A variety of developments over the past few months demonstrate once again the growing economic power of Manatee County's sports performance industry.

In July, the Bradenton City Council finalized plans to pump $7.5 million into upgrades at venerable McKechnie Field with aspirations the baseball park will become an even more appealing tourism destination. With new seating along the outfield, a tiki bar in centerfield, a boardwalk and additional covered seating, the venue should attract concerts and other events beyond the Pittsburgh Pirates spring training games and Bradenton Marauders regular season home contests. Work begins this month and should be completed before next year's spring training.

Cha-ching!

Also this summer, the Pirates announced an agreement with the Baseball Factory, which prepares young baseball players for the college recruitment process and possible professional careers. The deal cements their partnership until 2014 and keeps the training organization at Pirate City during the Pirates and Marauders offseason. Several thousand people are expected to visit Manatee County for the 24 Baseball Factory events scheduled here.

Cha-ching!

Speaking of top-notch sports training organizations, IMG Academies received unanimous county commission approval for a major expansion of its sprawling campus in April. The master plan calls for an indoor football-soccer-lacrosse arena, a high-rise student dormitory and lighted sports fields on 221 acres. IMG, which attracts athletes from across the globe, already has an annual economic impact of more than $200 million. That promises to grow.

Cha-ching!

IMG hosted a jumbo-sized soccer tournament in July with another scheduled in December. Just the December United Soccer League event, a national title contest, is expected to bring in 150 teams and pump an estimated $3 million to $5 million into Manatee's economy. And the league agreed to return both premier amateur events for two more years.

Cha-ching!

The Premier Sports Campus in Lakewood Ranch, only a year old, hosted one of the nation's elite lacrosse camps in June on its 140-acre facility. The LB3 Lacrosse organization plans to return and grow with hopes of bringing in hundreds of young players and their families. And it has just announced a partnership with Saint Stephen's Episcopal School to provide education for aspiring student-athletes, similar to IMG's partnership with Saint Stephen's.

Over the past year, the Premier campus has attracted professional and amateur soccer teams and hosted a wide variety of other sporting events on its 22 fields. Premier events have drawn more than 100,000 players and fans to the Manatee-Sarasota region with an economic impact projected at $65 million by year's end.

Cha-ching!

Before 2010, who would have anticipated this region would become a global power in the sport of rowing? Now, though, it's well on its way to that reputation with the growth of the new World Aquatic Center in Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota and improvements coming to Manatee's Fort Hamer Park, home to a training facility for rowers. At one event in May alone, the aquatic center drew 43 rowing teams from seven states -- 1,700 athletes in all competing in the Southeast Youth Championship Regatta.

Cha-ching!

This surge of sports tourism follows the official formation early this year of the Manatee Sports Commission, a nonprofit organization after breaking away from the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. This is a natural outgrowth of the region's growing popularity as a sports destination -- and an indication that this segment of the economy is running at high performance.