PITTSFORD — When the world’s best golfers take to Oak Hill Country Club Aug. 5-11 for the 95th PGA Championship, they’ll be doing more than just striking a golf ball. They’ll also be packing an economic power punch. The 2013 PGA Championship will have an estimated $78 million economic impact on the great Rochester […]
PITTSFORD — When the world’s best golfers take to Oak Hill Country Club Aug. 5-11 for the 95th PGA Championship, they’ll be doing more than just striking a golf ball. They’ll also be packing an economic power punch.
The 2013 PGA Championship will have an estimated $78 million economic impact on the great Rochester region, according to the Greater Rochester Enterprise (GRE), an economic-development organization for the region. Citing a recent economic-impact study, GRE also predicts that 1,127 temporary, full, and part-time jobs are being created to support the influx of golf fans. State and local fiscal revenue is estimated to increase by $7.3 million from sales, income and other taxes.
According to the study, sporting event production, construction, service industries and real estate are expected to receive the biggest boost from the golf tournament.
The PGA Championship, which boasts a field of 156 golfers from around the world, is the fourth and final major championship in the professional golf season. It is nicknamed “Glory’s Last Shot.”
Golf fans from all 50 states and 46 countries have purchased tickets to see that glory play out at Oak Hill in Pittsford, just southeast of Rochester, according to John Handley, sales and marketing director for the 95th PGA Championship. About 37,000 to 40,000 people are expected to attend each day of the four-day tournament, held Thursday Aug. 8 through Sunday Aug. 11. Three of those four days are already sold out (only Thursday is not). Practice rounds held Monday Aug. 5 through Wednesday Aug. 7 will also attract crowds. Tickets are still available for those days.
A good number of the spectators will be making the drive down the Thruway from Syracuse.
“We’ve had a very good response from the Syracuse area in both tickets and [corporate] hospitality,” Handley says in an interview. He couldn’t provide specific numbers, broken out by region.
The PGA Championship, conducted by the Professional Golfers Association of America (the PGA), has sold 118 corporate-hospitality venues (tables, suites, and tents) that businesses purchase to entertain clients, prospects, and employees during the tournament. The venues range in price from $34,000 for a table package to $95,000 for an executive suite, to $290,000 for a corporate tent.
The PGA sold more venues than it had expected and simply ran out of space on the Oak Hill property to create more hospitality areas, says Handley.
“We have a high number of repeat clients who purchased at both the 2003 PGA [Championship] and 2008 Senior PGA [both held at Oak Hill], which tells us [businesses] received a measured return on investment,” says Handley.
The PGA cast a wide net from Buffalo to Syracuse to New York City to attract businesses looking to buy a hospitality venue.
For example, it held two sales receptions at Onondaga Golf & Country Club in Manlius for businesspeople potentially interested in entertaining clients at the PGA Championship.
The PGA declined to provide names of Central New York companies that have purchased corporate-hospitality packages at the championship.
Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com
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