It didn’t take long for the usual mouthpieces to come out talking about the economic impact of the Garth Shows, which is no surprise;
Teri Schmidt, executive director of the Sioux Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau, said anytime a concert sells out it means an infusion of money to bars, restaurants, hotels and gas stations in the city. But a household name that draws people from all over the country like Brooks raises the bar even further.
“Even if we said the average person would spend an average of about $100, that’s another $4.5 million in economic impact — just in a blink of an eye,†she said. “Throw in the possibility of an overnight stay, going out to eat, maybe they do a little shopping, fill up their car with gas — it’s going to be a great week in Sioux Falls.â€
That’s good news also for local governments that find themselves dealing with sluggish sales tax revenues.
Which comes to about $135,000 in sales taxes to the city coffers (if you count all 3 pennies the city takes in). But let’s say everyone spends double that, that’s a whopping $270,000.
I won’t dwell on that.
As I have said all along, I would like to know the amount of money that is spent at the Denny (not at other businesses citywide) that leaves town. In other words how much goes to Garth, SMG and Ovations, and how much of that gets recirculated in Sioux Falls?
People have argued with me that the Denny is bringing in MORE money to the community, yet;
1) The city and SMG won’t show us the actual sales numbers AND
2) sales tax revenue has been slowly declining in SF since the Denny opened YET most shows are sellouts.
With all the additional sales at the Denny and people coming to Sioux Falls for this extra entertainment, why haven’t we been seeing a boom in sales tax growth?
You know I know the answer why, but will the city have the nads to admit it?
my wife got tickets, and i can tell you she isn’t going to be staying in any hotels, going out to eat, or shop because of it.
It doesn’t matter what the numbers were and you know it. You would twist them to fit your city-bashing agenda. Folks got you figured out.
They won’t show me the numbers because they know I am right. This is why the siding settlement was closed. It’s just a bunch of fluff, but the tax returns don’t lie.
There’s lower priced hotels in Brandon, Tea, Hartford, and Grand Falls. People will come in for the concerts then anxiously leave. Fast food will do well but Sioux Falls has become known for inferior restaurants and poor service. The locals have tickets but they’ll stay away from commercial crowds. As usual, the revenue will be good but it’s wildly overestimated. Welcome Garth. Enjoy your middle class fans and sympathize our indenture from the thousand dollar suits.
‘The Don’ needs a job apologizing for Donald Trump.
Simple economics taught in entry level university classes teaches basic of multiplier effects on money. Some money generators would have no economic long term value while others would have the ability to cause the creation of additional jobs with associated tax growth.
The mayor of Boom Town claimed at one time he was an economics major or did he study economics at South Dakota State (or did he just claim it). What ever the answer is, he just has to exaggerate. It’s part of his boom town makeup.
So let’s look at the basics of having Garth Brooks or Jason Aldean show up for their concerts. It might make a bunch of us feel good to have them show up, entertaining us for a couple of hours but the $5 million in ticket sales is likely $4.97 million leaving Sioux Falls (and South Dakota) never to be seen again.
Most of these good people planning to attend the concert are taking money out of their checking accounts and sending it to points unknown but to a bank’s routing number.
The money they send away is not going to be used to locally buy clothes or cars or even restaurants. When this money goes away, Sioux Falls will not collect any additional sales tax revenue as the money flies away. We’ve seen money in the past circulate over and over up to seven times. Gone, bye-bye.
The multiplier effect of local spending is why Sioux Falls has survived deep recessions relatively unhurt in the past but our Boom Town mayor’s policies have now put us in a very sad and potentially painful position. We’ll be talking more about this as the City Council discusses our future and budgets.
The Events Center is OWNED BY THE TAXPAYERS.
What mechanism does the City use to avoid making ALL numbers regarding the EC public?
anonymous, two words, one name: Tracy Turbak