win the Florida Fan Game, a statewide competition that highlights football and tourism.
The contest, hosted by VISIT FLORIDA, aims to tap the energy of football fans, students, alumni and other university supporters and convert it into support for tourism. Fans will play by inviting thousands of friends, relatives and colleagues to visit Florida.
“Like me, loyal fans of the Rattlers are going to play hard to win this game,” Taylor said. “I challenge our fans to invite tourists from across the country, because when we do, they’ll not only learn about Florida but they’ll also learn about our great university here at Florida A&M. I call that a total victory.”
Rattlers can play by entering the game site at Facebook.com/ShareaLittleSunshine, selecting FAMU’s Florida travel invitation, and the sending the invitation out to their other Facebook friends. FAMU will receive a point each time an invitation is send on its behalf.
The competing schools are FAMU, Florida State University, the University of Central Florida, the University of Florida, the University of Miami and the University of South Florida. Throughout football season, the site’s game scoreboard will track the number of invitations sent by each school. The school with the highest total on December 5 will claim the title of “Florida’s No. 1 Fans.”
Fans who play are eligible to win individual prizes such as game tickets, deals on Florida travel, and the grand prize: an 11-day Florida vacation.
The biggest prize, though, will be helping Florida create new revenue for its public education coffers. As the state’s number one industry, tourism was responsible in 2010 for welcoming more than 82.6 million visitors. Those tourists spent more than $60 billion, generated 22 percent of the state’s sales tax revenue, and supported the employment of nearly one million Floridians. For every $1 spent on tourism marketing, VISIT FLORIDA – the state’s official tourism marketing corporation – generates more than $147 in tourism spending and $9 in new sales tax collections, paid by visitors, not residents.