- Florida State baseball will host an NCAA tournament regional for the first time in six years this weekend.
- FSU will play Stetson on Friday and will also host Alabama and UCF.
- Watch now to see what it means for College Town businesses during a normally slow summer.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Regular season baseball might be over, but now the Seminoles are playing for a national title and at home.
That means more folks coming into my neighborhood this weekend, and more business for College Town.
I'm Alberto Camargo, your neighborhood reporter.
I'm speaking with a couple of folks who can tell me what this weekend means for their business.
It's the first time in six years that Florida State will play in the NCAA tournament at Dick Howser Stadium.
The three opponents making their way into town are Alabama, UCF and Stetson.
That's three fanbases staying and spending in College Town.
Hotels near the ballpark are going for over $400 a night this weekend.
I spoke with Pam Burton at Bowden's.
She says a weekend full of visiting fans picks up what is usually a down period.
"It gives a chance to get a little more traffic down here than we do especially in summer time when the students are away and its a little bit slower."
"It's definitely a new kind of environment, everyone's fired up to see the postseason."
I also spoke with Mike Goldstein.
He runs — or more accurately, pedals — Capital City Pedicabs.
He says visiting fans are a big part of his customer base at FSU sporting events, helping them get from one side of the neighborhood to another.
A neighborhood that Mike says is still getting back to normal after the May 10 tornadoes.
"Typically this time of year we're trying to plan for fall, but these few weekends will possibly now give us another scenario and chance to recover from the storm, too. Because less than a month ago, we're all still kind of hurting from that, too."
The 'Noles will take the field at noon on Friday to play Stetson. A win in the regional will mean another weekend of baseball here in Tallahassee next week.
In College Town, Alberto Camargo, ABC27.
