For more information, contact:
The St. Louis Sports Commission
314-992-0687
sports@stlouissports.org

STUDY FINDS 2005 NCAA® MEN'S FINAL FOUR® GENERATED $71.9 MILLION ECONOMIC IMPACT FOR ST. LOUIS

$41.4 MILLION STAYS IN REGION
AS NEW INCOME AND TAXES

AREA'S PERFORMANCE AS HOST
LEFT VISITORS RAVING

ST. LOUIS – Sept. 14, 2005 – Not that any numbers are needed to reinforce the feel-good factor felt in St. Louis following the 2005 NCAA Men's Final Four. But if you like to keep score, you can attach $71.9 million to the event's legacy. That's the estimated total increase in local spending the Final Four generated for the 12-county St. Louis metropolitan area according to a study commissioned by the St. Louis Organizing Committee and conducted by Dr. Patrick Rishe, associate professor of economics at Webster University. Roughly $41.4 million will remain in the region over the long run as personal and corporate income and tax revenue.

Rishe's research estimates that the Final Four brought more than 54,000 visitors to the region. According to survey results, those visitors were responsible for:

• $6.4 million in direct spending on local hotels and lodging

• $6.3 million in direct spending at food and beverage establishments

• $5.0 million in direct spending at retail / shopping outlets

• $1.0 million in parking expenditures

• $1.3 million in rental car expenditures

• $3.5 million in tax revenue for the 12-county St. Louis metro area

Excluding hotel and rental car expenditures, Final Four visitors spent an average of $181 per day during their stay. The study revealed that 30.7 percent of visiting fans used the MetroLink light rail system. Of the $71.9 million in economic impact, the Final Four created $47 million in direct spending; $9.8 million in indirect spending (which measures how supplier-chain firms are impacted by the increased business realized by the directly impacted firms); and $15.1 million in induced spending (which measures how employees of all impacted firms spend their additional income gained from the initial rounds of impact).

In addition to spending habits, Rishe also collected data analyzing visitor impressions of St. Louis. The numbers echo the overwhelmingly positive feedback the Gateway City received from fans, media and the NCAA:

• 92.6 percent of visitors rated their overall experience in St. Louis during the Final Four as “excellent” or “very good.”

• 92.8 percent of visitors surveyed rated the Edward Jones Dome as “excellent” or “very good.”

• 71.2 percent of visitors surveyed said their attendance at the 2005 Final Four will increase their chances of visiting St. Louis again within the next two years.

• 68.3 percent of visitors surveyed said their attendance at the 2005 Final Four “favorably” changed their opinion of St. Louis. (28.5 percent responded “no change.”)

Rishe conducted the economic impact and market research survey during the Final Four held April 2-4. His report was produced for the NCAA and the St. Louis Organizing Committee (SLOC), which includes the Missouri Valley Conference, Saint Louis University, the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission (CVC), and the St. Louis Sports Commission. Rishe's findings are based on surveys collected from 563 fans and information provided by the NCAA and SLOC.

IMPACT BEYOND THE NUMBERS:
National Reaction to the 2005 Final Four in St. Louis…

“This has been a sensational Final Four site. It has been great. It's well deserving in my mind, after seeing 20 (Final Fours) to come back again far sooner (than the 27-year gap since the event last was in town).”
Jim Nantz , CBS Sports play-by-play announcer during the Final Four broadcast

“St. Louis put on a fabulous basketball party, thanks to a lot of hard work, imagination and a cooperative ‘can-do' spirit. I know what I experienced this weekend, and that was one of the best Final Fours – teams be gone – I've ever seen. What I saw was a St. Louis using sports to show off its potential. What I saw was an old city core that has the chance to be great again. What I saw and heard were tens of thousands of visitors who went home feeling good and talking up a city that far exceeded their expectations.”
Kirk Wessler , Peoria Journal Star sports columnist

“St. Louis proved it was more than ready for college hoops' ultimate weekend, and while the Final Four sites are set through 2011, it would be wise for the NCAA to make this city a regular part of the rotation in the future. It's centrally located. The people are exceedingly polite and helpful. The hotel situation is ideal. The Edward Jones Dome is a world-class facility. And the city's rehabilitated downtown – highlighted by a very cool party area, Laclede's Landing – had visitors raving.”
Randy Holtz , Rocky Mountain News (Denver) sportswriter

“Put St. Louis up there with Indianapolis when it comes to preferred Final Four sites. The Edward Jones and RCA domes are both downtown, with large convention centers attached. And in both cities, arena-hotel access is excellent. In the summer of 2006, St. Louis will bid on the 2012-2015 Final Fours. It will be a stunning development if St. Louis doesn't get at least one of those years.”
Wendell Barnhouse , Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram sportswriter

“Downtown streets are teeming with people, restaurants are packed and sports fans are piling into light rail cars to visit nightclubs to the west… (St. Louis) is undergoing a nascent revival, and (the Final Four) underscores one of the most important factors: sports. Not just the games, but also the decision to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in public money on new sports facilities… It took awhile, and it definitely took a lot more than a stadium or two, but the public investment became the seed money that somehow, some way, spawned something meaningful.”
Mitchell Schnurman , Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram business writer

“I love a city that under-promises and over-delivers.”
Bob Bowlsby , NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee chair and University of Iowa director of men's athletics