Members of the Wesley Chapel Bills Mafia, the local support group for fans of the Buffalo Bills, were sent home heartbroken (again) from TrebleMakers Dueling Piano Bar & Restaurant at The Grove on Sunday, when their beloved Bills lost 27-24 to the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs to end their Cinderella season.
A little less than 200 Bills fans, most of them wearing the team’s signature royal blue jerseys, attended Sunday’s WC Bills Mafia Watch Party, which was sponsored by Rapid Access Wellness, LLC, and which featured some outstanding raffle prizes, as well as a sumptuous buffet provided by TrebleMakers.
The restaurant’s co-owner Jamie Hess, who is from the Buffalo area, has hosted many of these watch parties, but hopes were higher than ever this year that his beloved Bills would win the franchise’s first-ever Super Bowl as the team was getting to host (for the first time) Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the rest of the Chiefs in an AFC Divisional Playoff Game. The team had to win its final five games of the regular season and a Wild Card Playoff Game over the Pittsburgh Steeler just to advance to face the Chiefs in the rematch of a 20-17 Buffalo win on Dec. 10.
But, it wasn’t meant to be. Despite holding the lead four times, QB Josh Allen and his Bills fell behind to stay when Chiefs’ RB Isiah Pacheco scored with 14:20 left in the 4th quarter.
“What are they doing?,” shouted one fan sitting next to me as the Bills were unsuccessful on a second half fake punt in their own territory, which ended up not costing the Bills any additional points because Kansas City fumbled the ball into and out of the Buffalo end zone a few plays after the failed fake punt, resulting in a touchback and the Bills getting the ball back. “How about just going for it on 4th and 3 instead?
The Watch Party also included some great raffle prizes — a jersey and a football signed by current star Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs, a mini-helmet and jersey signed by Hall of Fame former Buffalo running back Thurman Thomas and a 50-50 drawing for half of nearly $700 in cash.
“It was a great turnout and a great event,” Hess said after the Bills faithful left with broken hearts…again. “But, if the Bills could have pulled it out and kept winning, we could have had even bigger crowds for the AFC Championship and Super Bowl games. Oh well, maybe next year.”
Although we have created this contest a week before the end of 2023 pro football season, last year’s ‘Big Game Squares’ contest was so popular we decided to run it back again for our readers. So, here’s how you can win FREE dining in our 2024 ‘Big Game’ Squares Contest. Simply click HERE and fill out the formby Friday, February 9. On Saturday, February 10, I will first assign random squares on the grid below for each entrant. Then, I will randomly assign numbers 0-9 along the top row under the AFC Champion’s name and in the far left column next to the NFC Champ’s name. Then, when the ‘big game’ is played, whoever’s name is in the box that matches up with the last digit of the score for each team wins a FREE gift card to the restaurant of their choice. For example, if the score is NFC 10, AFC 7 at the end of the first quarter and your name is in the box that corresponds to both NFC 0 & AFC 7, you would win a $25 gift card as the first quarter winner. If the score is 13-13 at the end of the first half and your name is in the box that corresponds to both NFC 3, AFC 3, you would win a $50 gift card. We also will offer a $25 gift card to whoever has the correct box at the end of the third quarter and a $100 gift card for the correct score at the end of the game, whether at the end of the 4th quarter or overtime. See all of our official contest rules and fill out the form for your chance to win by clicking HERE. — GN
On April 18, Pasco County’s Board of County Commissioners voted to buy out the contract of RADDSports, LLC, to manage the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus.
I called the county’s tourism office that same day — and made three additional attempts before I went to press with this issue — in an effort to get official responses to a number of my questions about the takeover plan from tourism director Adam Thomas, who did not respond to my questions.
Instead, the only response I got, from Tambrey Laine, the manager of media relations for Pasco County Government, was the press release put out jointly by the county and RADDSports, and that, “The county is declining to comment further.”
Please note that almost everything presented below is a matter of public record. The only exception is what the owners of RADDSports told me Thomas said to them prior to the Sports Campus groundbreaking in 2017; however, Anthony Homer of RADDSports assures me that what he says Thomas said at that time is true. — GN
For those who don’t understand why Pasco County has agreed to buy out the contract to take over the management of the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus for what will end up being more than $6 million of taxpayer funds, you’re not alone.
It seems that our editor was the only reporter who thought it odd that Pasco Tourism director Adam Thomas (right) chose to pose for this picture with former county commissioner Mike Moore — rather than with the management of RADDSports — when the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County won the Florida Sports Foundation’s award as the state’s Best Small Market Venue for 2021.
Adam Thomas, the county’s director of tourism who renamed the tourism department “Experience Florida’s Sports Coast,” got the job basically the same day Pasco and the private firm RADDSports, LLC, broke ground on the Sports Campus together in 2017.
RADD’s Anthony Homer had told me back in 2020 that Thomas had told him and RADDSports president Richard Blalock prior to the groundbreaking ceremony that if it were up to him (meaning Thomas), there would be no private-public partnership between the two entities. And, it seems Thomas has been doing everything he could to end that agreement ever since.
For one thing, despite Thomas’ claims to the contrary last year, RADD has provided proof that it never did actually default on its agreement. And yet, Thomas still was able to convince the five county commissioners back in October 2022 to vote in favor of that default.
Thomas had the county hire the attorneys (with county money) who wrote up the default paperwork that the commissioners voted on in October — without the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) ever seeing any proof of the default and without even discussing it before they voted to approve it from the Board’s Consent Agenda. The commissioners at that time accepted Thomas at his word that RADD was focusing on local events, not on increasing sports tourism in the county, which was the primary portion of RADD’s mandate in that agreement.
Prior to the unanimous vote at that October BCC meeting, RADD even provided the commissioners with actual statistics from an independent study firm that proved that not only had no default taken place, but that RADD had actually outperformed all of the tourism benchmarks of its agreement.
These facts presented by RADD were confirmed by a separate $35,000 independent report — commissioned by Thomas — also using public funds.
In fact, RADD did such a great job of establishing the Sports Campus as a tourist destination for people outside of Pasco that the study showed that it was the #55 tourist draw in all of Florida last year, outperforming much more established attractions like the Miami Seaquarium (#56) & the Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium (#57). The Sports Campus also won the Florida Sports Foundation’s Small Venue of the Year award for 2021 under RADD’s management.
Again, despite Thomas’ claims, it wasn’t only RADD’s local programs that were hugely successful — it hosted 112 events (there have been many weekends with more than one event) in 2021-22 and those events helped local hoteliers sell tens of thousands of room nights both years in Pasco — and bring more than 92,000 unique visitors to the county. All of this happened despite RADD first taking over the Sports Campus at the height of Covid.
In addition, Pasco received the agreed-to $150,000 payment from RADD for 2021 and would have received its agreed-to $150,000 payment for 2022 had the BCC not voted to default the company. Pasco also would have received 11% of RADD’s revenue this year, and already has received millions more in sales and bed tax funds from all of the visitors the Sports Campus has brought in from all over the country and even beyond.
Instead of continuing this mutually beneficial partnership, Thomas convinced the commissioners to spend the following:
• $250,000 in taxpayer money on legal fees to force RADD out;
• $3 million over the next five years (including $1 million this year and $500,000 each year for the next four) to buy out the agreement with RADD;
• $2.8 million to operate the Sports Campus — at a loss (for at least the first two years, according to the default notice approved by the county in October);
• $94,000 to purchase furnishings & other items from RADD; and
• $35,000 for the independent study previously mentioned.
So, is that $6,179,000 an amount of money a small, but growing, county would spend of its taxpayers’ funds to take over a supposedly defaulted contract?
“We thank the county for recognizing the value that RADDSports has brought to the Sports Campus,” says Homer of the buyout agreement.
I don’t know why Thomas has had an issue with RADD from Day One, but I felt compelled to at least provide the actual facts of this situation, as I have not seen most of the information presented here reported by any other local news media.
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Local dignitaries and members of the Porter family were on hand on Jan. 10 for the unveiling of the new Porter Family Indoor Performance Facility on the USF Tampa Campus.
Wiregrass Ranch developer JD Porter says that athletics have always been important to his family, so when the chance came to play a significant role in helping the University of South Florida add a state-of-the-art training facility, Porter said it was impossible for him to resist.
On Jan. 10, Porter and his family were on hand to celebrate the opening of the Porter Family Indoor Performance Facility on USF’s Tampa campus. The 88,000-sq.-ft. facility features a 100-yard turf field, an observation deck, scoreboards, locker rooms, a reception lobby and more.
“We think it’s going to be a difference maker,” said Porter, echoing the sentiment of everyone involved.
For decades, the lack of quality on-campus facilities has been a detriment to recruiting, particularly for football, which also has been saddled by the lack of an on-campus stadium.
But, the Porter family’s $5.1-million donation is the first step towards correcting those deficiencies, and a new on-campus football stadium is right around the corner, perhaps as soon as fall 2026.
At the event on Jan. 10, new USF football coach Alex Golesh said that not having this type of training facility is a huge disadvantage, “but I think a facility like this puts you on a level playing field.”
The Porter family has steadfastly supported USF. The James H. and Martha M. Porter Endowment for Alzheimer’s Research was established to benefit the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine’s pursuit of collaborative Alzheimer’s research with the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute. In addition, the Porter family started the James H. & Martha M. Porter Alzheimer’s Research Equipment Operating Fund to support equipment purchases for use in that collaborative research.
Porter said his family, which founded a branch campus of Pasco-Hernando State College in Wiregrass Ranch and donated the land for the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus, was happy to help, and applauded the team that helped make it happen, which included Wesley Chapel resident (and former Speaker of the Florida House) Will Weatherford, who currently is the chairman of the USF Board of Trustees.
“It was a natural fit,” Porter said. “Athletics and education have always been important to our family, and this was just a great opportunity. Knowing that the right team was at the helm to actually execute the plan made it a fairly easy decision for us.”
