Tourism officials July 1 established their priority list for spending Osceola County lodging tax revenue, with amateur sports taking the top spot, as it should.

The Osceola County Tourist Development Council’s three other priorities were: improvements to Osceola Heritage Park, a joint marketing campaign with ESPN Disney to brand the county as the “amateur sports capital of the world” and development of a Shingle Creek nature center on West U.S. Highway 192 as a way to promote eco-tourism.

All the priorities are reasonable, to a point.

First, we agree that in the past bringing amateur sports events to the county has generated many overnight stays and that any tourist development taxes invested in sports facilities has more or less paid off. Plus, there is no reason to expect that will change. However – and as we have said before – committing a large amount of lodging tax revenue to a new amateur sports facility at a time when that revenue continues to go down would be foolish.

Don’t get us wrong. In better times, the United States Specialty Sports Association’s proposal for an indoor/outdoor facility would be something we would recommend pursuing. However, the current proposal comes with too high a price tag and no offer of a capital investment by the association.

As to branding Osceola County the “amateur sports capital of the world," that’s a good idea but we should try using our in-house expertise first before turning the job over to Disney at a cost of $3.3 million per year. The idea of establishing an event acquisition fund, however, should be pursued – with or without Disney.

As to funding capital improvements at Osceola Heritage Park, we urge caution. However, we believe hosting more amateur sports events at the Silver Spurs Arena and at the Exhibition Hall is a good idea, as is buying additional portable wooden playing courts to accomplish that. We’re not so sure, though, that installing additional horse stables for the arena would generate significantly more overnight stays.

Developing a nature center on county-owned property to promote eco-tourism on Shingle Creek, as we have said before, would be a great way to showcase that stream, referred to as the headwaters of the Everglades.

As to the council's priorities on recurring spending, we agree that its grant program should only be used to provide seed money for an event, not for annual support once an event is established. Plus, any supported event should generate overnight stays.