Cashing In On Sports
Senior Games: Turning Silver Into Gold
By Guy Junker

Mary Bauermaster is an 85-year-old from Hamilton, Ohio. She runs 100 meters in 17 seconds. There are NFL linemen who can't do that. She is one of many who hope to set a few records when the Senior Olympics come to Pittsburgh in June of next year. While the Games will overflow with incredible stories like hers, local businesses will be looking for their coffers to overflow.

Thirty-five million dollars is nothing to wheeze at. That is the estimated impact these Games will have on Pittsburgh's economy, according to the National Senior Games Association. Over 12,000 athletes from across the country are expected to participate, towing family (in many cases grandchildren) and friends to town with them. David White is the executive director of the Pittsburgh Local Organizing Committee. He expects athletes to spend an average of 4.5 nights in town, bringing about 2.5 people with them.

According to the Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau, this translates to about 16,000 hotel/motel rooms over a two-week period.

We are really excited. This is one of the largest events we've ever booked, says Lisa Ashbaugh, the bureau's manager of convention host development.

Two years ago, the Games were held in Hampton Roads, Virginia, drawing 28,000 visitors and about $26 million in spending. Since their inception in 1987, St. Louis, Tucson, Baton Rouge, Syracuse, San Antonio and Orlando have hosted.

Local officials are determined to put on the best Senior Games yet.

For once, the elderly population in Pittsburgh is not a negative. Planners hope to attract local seniors as spectators and maybe get them interested in training. A negative in other host cities was the inability to drum up support from anyone other than the visiting athletes themselves and their families. The venues here are conducive for reversing that.

Oakland will be the hub with Pitt and CMU providing first class athletic facilities. The Petersen Events Center will be headquarters, with Trees Pool, the CMU Track and Schenley Park providing some of the best sites the Games have seen. Most are within walking distance or a short drive of each other. Complaints of past Senior Games have been that everything was too spread out. Some events, like softball, will take place in North Park, but the concentration will be in Oakland.

There is more to it than throwing out the red carpet and raking in cash for local hotels, restaurants and other businesses. There are 4,000 volunteers to round up and $2.5 million to raise. Organizers admit they are a little behind projections in sponsorship money, but White isn't worried.

ÒIf it were next year at this time I'd be nervous, but the corporate community has been responsive. I never expected anyone to write us a $2 million check, he says.        

The big sponsors to date are UPMC, Highmark, Citizens Bank, Verizon Wireless, and WPXI-TV, who plans on televising the celebratory ceremony live, possibly from PNC Park or Mellon Arena.

At a time when the Great Race and Pittsburgh Marathon have been cancelled due to financial woes, it's a shot in the arm that Pittsburgh was selected from 19 cities to host. When 85 national representatives of the Senior Olympics came to town last month, most had never been here before and were expecting a Òstinky old steeltown, according to White. ÒYou should have seen the looks on their faces when we drove through the tunnels.

Therein lies the real benefit of such a big event roaring into the city. The word could get out that Pittsburgh, with its new convention center, can indeed be a great destination.

Pittsburgh has hosted All-Star games, World Series,Stanley Cup finals and NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments. According to White, Òthis will prove we can handle a multi-sport event as well.

Who knows where a successful fortnight could lead? Maybe one day the Junior Olympics or the Pan-Am Games or even, maybe the real Olympics. Why not?

Dr. Freddie Fu, director of UPMC's Center for Sports Medicine, likes to dream big. It was his efforts and those of Dr. Peter Cohen, director of senior sports and fitness at UPMC, that jumpstarted the idea of attracting the Senior Games to the city.

For now, though, the concentration is on summer 2005. That's when athletes in their golden years will be chasing Olympic gold right in our own back yard, spending a little of their own gold in the process.

Guy Junker covers sports business for Pittsburgh Sports Report.