A good bet for local economy

A friendly wager is as much a part of golf as picking up a 2-foot putt. For The Broadmoor hotel, hosting the U.S. Senior Open is a $7 million bet.

The way the Open works, The Broadmoor not only hosts the event, it pays the USGA a fee to run the whole shebang. Broadmoor President Steve Bartolin said the hotel will invest millions on everything from sprucing up the course to renting picnic tables.
"Financially, there's certainly a risk involved," Bartolin said. "We have about a $7 million threshold to break even - that's a big threshold and a big risk."

For Colorado Springs, however, the Open is closer to a gimmee. The USGA estimates the host city for the Open reaps $30 million in economic impact from the event, which began Monday with practice rounds. That number includes hotel rooms and hamburgers and anything and everything else that goes into staging a national sporting event.

For Timberline Landscaping, the Open means a $75,000 contract and a very busy three weeks. Timberline installed landscaping and flowers around the tents and booths and bleachers on the course. It's no small task, vice president Judd Bryarly said. The dirt and mulch and 5,000 flowers and plants came in on club cars, then were unloaded by hand to protect the course.

At Fittje Brothers Printing, it's a similar scenario, although spread over a much longer period. The company, which is handling the printing for the Open, printed its first Open-related job in October 2006, and it will print daily pairings sheets every night throughout the event.

"We've got our hands full now," said Bennie Spiegel, Fittje's president. "All in all, it will impact our company well in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is a nice little uptick for us."

It's also, Spiegel said, generated business leads as companies and events have called around to ask who has handled the printing for the Open.

Although the Open's impact may be broad, it's still The Broadmoor that has the most on the line, and stands to gain the most if the Open is a hit.

"If all goes well, we end up breaking even on it," Bartolin said.

Leading up to the Open, corporate sponsorships were on budget and ticket sales were exceeding expectations, he said.

Sponsorships are a major part of the equation when it comes to breaking even on the Open. Golf attracts some very desirable sponsors, like financial services and technology companies, said Don Hinchey, with the Denver-based sports marketing firm The Bonham Group. Bonham negotiates sponsorship deals and advises companies on sports marketing, although Hinchey said the company wasn't working with the Open.

"It's able to attract a number of well-heeled sponsors," Hinchey said.

Even if the event does finish in the red, the prestige and recognition that come from hosting a championship golf event pay dividends for years to come, Bartolin said.

"I wouldn't know how to put a value on 500 press people being here for a week, a viewing audience in 50 countries," he said. "Most significantly, it adds to the lore and the history of golf and the credibility of golf that The Broadmoor offers. It enhances your reputation for decades to come."

The Broadmoor hired Bruno Events Team, a company that specializes in staging major events like the Open, to run the operation. Bruno's Doug Habgood has been in Colorado Springs since 2005, as the Championship director. Before the first tee time, Colorado Springs and The Broadmoor are being judged, and earning dividends, based on the preparations for the Open, Habgood said.

"We got off to a great start with this event," he said. "That word got out (and) I think it had something to do with the 2011 Women's Open coming here. There are people watching and keeping score."

Like The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs stands to reap a publicity bonanza from the Open and national television coverage on ESPN and NBC. Terry Sullivan, president of Experience Colorado Springs at Pikes Peak, the local convention and visitors bureau, estimates the free advertising will be worth $5 million to the city. Experience Colorado Springs has provided the TV networks with aerial footage of the Springs, Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak to supplement their coverage. The bureau signed up as a $100,000 sponsor, which it's using as a promotional tool to work with travel and convention magazine publishers.

Because so many golf fans will come from other Front Range cities, Sullivan doesn't expect local hotels to be overflowing. Still, the expected 150,000 fans will have to eat and fill up their tanks, if nothing else.

"I certainly hope there's all these people visiting our community, they're going to reach out and want to sample other parts (of the city) than The Broadmoor," he said. "I can't think of any event held in this community over the past 18 years that's going to draw 150,000 people."

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