Lake Placid and Olympic Facilities
Winter Olympic facilities well used by visitors, skiers, snowboarders, winter sports enthusiasts.
Statistical reporting shows that the former Winter Olympic sites Lake Placid and Salt Lake are attracting visitors and wielding a significant economic impact.
Does a city like Lake Placid, N.Y. or Salt Lake City, Ut., reap any true long-term benefit from hosting the winter Olympics?
Good question.
Hosting the Olympic Games generates massive publicity, revenues and attention for the host site just prior to and during the Olympiad. And, there's mounting evidence from the last few Games-both winter and summer-that Olympiads can even make a profit. (At least, that's what the authorities from the Atlanta summer and Salt Lake City winter Games have reported.)
But, what happens three, five or ten years down the line, long after the thrills and excitement are gone, and the memories of the heroics have faded?
Apparently, with the right stewardship, things can work out alright.
According to an independent economic impact statement just released by the Technical Assistance Center (TAC) at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, the events and activities of the New York Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) in Lake Placid generated more than $356 million statewide in 2004-05. Approximately $323.7 million of that total was felt directly and indirectly in the Lake Placid region-Essex, Franklin, Clinton and Warren counties.
And, the figures for skier visits to the greater Salt Lake area, and to Utah in general, have shown a consistently sharp rise since the Games were staged there in 2002.
That's reassuring.
Staging an Olympiad is extraordinarily expensive, and the long term benefits to both the locals' lifestyle and to the local economy are often seemingly absent.
But, the TAC study, and the Utah skier statistics, indicate that when it's done right, excellent carryover effects can be realized.
The 1980 Lake Placid Games survived in our memory because of two significant events:
One, the U.S. Hockey Team upset the Russians in the "Do you believe in Miracles?" game, the story of which last year became the film Miracle.
And, two, Eric Heiden skated to a record five gold speed skating medals.
But, despite that legacy, those Games could easily have generated no lasting economic effect.
The Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA), however, has done yeoman's work in promoting, maintaining and upgrading the venues for use by, and the benefit of, world class athletes, residents and visitors.
According to Empire State Development Corporation Chairman and ORDA Chairman Charles A. Gargano, more than $60 million has been
invested in capital improvements since 1982 to keep ORDA venues in state-of-the-art condition.
Seems like revenues of $356 million statewide and $323.7 million regionally makes for a pretty good return-on-investment.
According to the report, "the study attempted to ascertain the total economic contribution of ORDA . . . considering both dollar and employment flows. The overall economic impact of ORDA facilities and operations in the primary study area was $323,709,866 in 2004-2005, and $356,179,578 in New York State over the same period. ORDA's presence in the four-county study area additionally led to the creation of 1,138 local jobs (over and above the people employed by ORDA). Another 1,407 jobs were created statewide as a result of ORDA operations."
Spending by Lake Placid area visitors is said to have been $310.1 million during the study period. Apparently, tourists-be they skiers, snowboarders, ice skaters, Nordic skiers, luge and bobsled riders, ski jumpers or hockey teams, junior hockey team parents or summertime vacationers-can be a gold mine, if the host site plays its cards right.
And, Lake Placid has done that. Working together, ORDA and the town have somehow managed to maintain a small town America feeling while attracting world class competitions and snowsliders from across the continent and around the world.
Where else can a visitor ride the Olympic bobsled run, skate the Olympic oval (which is set on Lake Placid High School's school grounds), ski World Cup moguls and Olympic downhill runs, and ride an old-fashioned toboggan all in the same day? This in a town of less than 3,000 people.
ORDA reports that it "welcomed 390,560 guests at [its] five venues . . . an increase of nearly 13 percent" over the previous year.
Skier/rider visits at Whiteface and Gore were up by 17,618
and 10,758 respectively.
Bobsled riders increased by 3,500 more passengers. Admissions to the Winter Olympic Museum and outdoor ice skating increased to 11,000 from 6,800 and to 11,700 from 9,400.
The TAC report states: "The 1980 Olympic Winter Games focused the world's attention on the Adirondacks for a few weeks and changed the course of sports history. They also created an economic legacy that has re-shaped the region's economy ever since. The legacy of those Olympics, however, could have very well been limited to some great memories, a good movie, a new prison, some short-term improvements in infrastructure, and little else if
not for the creation of ORDA in 1981 to manage and promote the sports facilities used to host the 1980 Games."
