Much more time, energy and money put into attracting a "sporting event."

[HuckleB]

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/front_page/109395340559060.xml

Racetrack supporters rev up their efforts to lure NASCAR -----
International Speedway Corp. wants a Northwest track, and the push is on to get it put in Oregon

"Jeff Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet leaped to the front of the Auto Club 500 field. The Monte Carlo boasted "the baddest engine we've ever had under the hood," the Nextel Cup points leader bragged later. Gordon and his ride at California Speedway got NASCAR fans' attention. The engine that snagged Drew Mahalic's eye wasn't measured in horsepower, though, but in dollars:

"I looked at 92,000 seats at the start of the race and did not see one empty," Mahalic, chief executive officer of the Oregon Sports Authority, said after watching the May 2 race in Fontana, Calif.

Major League Baseball might be taking a pass on Portland when it decides where to relocate the Montreal Expos. But now that the International Speedway Corp. is looking to build its first Northwest track, Mahalic and others don't want Oregon to take second place to Washington state.

At stake are events that supporters describe as the economic equivalent of playing host to a Super Bowl -- every year. NASCAR's Nextel Cup races, whose drivers are the most celebrated in U.S. racing, attract fans from around the country with cash in their pockets for hotels, meals and souvenirs. Already, however, some say Washington has pulled ahead of Oregon.

..."


and...

http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/sports/109395358759060.xml?oregonian?spm

Racetrack's potential economic effect difficult to gauge -----
One study says a NASCAR track can add $221 million to a region's economy, but some put the benefit at zero

"Opinions differ on a superspeedway's value to a region.

At the high end is a study last year sponsored by International Speedway Corp. The Arizona State University Center for Business Research tried to estimate the influence on a "typical" major metropolitan area of a $130 million, 75,000-seat speedway with three weekends of racing, including two NASCAR Nextel Cup series events. Its conclusion? Each year, the track would have a $221 million economic effect, including $88 million spent by 140,000 out-of-towners, $87 million in salaries from added regional employment and $18 million from extra tax income.

Or, the opposite could be true: "The literature in team sports finds there's no economic benefit from having a new team in an area -- my guess is it would work out similarly for car racing," said Andrew Zimbalist, an economist at Smith College in Massachusetts and the author of several books on economic issues in U.S. sports.

Zimbalist said economic studies often overlook costs. They can include unanticipated police overtime due to increased traffic and collisions and the phenomenon of "crowding out," in which a flood of race fans scares away the season's normal tourists or conventions."

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So... does this time, money and energy really amount to a hill of beans? Or are Oregonians continuing to chase down mirages that offer little hope of improving the economy and our lifestyle?