Masters Tournament: What's the economic impact?

The hotels are empty. The street vendors are gone. The limos and vans are back in their garages. The golf fans have all gone home.

All that remains of the 2008 Masters Tournament is the money still circulating around the Augusta economy. How much money?

That’s a common question, but one that’s tricky to answer.

Calculating the economic impact of the Tournament would require, among other things, a ballpark figure on the number of people attending. The only people who know the answer to that are at the Augusta National Golf Club, and they aren’t talking – yet.

Officials from the Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau last year began discussing with the Augusta National the possibility of issuing an economic impact statement. The Augusta National last week acknowledged it has had some talks with the CVB, but would not indicate if or when such as statement would be issued.

The fact that the Augusta National has even entertained the idea is a landmark achievement. That’s because the club has never disclosed the number of people it hires to work the Tournament (hundreds, possibly thousands), the value of Masters merchandise it sells (reportedly in the low tens of millions) or the tonnage of pimento cheese sandwiches consumed on the course (my guess is somewhere between one and three).

Sales tax collections spike during the period, but remember that much of the spending during Masters Week isn’t reported. Think of every homeowner who turns their yard into a paid parking lot or every schoolteacher who gets cash “under the table” to help a catering company deliver gourmet meals to corporate executives at their hospitality suites.

The Augusta National is apparently interested in what people think of its impact, as evidenced by one of the questions on its first-ever patron survey. The survey allowed patrons to plug in their best guesses, all the way up to $200 million.

In 1997, the CVB (using hotel occupancy as a gauge) estimated the Masters Tournament pumped $109 million into the local economy. That was the last economic impact statement.

Hopefully, Augusta won’t have to wait another 11 years for the next one.