2006 Emerald Bowl Provided San Francisco with $18+mil
The Week After Christmas, Not Usually a Busy Time for the City's Hotels
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, April 11, 2007. The week after Christmas in San Francisco is not usually a busy time for the city's hotels. But the 2006 Emerald Bowl, the post-season college football game played at AT&T Park, attracted thousands of football enthusiasts from across the country and generated significant revenue for the city last December.
Recently released data from the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau estimates that the sold out game between the Florida State Seminoles and UCLA Bruins had a total economic impact of $18.1 million to San Francisco. Data concludes that overnight guests spent $14.77 million on hotel accommodations, dining, entertainment, local transportation, shopping, etc., while ticket and concession sales generated $2.1 million. The impact of day visitors was an estimated $1.09 million and the ad equivalency of ESPN's broadcast of the game in San Francisco was estimated at $138,000.
"The Emerald Bowl's relationship with the Pacific-10 and Atlantic Coast Conferences paid immediate dividends," said Gary Cavalli, executive director of the Emerald Bowl. "Nearly half of the tickets were purchased by out-of-town fans supporting Florida State or UCLA and those fans obviously put a lot of visitor dollars into our local economy. Since generating tourism revenue for the city of San Francisco was one of our goals when we created the Bowl, we're very pleased by these numbers."
The Bowl, which brings visitors to the Bay Area during a traditionally slow period, was broadcast in prime time, giving San Francisco invaluable exposure. It received a 4.48 rating on ESPN, meaning 9.5 million households tuned in to see the Seminoles beat the Bruins 44-27. The Emerald Bowl ranked ninth among 32 total bowl telecasts in overall viewership, and attracted a Bowl record, standing room only crowd of 40,331 fans.
"Over the past five years, the Emerald Bowl has grown into a powerful economic event for our region," said Joe D'Alessandro, president and CEO of the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau. "From direct visitor spending to the television coverage on ESPN, the game has an impact well beyond what happens inside AT&T Park."
Tourism is the largest revenue-generating industry in San Francisco, generating $7.3 billion each year and supporting 66,315 jobs. For more information on next December's Emerald Bowl at AT&T Park, visit www.emeraldbowl.org.
Founded in 1909, the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau is a private, not-for-profit organization that markets the City as a leisure, convention and business travel destination. With nearly 1,700 member businesses, the SFCVB is one of the largest membership-based tourism promotion agencies in the country. The SFCVB business offices are located at 201 Third St., Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103. For more information, call 415-974-6900 or visit www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com.
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