Jeff McCabe to head Maine Office of Outdoor Recreation

Maine DECD Commissioner Heather Johnson has announced the promotion of Maine Office of Outdoor Recreation Deputy Director Jeff McCabe (pictured, above) to Director of that Office.

McCabe replaces former Director Carolann Ouellette who in June returned to her earlier position as Director of the Maine Office of Tourism.

McCabe is a former member and House Majority Leader of the Maine Legislature, and a registered Maine guide.

Boston City Councilor proposes licensing of Boston-branded merchandise

Boston District 8 Councilor Sharon Durkan - whose district includes Fenway Park - has proposed a citywide licensing program for merchandise branded with the logos of Boston municipal departments like police and fire.

According to a 2010 report, the New York Citywide Merchandise Licensing Program which uses logos of NYPD, FDNY and other municipal departments raises more than $24M annually through sales of clothing and other items.

Merchants selling Boston-branded items would pay license fees and royalties to the city, while sales would help support merchants and suppliers. And purchased merchandise would help to promote Boston as a tourist destination.

As anyone who has visited the Quincy Market area on a weekend in good weather knows, the Boston Fire Department does a brisk business there in Boston Fire branded hats, sweatshirts and other items. So extensive market reserach has already been done, and the market is there. With a little creativity, city departments like the Boston Water and Sewer Commission (etc.) could develop their own lines of merchandise. Possibilities are endless.

Visa announces global sponsorship of Red Bull F1 racing for 2024

Visa has announced that in its first new global sports sponsorship in 15 years it will enter Formula 1 in 2024 by taking over sponsorship of Red Bull's junior racing team.

Formerly branded as Scuderia Alpha Tauri, the team (pictured, above) will now be known as Visa Cash App RB. The Visa logo will appear on both the Oracle Red Bull Racing and Visa Cash App RB cars, as well ad on the race suits worn by Visa Cash App RB drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo.

Cash App is a financial platform that runs on iOS and Android mobile devices and allows users to send, receive, deposit, transfer and invest money.

Visa and Cash App will also be sponsoring Red Bull's all-female F1 Academy racing series that will be run on F1 weekends at 7 tracks in 2024.

Worldwide in 2023, Formula 1 viewership averaged more than 70 million per race - and with a 24-race schedule in 2024, global media rights are expected to be worth more than $1 billion.

Ireland scraps Tour de France bid

The Government of Ireland has announced that it will cease to pursue its bid - in the works since 2022 - to host the first 3 stages of the Tour de France in 2026 or 2027, following the withdrawal of the support of its NI partners .

This decision was taken months ago, but only now made public.

In 2022, Tourism Minister Catherine Martin TD and the then NI Economy Minister began to craft a joint proposal for hosting of the Grand Depart. However, as Ms. Martin said in a statement this week, in July 2023 she received word from the NI Department of the Economy that they were stopping work on the project.

Ms. Martin also said:

"Should the opportunity arise again to consider a bid to host the Grand Depart, whether jointly or singly, the experience gained in the process...will be of use in any such future consideration."

Ireland last hosted the race in 1998 (pictured, above).

Patriots and Meet Boston to partner on trade and media events in Frankfurt

The New England Patriots and Meet Boston (ex- Greater Boston CVB) have announced the formation of a strategic partnership intended to bring more German tourists to Boston while strengthening the Patriots brand in Germany.

Major joint event "Patriots Haus" to be held Thursday and Friday 9 and 10 November at the Hilton Frankfurt City Center will feature a live broadcast of Patriots Unfiltered 6-8 PM on Thursday and interview and book signing with The Dynasty author Jeff Benedict and Patriots alum Sebastian Vollmer 1-2 PM on Friday.

Germany is a major tourism source market for Boston, with German visitors numbering more than 80,000 annually pre-pandemic, with a spend of $100M.