Womens Final Four Economic Impact

[Brad]

Courtesy USF:

2008 NCAA® WOMEN’S FINAL FOUR® PRODUCES $19.1 MILLION IN ECONOMIC IMPACT

INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Women’s Final Four and its ancillary activities produced more than $19 million in direct economic impact in the Tampa Bay area, according to a new study.

The financial study, conducted for the NCAA by Performance Research, surveyed fans attending the Women’s Final Four; Time Out in Tampa (an outdoor fan festival that featured music, food and other activities); and Hoop City (an indoor fan interactive experience involving many basketball activities). The study includes spending figures from 17 organizations involved with the events that were surveyed as well, such as broadcast entities, corporate partners and event production companies.

The study calculated $19,114,228 of direct, new spending in the Tampa Bay metropolitan statistical area. The economic impact does not include any multiplier effects, ticket sales or spending by local residents.

“The Women’s Final Four has once again shown it is a proven winner on and off the court,” said Sue Donohoe, NCAA vice president of Division I women’s basketball. “Our corporate champions and corporate partners enjoy the strong outreach provided by our championship, and our loyal fans continue to support our game.” The $19.1 million economic impact includes $16,655,769 in visitor spending; $2,399,936 in organizational spending; and $1,835,927 in taxes and charges (including hotel taxes, car rental taxes, sales tax, and airport passenger facility charges). Overall, there were 22,595 visitors to the Tampa Bay area at the Women’s Final Four, the Time Out in Tampa event and Hoop City. Of this total, 21,067 were considered “valid visitors,” when excluding those who switched a planned trip to the host city to coincide with the Women’s Final Four; and those visiting for other reasons. Valid visitors stayed an average of 4.2 days and spent an average of $208 per day in Tampa, according to the study. When spending on merchandise is adjusted to account for only 20 percent of those funds staying in the host city, the average daily total spending by valid visitors was $190. The $190 spending figure includes $63 on food and beverage; $53 on lodging; $42 on transportation; $15 on retail shopping; $12 on non-NCAA entertainment; and $4 on merchandise.

Among fans attending the semifinal and championship games, 91 percent were from out of town. For Hoop City attendees, 87 percent were visitors and 13 percent were local residents. Of those attending the Time Out in Tampa, 88 percent were visitors and 12 percent were local.

To avoid double-counting, the study included only Time Out in Tampa attendees who did not attend games and Hoop City attendees who did not attend the games or the Time Out in Tampa events. Spending reported by the Tampa Local Organizing Committee is not included in the study, as it is not money coming from outside the Tampa Bay region. Other study results noted that 75 percent of attendees came from outside the state of Florida and 75 percent were female. The average age of attendees was 46.1 years, and 74 percent of attendees had earned college or postgraduate degrees. The average household income of all attendees was $108,500.