News
For the past six years, the Amgen Tour of California has boosted business for the Golden State communities along its annual race routes.
Whether or not a community serves as a host city for the start or finish line of a leg of the race, communities benefit from simply being a part of North America's premier cycling event.
That was the sentiment shared by western Nevada County officials, as the eight-day stage race is slated to return to the area today after getting canceled due to inclement weather at Lake Tahoe Sunday.
“First of all, let me say, (the Tour of California) should always start in Nevada City,” said Nevada City Mayor Robert Bergman. “But even if it just goes through town so quickly, it draws people.
“Last year (as host of the opening stage), it was a day-and-a-half event of sales tax revenue. But regardless of the economic impact, it's great to have things like Amgen cruising through town.”
The impact of the 2010 race on Nevada City is not precisely known, say its City Council members. Duane Strawser, a councilman who serves as a liaison to the Amgen organizers and owns the Tour of Nevada City Bicycle Shop, said the city has not tracked the information to the detail of other cities due to the cost of doing so.
“I know Solvang spent as much as $40,000 to track the $2 million they gained,” Strawser said. “We can't afford to do that. We're not going to waste $40,000 on tracking it.
"It's really impossible to get that information without going through an audit.”
Strawser said Nevada City provided about $20,000 of “in-kind” services for the 2010 event, through its police and fire departments. Strawser and the local organizing group came up with an additional $50,000 to $60,000 from private and corporate donations for hotel and food for Amgen officials and teams competing. Amgen, he said, offered about $100,000 to the cause of Nevada City hosting the opening of the race.
“That's ballpark,” Strawser said. “They could have billed us for so much more, but they are aware this community is not flush with cash. With us, they were much more flexible and helped us pull off the stage start.”
In advance of today's stage — from Squaw Valley to Sacramento, Nevada City went to work repairing and paving the bridge over Deer Creek on Nevada Street, where riders are scheduled to race through this afternoon. That work, Strawser said, was already scheduled to be completed this year through funds from Measure S, generated from an increase in city sales tax for road work.
"If anything, the race speeded that up to happen earlier than planned,” Strawser said.
Sally Harris, a Nevada City councilwoman, said she's not sure that quarterly sales tax figures from 2009 and 2010 would be able to accurately depict the economic impact of the race on Nevada City, because those numbers are not broken down per each day of the quarter.
And, she added, the city's benefit from the race goes beyond immediate revenue it generates.
“Really the value of this and the reason we're so open to doing this — beyond it's an exciting and fun thing — is that you're getting worldwide exposure for an event like this,” Harris said. “That will benefit us for years to come. Will we be able to measure it? No. But you do know some people will end up visiting Nevada City after seeing it.”
Harris said although she only has anecdotal evidence of an economic boost from 2010, many businesses did use the Tour of California as a way to bring customers through their front doors.
“Some of the businesses were pretty entrepreneurial about it, setting up special tables for the race. I know places like Matteo's Public (downtown) had food specials, that people could take out,” she said. “Some of them did really well that day, by coming up with a special product people wanted throughout the day.”
Strawser, who is also gearing up for the 51st Nevada City Classic on June 19, said Nevada City has been talking about putting together plan with Lake Tahoe to host another stage in the future. With this weekend's weather, he's hoping that doesn't hurt the effort.
“The potential stage proposed that we'll be bidding involves Tahoe,” Strawser said. “But with the issues with the snow, I'm just hoping they don't get gun shy about it.”
To contact City Editor Brian Hamilton, e-mail bhamilton@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4249.
Whether or not a community serves as a host city for the start or finish line of a leg of the race, communities benefit from simply being a part of North America's premier cycling event.
That was the sentiment shared by western Nevada County officials, as the eight-day stage race is slated to return to the area today after getting canceled due to inclement weather at Lake Tahoe Sunday.
“First of all, let me say, (the Tour of California) should always start in Nevada City,” said Nevada City Mayor Robert Bergman. “But even if it just goes through town so quickly, it draws people.
“Last year (as host of the opening stage), it was a day-and-a-half event of sales tax revenue. But regardless of the economic impact, it's great to have things like Amgen cruising through town.”
The impact of the 2010 race on Nevada City is not precisely known, say its City Council members. Duane Strawser, a councilman who serves as a liaison to the Amgen organizers and owns the Tour of Nevada City Bicycle Shop, said the city has not tracked the information to the detail of other cities due to the cost of doing so.
“I know Solvang spent as much as $40,000 to track the $2 million they gained,” Strawser said. “We can't afford to do that. We're not going to waste $40,000 on tracking it.
"It's really impossible to get that information without going through an audit.”
Strawser said Nevada City provided about $20,000 of “in-kind” services for the 2010 event, through its police and fire departments. Strawser and the local organizing group came up with an additional $50,000 to $60,000 from private and corporate donations for hotel and food for Amgen officials and teams competing. Amgen, he said, offered about $100,000 to the cause of Nevada City hosting the opening of the race.
“That's ballpark,” Strawser said. “They could have billed us for so much more, but they are aware this community is not flush with cash. With us, they were much more flexible and helped us pull off the stage start.”
In advance of today's stage — from Squaw Valley to Sacramento, Nevada City went to work repairing and paving the bridge over Deer Creek on Nevada Street, where riders are scheduled to race through this afternoon. That work, Strawser said, was already scheduled to be completed this year through funds from Measure S, generated from an increase in city sales tax for road work.
"If anything, the race speeded that up to happen earlier than planned,” Strawser said.
Sally Harris, a Nevada City councilwoman, said she's not sure that quarterly sales tax figures from 2009 and 2010 would be able to accurately depict the economic impact of the race on Nevada City, because those numbers are not broken down per each day of the quarter.
And, she added, the city's benefit from the race goes beyond immediate revenue it generates.
“Really the value of this and the reason we're so open to doing this — beyond it's an exciting and fun thing — is that you're getting worldwide exposure for an event like this,” Harris said. “That will benefit us for years to come. Will we be able to measure it? No. But you do know some people will end up visiting Nevada City after seeing it.”
Harris said although she only has anecdotal evidence of an economic boost from 2010, many businesses did use the Tour of California as a way to bring customers through their front doors.
“Some of the businesses were pretty entrepreneurial about it, setting up special tables for the race. I know places like Matteo's Public (downtown) had food specials, that people could take out,” she said. “Some of them did really well that day, by coming up with a special product people wanted throughout the day.”
Strawser, who is also gearing up for the 51st Nevada City Classic on June 19, said Nevada City has been talking about putting together plan with Lake Tahoe to host another stage in the future. With this weekend's weather, he's hoping that doesn't hurt the effort.
“The potential stage proposed that we'll be bidding involves Tahoe,” Strawser said. “But with the issues with the snow, I'm just hoping they don't get gun shy about it.”
To contact City Editor Brian Hamilton, e-mail bhamilton@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4249.
