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PARK CITY — The Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah set a new attendance record in 2014 and likely surpassed other economic metrics from last year, a tour organizer said.
Project manager Jenn Andrs told KSL attendance for the seven-day, seven-stage event was estimated to be at least 275,000, up roughly 15,000 from 2013.
“We’re really impressed by the amount of community members that are coming out to support it,” Andrs said.
Andrs said the tour conducted an economic impact survey and was expecting those results in the coming weeks. The 2013 event resulted in a $17.5 million economic impact and $8 million in media value, according to last year’s study commissioned by the tour.
“When the race comes, it’s 520 hotel rooms every night, it’s over 150 cars,” Andrs said.
Andrs said as many as 7,000 spectators flocked to Kamas for the end of Stage 5 Friday, and all involved with the tour are encouraged to spend at local businesses.
“We encourage them to buy T-shirts in the shops, eat food in the local restaurants and really create impact in the cities and towns that were visited,” Andrs said.
In Park City, Main Street was jammed with spectators for much of the day Sunday and shops there said they witnessed a spike in business.
Everyone was like in bike gear, even if they weren't in the race. There were a lot of people out of town, out of country even. I couldn't speak the language that they were speaking.
–Shayna White
At Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, worker Shayna White said a lot of people crowded inside to buy goodies.
“Everyone was like in bike gear, even if they weren’t in the race,” White said. “There were a lot of people out of town, out of country even. I couldn’t speak the language that they were speaking.”
At Wasatch Brew Pub, busser Sully Tesch said it was hard to move around and do his job Sunday night because of all the patrons.
“The bar was flying the whole time — I couldn’t even get through to pick stuff up,” Tesch said. “I had to walk around the entire restaurant and go up the other stairwell to like even get to the other side.”
Despite the rave business reviews, an independent economist cautioned that economic impact from a sporting event like the Tour of Utah is difficult to pin down.
James Wood, director of the University of Utah’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research, said to achieve real impact the event needs to attract new money that wouldn’t have been spent otherwise, somewhere else in the state.
Wood questioned whether that would be the case with most local patrons. He said the value of these types of sporting events is more related to advertising the state’s best qualities and perhaps resulting in a bump in out-of-state tourists down the road.
Wood also acknowledged an event like the Tour of Utah could result in more business at local bike shops.
Andrs noted that she encountered plenty of out-of-state race-specific visitors — including from Europe.
“I spoke with some people who came in from the Netherlands to follow their team, Belkin,” she said.
Regardless, Andrs said because of the word-of-mouth success, cities around the state are trying to get in on the action in 2015.
“We already have some of the smaller communities who are knocking on our doors saying, “Hey! We want a turn!” Andrs said.
Andrs said those places will get a look for 2015, as the tour works to build on its prestige and reputation.
“We want riders to come back and say that was the best race because we had the best catering, we had the best accommodations, the transfers were good and they really care about us as athletes,” Andrs said. “I think we’ll probably look to add a couple more pro teams in the next couple years and continue to boost the level of competition.”
