Cup event brings high impact, but not sure how big

COURTESY PETER SILVIAGREENER PASTURES: The Lawn at Castle Hill Inn on Ocean Drive in Newport had auxiliary bars and an augmented restaurant menu to accommodate increased business and sailing enthusiasts during the recent America’s Cup World Series Event.
COURTESY PETER SILVIA GREENER PASTURES: The Lawn at Castle Hill Inn on Ocean Drive in Newport had auxiliary bars and an augmented restaurant menu to accommodate increased business and sailing enthusiasts during the recent America’s Cup World Series Event.

How do you measure success?
Can it be summed up with mathematical figures and other numbers speaking to a designated event’s popularity? Can a positive outcome today project even better future earnings?
Yes … and no, say local business leaders who are watching and waiting to see how the recently concluded America’s Cup World Series Event in Newport will add up in immediate and future economic benefits, as well as what it will do to help the state recapture its once world-famous sail-racing-destination status.
“How in the end it will impact everything … it will be hard to tell,” said Jodi Sullivan, executive director of the Newport County Chamber of Commerce. Still, “this is really a strategic business opportunity to showcase Rhode Island to the world.”
The last stop of the America’s Cup World Series set sail June 23 in the city, when the “village” at Fort Adams, which the state has set up as a race-viewing location, opened with pre-event activities.
It’s the first time an America’s Cup event has been in Newport since 1983, when the New York Yacht Club’s loss to the Royal Perth Yacht Club of Australia sent the race out of town for the first time since the 1930s. The outcome ended what was arguably the longest winning streak in sports history and, in the minds of many, squashed the city’s reputation as the premier spot for sail racing.
For the current event, Rhode Island has invested time and manpower, as well as money, to showcase Newport’s hosting capabilities, including completing $1.3 million worth of infrastructure upgrades at Fort Adams and establishing a 30-member America’s Cup host committee that has worked to, among other things, market the event.
“We want the fans, the racers, the sponsors and the media who come here to say this was a great world tour, but Newport did it the best,” said Evan Smith, executive director of Discover Newport and host committee member. “In order to do that, they need to get a sense that Rhode Island, and Newport, is pumped about this.”
The America’s Cup World Series is a brand-new race match series that the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC), defending the 2010 Cup, and BMW Oracle Racing, its syndicate representative, announced in September 2010 would precede the America’s Cup 2013 and other pre-Cup challenges. Newport wanted both and started bidding.
A December 2010 study conducted by Providence accountancy and consultant Kahn, Litwin, Renza & Co. Ltd. for the Newport Chamber estimated the America’s Cup would generate $1.1 billion in economic benefits when the city was publicly considered in the running to host the event.
Newport lost out to San Francisco, BMW Oracle’s home camp, where America’s Cup 2013 will be held that September.
Newport is the last of six stops on the World Series circuit, and the America’s Cup Event Authority estimated that it would bring approximately $72 million to the state. But how much money it actually brought to Newport won’t be known until the fall.
The R.I. Economic Development Corporation has hired Maine-based research and planning firm Planning Designs Inc. to conduct an economic-impact study.
The firm, hired by public bid, planned to survey attendees at Fort Adams during the June 29-July 1 races and plans to similarly survey America’s Cup Event Authority officials, as well as compare sales tax revenue for the period.
“Really, their mission is to [conduct] an economic impact [study] of this event and to develop a structure for models to evaluate future marine-related events,” said Paul Harden, executive director of the America’s Cup Rhode Island 2012.
The Newport Harbor Corp. was looking at a “busy week” for its restaurant properties, most especially The Mooring Seafood Kitchen and Bar, the Smoke House and 22 Bowens, all located in downtown Newport, according to Kerri Quinn Jaffee, chief marketing officer.
Jaffee said there was a 30 percent spike in its private-event division across Castle Hill Inn, which overlooks Narragansett Bay on Ocean Drive, and its restaurant group for the week.
Catering to sailing enthusiasts at NHC included the set-up of auxiliary bars along Castle Hill’s al-fresco restaurant The Lawn, as well as an augmented menu there. Fluke Wine Bar and Kitchen, on Bowen’s Wharf in downtown Newport, had booked a couple private lunch events and co-owner Germerie Callaghan said reservations were “looking strong” for the week.
Callaghan planned to offer extended kitchen hours to accommodate extra walk-in traffic.
“I think it’s really obvious as a small-business owner that everyone wants to do whatever they can to make sure this is a spectacular event,” she said.
The Newport Preservation Society properties were selected for two America’s Cup-related events. The America’s Cup Host Committee hosted a cocktail party at The Breakers, which the society co-sponsored, and there was a private dinner party at Marble House.
Hotels were not faring as well as hoped during the World Series event.
Smith said actual hotel-room nights have come in at about half of the 5,000 originally anticipated.
Christine Sullivan, general manager of The Chandler at Cliff Walk, one of Newport’s most upscale lodging facilities, said the America’s Cup events had no impact on her business save some sponsor activities, including an industry and media event for the Napa Valley Vintners Association.
Harden said the marine trade benefited as well, including Hinckley Yachts in Portsmouth, which had been contracted to provide shuttle boats.
Whether a second America’s Cup World Series comes to Newport will not be known for some time in the best of circumstances. Brad Read, executive director of Sail Newport, likened the event to a “traveling road show” that only would repeat if BMW Oracle wins it all next year.
Of course, the ultimate goal is to get, eventually, the big Cup back here. That could be dependent more on the GGYC than the city.
The timeline for decisions isn’t crystal clear. America’s Cup has historically been held, except for a post World War II economic slump, every four years.
The last Cup was held in February 2010 in Valencia, Spain. •

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