NEW ORLEANS >> On a gloomy morning last week, the counter at the Ruby Slipper Cafe on the edge of the French Quarter overflowed with hungry sports fans from out of town.
A middle-aged couple in Arkansas State athletic gear drank Bloody Marys next to a waffle-scarfing family of soccer fans wearing toy crowns in honor of the World-Cup winning United States Women’s National Team.
An eclectic city as is, sports make New Orleans even more so.
And hosting big events has stimulated the area’s economy through sports tourism. The people in town for the USA vs. China soccer match Wednesday and Saturday’s New Orleans Bowl didn’t just go to games at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. They stayed in hotels, ate at restaurants, rented cars or rode cabs, visited tourist attractions and shopped for souvenirs.
The Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation owns the New Orleans Bowl, and it helped in a secondary role with the first soccer match at the Superdome, which drew nearly 33,000 fans.
“The sports foundation can’t take credit (for securing the soccer match),” said Sam Joffray, GNOSF senior vice president of communications. “U.S. Soccer contacted the Superdome directly. It kind of falls in the category of not an economic driver, but it helps keep us relevant as a destination.”
Although hosting soccer was a minor risk financially, ticket sales on the first day were so brisk no one worried about it anymore. And early December is traditionally a down period for tourism, so the boost made the New Orleans visitor industry happy.
The GNOSF has its hands in many local sports activities, but its specialty is big games. From its inception in 1988 to 2013, it successfully bid for three Super Bowls, six NCAA Final Fours (three men, three women) and numerous other events.
In those first 25 years, the GNOSF brought events to New Orleans producing a $2 billion economic benefit to New Orleans and Louisiana, at a cost of $65 million.
In 2013, the Crescent City hosted its record-tying 10th Super Bowl. It generated $480 million in net economic impact for the New Orleans metropolitan area economy, with $262.8 million of direct spending and $217.2 million of secondary spending, according to the GNOSF. (The net economic impact takes into account the displaced economic benefits of potential convention and visitor spending that occur in the absence of a Super Bowl.)
“Every year is different,” Joffray said. “But our number one industry is tourism. It’s our bread-and-butter. Whether it’s sports, conventions, the jazz festival, Mardi Gras. And sports is definitely a priority. Anything from a Super Bowl to an NBA All-Star Game to NCAA championships. All big events are on our radar.”
Because of geographic realities, Hawaii will never likely reach close to New Orleans’ status as a spectator sports city.
“Hawaii is certainly an attractive place to go (for events),” Superdome general manager Alan Freeman said. “But the problem is you’ve got to go there to get there.”
But Honolulu and New Orleans have tourism and hospitality culture in common.
Some fear Hawaii’s advantages when trying to attract events — like the large tourism structure and year-round warm weather — might be mitigated by negative publicity from the cancellation of the soccer match between the U.S. and Trinidad and Tobago. It was supposed to have been played at Aloha Stadium on Dec. 6, but the USWNT pulled out of the game the night before, claiming the field was “subpar” and unsafe to play on.
Some say the problem was a symptom of the state not having a sports commission similar to the GNOSF. Instead, the marketing of sports tourism — which generates more than $200 million of annual spending in Hawaii — falls under the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
“HTA has done a respectable job in handling some of these events,” said Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui, who has an advisory group researching developing a sports commission since early 2015. “But if Hawaii really wants to be serious about being known as a place that handles these events and with first-class facilities, we need a commission that is dedicated to sports. Sports is kind of an add-on to HTA.”
Advocates say a commission dedicated to sports would have promoted the soccer match better, and worked closely with U.S. Soccer and the team to make sure it was satisfied with the playing field, and other aspects of the match and trip — or not even booked the match if Hawaii did not have a suitable venue.
Aloha Stadium manager Scott Chan said U.S. Soccer officials approved the field, but neither they, nor any coaches or players, viewed it until the team arrived for the game.
Now, because of the soccer flap, with the Hawaii Bowl between San Diego State and Cincinnati set for Dec. 24, questions have been asked about the field’s suitability for football — even though NFL officials have approved it for the Jan. 31 Pro Bowl.
The Pro Bowl is the HTA’s biggest prize, and the rights price tag is now $5 million for the 2016 game. The HTA considers that a bargain, claiming a $200 million media value for the 2014 game. Plus, the game produced $71.9 million in direct visitor spending, plus $8.9 million more in production costs for the game and events surrounding it.
(Studies have indicated the Honolulu Marathon produces more than $100 million each year. It is not funded by HTA.)
No one knows how long the NFL will keep bringing the game to Hawaii, as it has now taken it elsewhere twice after 30 consecutive years in the islands. While the field itself has been deemed satisfactory for football, the age of Aloha Stadium and its lack of amenities like luxury suites could have the league eventually leaving permanently.
A sports commission would also engage the stadium issue. Tsutsui said he tried to convince Gov. David Ige resolving it “should be part of the package this year.”
Numerous studies have been commissioned regarding rebuilding the stadium or building a new one somewhere else. But nothing has been settled regarding the facility that opened in 1975, a month after the Superdome.
“It’s become clear to me besides problems with event management and promotion there are also facility issues,” said Mark Rolfing, who heads Tsutsui’s sports commission advisory panel. “No. 1 is Aloha Stadium. If there’s not headway in this year’s Legislature, when?”
A sports commission “would not be trying to compete with HTA,” Tsutsui said. “If they still (support) the Pro Bowl and the Sony Open, by all means continue to do it. We just believe there is so much more.”
Tsutsui cited an example of an Oakland Raiders preseason game, perhaps against the San Francisco 49ers, proposed for last August, that a sports-specific commission could have facilitated.
According to its 2015 strategic plan update, the HTA’s state tax-funded budget is around $92 million. Less than 10 percent goes to sports tourism marketing.
In New Orleans, the GNOSF is a non-profit foundation that receives tax funding “that handles our nuts-and-bolts administration,” Joffray said. “When we host events the state tourism agency partners with us (for rights fees), and we need to start fundraising.”
The foundation is the go-to group for almost anyone looking to stage a sports event in New Orleans, Joffray said.
“So when the NCAA looks at New Orleans, they know we will be an active player. We don’t go away. A lot of cities will create a host committee after they get an event. Start up, then shut down. With us they know we have a full-time staff. We hook ’em and we cook ’em. Nine times out of 10 we’re the primary contact, and we work closely with different partners, such as, the NCAA requires a host institution, so it will be Tulane or the University of New Orleans.”
It’s obvious sports tourism is done on a different scale in Louisiana than Hawaii. But Joffray, born-and-raised in New Orleans, and others can relate to Hawaii’s current problem of a stadium with a tarnished reputation.
Ten years ago, the Superdome was in a much worse place than Aloha Stadium now. Damage from Hurricane Katrina jeopardized its future, and that of New Orleans.
“There was a period of time no one knew what would happen,” Joffray said. “When they shut the doors there was some time when we had no idea about not just the Superdome, but the entire city. All kinds of talk about shutting down forever.
“The Saints and the NFL stepped in to (help finance rebuilding the Superdome) and said, ‘This is going to be your symbol of recovery.’
“Some people say (the NFL) is always asking for this, demanding that. But there’s a legacy, they help you with this, helps you with that. A lot of things.”
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Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.
Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.
