Downtown Salt Lake City rocks when the Jazz are good and playing a home game. Skiing is a way of life here. And the start of the deer hunt is practically an official state holiday.
But how much do sporting events and recreational activities mean to the state's economy?
In the first effort to quantify the impact, a University of Utah Bureau of Economic and Business Research report conservatively puts the number at $2.2 billion to $2.6 billion annually. Conservative because the bottom line doesn't include the money that thousands of parents shell out so their kids can play soccer or baseball.
"I play in a tennis league. That's not included. That's part of household spending," explained bureau Director James Wood. "We didn't have the budget to gather that data."
But the inch-thick report did document all of Utah's pro and college sports teams, amateur recreational events, retail sporting goods sales, manufacturing jobs and 160 nonprofit sports groups on file with the Internal Revenue Service. It added up the investments in county recreation facilities, golf courses, stadiums, ski resorts and Olympic venues. And, most important, it measured how much money out-of-staters spend at these facilities and on recreational pursuits, actions that generate jobs, help pay wages and prop up government tax revenues.
"Total wages to Utah residents as a result of spending by persons visiting Utah for sporting reasons are estimated at $486 million annually," said the report, calculating that out-of-state recreaters spend $907 million in Utah each year. "In addition, manufacturing sporting goods contributed $366 million in direct, indirect and induced wages."
To be sure, sports is not Utah's biggest game. Real estate was No. 1 in 2005, at $10.2 billion, Wood said. Durable goods manufacturing, which includes sports equipment, was second, at $7.1 billion. Professional and technical services (lawyers, doctors, architects, etc.) weighed in at $6.1 billion.
Still, the report noted, "5 percent of the employment and 4 percent of the wages in the state are attributable to . . . sports spending, which also represents 3.1 percent of Utah's gross state product."
Benefits for everyone: The data go a long way toward justifying the job of Jeff Robbins.
He is chief executive of the Utah Sports Commission, a nonprofit organization created by the Legislature to try to extend the economic momentum of hosting the 2002 Winter Olympics. The idea is to attract more regional, national and international sports competitions. The report was done at the behest of the Sports Commission, whose boards represent a "who's who" of Utah's political and sporting worlds - university athletic directors, legislative leaders, Olympic veterans, financiers, representatives of Larry Miller's empire, leaders of youth sports groups.
"Only a couple of states have done these studies, but they agree that sports is becoming an economic engine, not only for Utah but for the nation," said Robbins. "This data says this is a viable and strong economic platform and needs its share of recognition for the role it plays in national and regional economies."
The report also illustrates that all of Utah benefits from sports and recreation activities, even if big-ticket categories such as ski resorts and the largest pro and collegiate sports facilities are clustered around the Wasatch Front.
Washington County has golf, a marathon and the Huntsman Senior Games. Eastern Utah has river running, a Jeep Safari, mountain biking and a marathon of its own. Two dozen communities have rodeos. Only three counties - Wayne, Piute and Daggett - don't have a golf course. The whole state has hunting and fishing, and human-powered and mechanized recreation.
"Sports really doesn't have the geographic corridors that some industries have," Robbins said. "Look at what's happened in Tooele County with Miller Motorsports Park. Here you have a community that doesn't have a major indoor venue. It's not next to a big mountain, but now they have one of the best tracks in the world."
Another conclusion Robbins drew from the report is that "sports doesn't burden the state's infrastructure. Visitors spend significant amounts of money and then they leave. There's not the impact on schools and things like that when a business relocates."
Robbins wants to use the report's voluminous figures to intensify efforts to build the sports economy.
Since it became operational in February of 2001, he said, the Sports Commission has helped lay groundwork for 198 events. With myriad projects in the pipeline, Robbins projects that Sports Commission-associated events through 2011 will have an economic impact of $507 million, even more if the report stimulates a greater investment in pursuing sporting activities.
"Now, when people starting thinking about promoting sport, they'll say, 'It makes sense.' We want to leverage that [data] to the benefit of the state's economy and image building. We think that story's resonating already. We're seeing increased activity from groups wanting to bring events here, opportunities for TV exposure. But we want more."
Cashing in: Some report details are intriguing.
* Recreational sports accounted for at least $1.33 billion, probably closer to $1.76 billion, if it included river running, mountain biking, boating at Lake Powell and other activities the bureau did not have the resources to document (hence the total spending range of $2.2 billion to $2.6 billion).
* Skiing brought in $811 million, a figure higher than a $692 million estimate by the state's ski industry. The report suggested that out-of-state skiers and boarders spent $669 million here, compared with $142 million by Utahns, who also spend $50.1 million a year on equipment.
* Skiing topped 4 million skier days last winter, fishing totaled 5.2 million angler days. People also played 3 million rounds of golf and spent the equivalent of 2.4 million days hunting.
* The Utah Jazz draw more fans from Pocatello than Provo. Out-of-staters provided $3 million of the $58.1 million pro sports contributed to the state's economic pie.
* Collegiate sports have a greater impact than the pros - $80.1 million. Visiting teams and their fans spent $17.8 million during their stays, generating 489 jobs and $10.7 million in wages.
* The Huntsman World Senior Games, Utah Winter Games, Utah Summer Games and Special Olympics had 30,000 participants last year. Out-of-state visitor spending for the Senior Games alone was $9.3 million.
* Forty professional rodeos are staged annually in Utah.
* Rocky Mountain Raceways' 60 track and drag races drew 237,174 fans last year.
* Of 109,000 students at 123 Utah high schools in 2004, 48,500 (or 44 percent) played sports.
* Gyms, tennis clubs, swimming pools and aerobics clubs paid $54 million to 6,000 employees.
* Retail sporting goods stores reported 2004 revenue of $336 million, providing 3,448 jobs and $56 million in wages.
* Sports equipment manufacturers, from Icon Health and Fitness in the Cache Valley to Chums lanyards in Washington County, produced goods with an annual wholesale value of $1.2 billion. They employ 4,300 people directly, 13,000 indirectly. Total wages: $365 million.
Beauty sells: These types of figures confirm what many people already know and feel.
The Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo drew 18,800 spectators to Vernal during July. "For a community such as ours," said City Manager Ken Bassett, "the more events like that that we have, the more significant it is for the tourism industry. They come to the rodeo, but they also see other things they want to come back for."
Because of its proximity to the Green River, Vernal also is a hub for river running and fly fishing. And being near the Uinta Mountains, the area fills each fall with hunters.
"You get family reunions centered around the hunt," Bassett said. "They come to Vernal, buy all their groceries and go up on the mountain. During the deer hunt, you can go to any grocery store and see license plates from many states."
On the other side of the state, hotelier Jen Starr is perpetually promoting winter golf in St. George to residents of California, Minnesota, Colorado, Vancouver, Seattle, even Salt Lake City.
"When you're in Minnesota and you know you can come to St. George in November and play a beautiful round of golf, it makes us a desirable location," said Starr, director of sales for Hilton Garden Inn, whose 150 guest rooms and suites fill for the St. George Marathon and the Huntsman Senior Games. "We actually were booked for marathon weekend nine months prior to the event, the same for some dates during the Senior Games."
Added St. George Area Chamber of Commerce President Russ Behrmann: "I just learned to go to the grocery store for food those weekends because you're not eating out. Restaurants are full."
As owner of Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd., Peter Metcalf employs 300-plus people making and selling climbing equipment. Subcontractors employ 100 more.
All are here because of Utah's "God-given iconic landscapes," Metcalf said. "It serves as our inspiration to design the great products we're manufacturing here. That's why other outdoor companies have come. They've seen that it has worked for us. We've come from being a little company to a major, worldwide player. Utah's become the place to be if you want to engage in outdoor recreation."
Kim Norman, executive director of the Intermountain Volleyball Association, was instrumental in bringing the 2005 USA Junior Olympic Girls Volleyball Championships to Salt Lake City, complete with its 45,000 attendees and $43 million economic infusion.
That was extraordinary. But on a regular basis, Norman noted, "we're running about 50 events a year, with over 100 teams a weekend, from the first of January to the first of June. All of these translate into economic impact."
The Governor's Office of Economic Development is fully aware of the report's findings and eager to capitalize, just last week designating outdoor products and recreation as one of its "economic clusters. We have identified the key industries in the state where we can compete with anyone in the world - technology, aerospace, life sciences and without question, outdoor recreation," said executive director Jason Perry.
"We are really becoming the hub for the entire world in outdoor products. It's easy to see why when you look out the window at these great mountains. And with our desert, whatever your passion is, you can find it somewhere here in the state of Utah."
mikeg@sltrib.com
