Sunday running takes center stage in New York, as the worl.s largest single day sporting event, the ING New York City Marathon, takes to the streets of the five boroughs. The New York Road Runners Club estimates the economic impact of the annual event to be about $250 million. That is a bit less than the Super Bowl economic impact and while money numbers can be argued from sport to sport, the New York City Marathon might actually really have a significant economic impact on the area.
In 2007, the New York Road Runners claimed that “Marathon participants and spectators spend $71 million on hotels, $45 million on food and beverages, $42 million on retail merchandise, over $16 million on entertainment, $14 million on transportation, and $11 million on running and fitness gear at the New York City Marathon Health and.Fitness Expo.”
The Road Runners stud.also claime.”that 15 percent of the runners had an income of more than $250,000 with an overall average household income of $130,000. The study also suggests that runners are likely to spend more money than an average tourist because they view the race as a celebratory event. Half of those runners come from abroad and stay in the city for an average of six days.”
So what does that mea. Big money not just for New York, but for any major city that hosts an event in these challenged times. Now granted, Sheboygan and Moline will not generate revenue like a major city does, and some cities, like San Francisco, have struggled to find the right corporate and economic mix to make a mega-event possible. New York, and a key group of other cities like London, Rotterdam, Chicago and Boston, have overcome those challenges by taking a history of major event success and packaging that success with appropriate and effective brand activation platforms with sponsors who realize that the event as much as the participants are the revenue generators. The platforms created by the New York Road Runners Club these days take on every possible angle, from tradition signage to category sponsors to digital campaigns to brands that extend the life of the event well beyond the day (Subway for example, announced and created a promotion with their weight loss star Jared Fogle and defending champion Meb Keflzighi weeks in advance of this yea.s race).
It is true that the revenue from one traditional sourc.ticket.is nil and another traditional sourc.T.is limited in a non-Olympic year. However the ground made up in apparel sales and participation for a one day event dwarfs the potential of many seasonal sports, so creativity is the norm rather than the exception. While the elite athletes are true professionals, the real triumph of the marathon is in the everyday man on the course, and the stories that touch millions of lives and are told leading up and throughout the race. It is an emotional buy for a partner, but one that can deliver because of the rac.s massive attention.
Is race sponsorship for everyon. No. But for those who choose to work with the logistics of a marathon there may be no better fit in sports than New York or one of its sisters around the world because of the emotion, the impact, the athleticsism and the celebration of the human spirit and good will across the board.
