The Sports Field Management Association holds its 2027 Conference and Exhibition at the Tampa Convention Center. The association runs 2,500 members and keeps its headquarters in Lawrence, Kansas.
The conference page dates the meeting 1 to 4 February 2027. The City of Tampa listing for the same event carries one span: Wednesday 3 February at 7 a.m. to Thursday 4 February at 11:59 p.m. Both statements are live.
Four association days and a two day listing
The program explains the gap. Outdoor learning demonstrations run on the afternoon of Monday 1 February at the University of South Florida, with transport provided between the convention center and the campus. Indoor demonstrations run on the trade show floor during show hours on 3 and 4 February.
A group booking rooms works from the four day span. The city calendar covers the last two days of a programme that starts on Monday.
The registration ladder
Registration is open. Three windows price the same conference. Early bird registration ends 16 December 2026. General registration runs 17 December 2026 to 22 January 2027. Onsite registration runs 23 January to 4 February 2027.
A full conference pass costs $550 for a member and $725 for a non-member at the early rate. The general window lifts those to $625 and $800. The onsite window lifts them again to $775 and $950.
The gap between the early rate and the general rate is $75 on a member full pass. The gap between the early rate and the onsite rate is $225. A one day package holds at $325 in all three windows, and a trade show only pass holds at $125.
The refund date lands one day before the price step
The cancellation policy requires a written request received by 15 December. Every cancellation carries a $50 processing fee. No refund is issued after that date.
Early bird pricing runs to 16 December 2026. Registration on or before 15 December holds the early rate and a refund less $50. Registration on 16 December holds the early rate with no refund.
The band is the only room number published
The conference travel page carries the one rate statement on the site: “SFMA has room blocks at several hotels in Tampa ranging from $249/night to $339/night plus taxes and fees.”
That page withholds the property names. It states that hotel links will only be provided after conference registration is complete, that only registered attendees receive block access, and that rooms are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
No page on the association site names a block property, a group code or a cut-off date. The band is the whole published record.
What the band costs across a stay
The spread inside the band is $90 a night. Three nights at the low end come to $747 and at the high end to $1,017. Four nights come to $996 and $1,356. Taxes and fees sit outside every one of those figures, and the page does not quantify them.
Those totals are the benchmark a group carries into a request, and the $90 spread is the number to ask a property to close.
Twenty six properties and none of them priced
The convention center keeps its own hotel list. It carries 26 properties. Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa Downtown Convention Center at 513 S. Florida Ave. is the one entry with no distance figure, and the venue describes it as connected by Sky Bridge.
Tampa Marriott Water Street and JW Marriott Tampa Water Street are both listed at 0.2 miles. The Westin Tampa Waterside is listed at 0.3 miles. The Tampa EDITION, Hilton Tampa Downtown, Hyatt Place and Hyatt House, and ROOST Tampa sit at 0.5 miles.
Twenty three of the 27 listings carry a distance of 2.5 miles or less. Le Méridien Tampa, The Courthouse is printed twice, at 0.7 miles and at 1 mile, so those listings resolve to 22 addresses. Three listings sit beyond: Aloft and Element Tampa Midtown at 4.1 miles, Tampa Airport Marriott at 8.4 miles, and Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa Brandon at 9 miles.
First come is a queue position
Registration gates access to the block. Arrival order gates the room inside it.
An attendee who registers in the early bird window holds the cheapest pass and reaches the block links first. That attendee needs a written cancellation by 15 December to recover the fee less $50.
Travel and parking costs
Tampa International Airport sits 6 to 8 miles from downtown, about 16 minutes by road. St. Pete-Clearwater International sits about 15 miles away. The page prices a rideshare from Tampa International at $25 to $40 and adds a $5.00 service fee to the fare.
The TECO Line Streetcar runs free every 15 minutes to 11 stations and links downtown, the Channel District and Ybor City. DASH charges $2 a person for the on-demand service.
The convention center garage at 141 E. Brorein Street charges an event rate of $5.00 to $50.00 and a non-event rate of $3 per hour capped at $18 a day. The venue states that long-term parking is not available at the center. Pam Iorio at 301 Channelside Drive and Fort Brooke at 107 N. Franklin Street both take overnight stays to 6:00 a.m.
The band and the Florida route
hotelhaggle publishes a seller-of-travel notice, last updated 21 October 2026. The platform cannot process hotel booking requests from residents of or for travel to Florida, Hawaii, Iowa or Washington, and the notice applies across grouprooms.org, hotelhaggle.org, hotelslots.org, bookmyteam.org and partners.hotelhuddle.com.
Tampa sits in Florida, so this block runs on direct requests to the property. Send the dates 1 to 4 February 2027 and the band figures. Ask each property to confirm the nightly rate in writing, the cut-off date, and whether the rate holds when the group adds rooms.
