NCAA passes $15 million to Tulsa's economy

BY MICHAEL OVERALL World Staff Writer
Sunday, March 20, 2011
3/20/11 at 8:19 AM

Updates:

We’ll have stories and photos from Sunday’s games.

Map: Need a place to park downtown? We have a map you can print.

Shuttle routes: Print them and take them with you.

Printable bracket: See who’s advancing through the NCAA field.

Slideshows: Check out the NCAA Tournament sights from the BOK Center.

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Capitalizing on the basketball crowds at the BOK Center, Billy Bayouth kept his downtown restaurant open Saturday, although it usually closes for the weekend.

The staff worked extra hours. The kitchen ordered extra food. And Bayouth stocked up on napkins and bathroom supplies to handle the extra-long lines.

"We're spending money to make money," he said, referring to Billy's on the Square at Fifth and Main streets.

"And when we're spending money, other people are making money too."

Tulsa businesses are reaping a huge windfall from the NCAA Tournament, with officials estimating that the economic impact could reach $15 million.

The most direct benefits will go, naturally, to hotels, restaurants and retailers.

But the money will ripple across the city to touch thousands of people who never got anywhere close to the tournament.

Economists call it the "induced effect," explains Bob Ball, who calculates economic impact numbers for the Metropolitan Tulsa Chamber of Commerce.

"Tourists come to Tulsa and spend money at a local business," Ball said. "And that business spends the money with another business, which spends the money with another business, so on and so on."

Basketball fans are paying for at least 6,000 hotel rooms in Tulsa this weekend, with downtown hotels reaching 100 percent occupancy, when they settle for 50 percent occupancy on the average weekend.

Extra guests will mean, for example, that a hotel needs to order more toilet paper and hand soap, Ball said.

"Maybe the wholesaler has to make an extra delivery. The truck driver gets paid overtime.

"Now he can take his wife out to dinner, and maybe they go to a restaurant in south Tulsa, far away from the BOK.

"They leave a nice tip, so now the waiter can go see a movie. That's how the NCAA Tournament can help support the job of the guy who fills the popcorn bag."

The theater employee, of course, will never know that the money in his pocket originally came from a Jayhawks fan.

Economists can't really track it that precisely either. But they can gauge the economic impact with matrix algebra, Ball said.

"There's hard data to input, numbers that come from past events," he said. "It's a lot less guesswork than you think."

The matrix for the Big Dance originally produced a gigantic range of estimates, predicting Tulsa's economy would benefit somewhere between $8 million and $15 million.

The uncertainty came not from the math itself, but from the nature of the tournament.

Which teams would be selected to come to Tulsa? Who would win Friday? How many fans would stay for Sunday's second round?

In the end, it seems to be working out almost perfectly for Tulsa with popular teams bringing huge fan bases.

The longer people stay in Tulsa, of course, the more money they will spend, and the wider those dollars will spread throughout the community.

"We can follow it down to a fraction of a penny," Ball said, "if you care to take it that far."

Eventually, the ripple fades out completely. And a one-time event, even as massive as the NCAA Tournament, won't produce long-term benefits.

At least, not by itself. But one event can lead to another, said Michael Frimel, president of the Tulsa Hotel and Lodging Association.

"It's kind of a test for Tulsa," Frimel said. "If we succeed, we're going to see a lot more events like this over the next few years."

Local officials are already trying to reel in a major youth soccer competition; representatives are in town this weekend to see how Tulsa handles the NCAA.

USA Fencing also has officials here to observe the basketball tournament, with an eye toward bringing a large event to the city.

And that's only the beginning, if all goes well this weekend.

"It's a huge opportunity for us," Frimel said. "It's not something you'll see Monday. It's not something you'll see by June 1.

"But in the months and years ahead, this is really going to pay off big."

By the numbers:

More than 70,000 downtown visitors
At least 6,000 hotel rooms
Up to a $15 million economic impact

Sunday’s BOK Center schedule

Texas vs. Arizona, 5:10 p.m., TNT-29

Kansas vs. Illinois, 7:40 p.m., TNT-29

Tickets

Available for $79 at tulsaworld.com/ncaatickets, by phone at 866-726-5287 or at the BOK Center box office.

Original Print Headline: Ripples in city's fountain

Michael Overall 918-581-8383
michael.overall@tulsaworld.com

Associated Images:

More than 70,000 people will visit downtown Tulsa for the NCAA men's basketball tournament, filling hotels to capacity and pumping up to $15 million into the local economy, officials say. JAMES GIBBARD / Tulsa World

A customer buys a drink inside a hospitality tent at the NCAA Tournament. A basketball fan's purchases will ripple through the Tulsa economy to help support thousands of jobs, economists say. JAMES GIBBARD / Tulsa World

Jayhawks fan Andy Ek from Kansas City chats with his mother, Debby Ek, during a University of Kansas alumni donor reception party at McNellie's Pub in Tulsa on Saturday. JAMES GIBBARD / Tulsa World