Thursday, September 6, 2012

US Open's local economic impact


From DNA Info:

The United States Tennis Association, the organization that runs the U.S. Open, claims that the event generates more than $750 million in annual revenue — up $330 million from 2001 — for the New York City region, according to published reports.

But while thousands of fans head to Flushing Meadows Corona Park every day during the two-week tournament, some businesses in neighboring Corona and Flushing say that they haven't seen the love from the influx of tourists.

The impact, or lack therof, can be seen at the Skyview Center, a shopping mall located across the Roosevelt Avenue Bridge. The mall, which houses a big chains like Best Buy, Bob's Furniture and Bed, Bath & Beyond, was been sparsely visited during the Open's first week.

At the Roosevelt Sports Bar, located down the street from the Skyview Center, Fann noted that 20 to 30 additional people have stopped by the bar in the two weeks since the tournament started, an increase he called insignificant.

"I don't think we really get the foot traffic," Fann said. "I don't recall anyone saying 'I'm going to watch the Open.'"

The problem, store owners say, is that the U.S. Open is self-contained. Fans exit the 7 train at Willets Point, walk down the boardwalk, and enter the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center — all without ever setting foot on a Queens street. Once inside the tennis center, fans have access to food, drinks, retail stores and ATMs.


I've long thought the economic impact on local businesses, like Lemon Ice King, has not been all it's cracked up to be. But using Bob's Furniture Store and Bed, Bath and Beyond as examples of this is kind of a stretch.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Spectators are smart to know not to wander beyond the protected borders of the tennis site. Who would want to walk down Crappy Roosevelt Av? Or stroll through Crappy Corona? Do visit the zoo and Hall of Science by all means.

Anonymous said...

The only ones benefiting are the hotels and the MTA.

Anonymous said...

Do you expect people from Connecticut, etc.
to set one foot in fetid, overcrowded,
Floo-shing/Chinatown or unsanitary gang-bangers' land Corona?

Added to that....
we can see that the only real "tourism" that ever hits dull old Queens is during the US Open.

Then the fans open up their car doors and head on back home to Westchester County, etc.
Or the Manhattanites quickly head for the LIRR station for an 18 minute ride back to the golden isle.

Who the f---k wants to end their day
by riding in a 3rd world cattle car aboard the #7 ?

Can you blame them?

Put that in your pipe and smoke it you
overpaid Queens tourism proponents!

BTW...
WTF is Terri Osborne doing these days?

FluShing Rezident said...

Why would anyone want to visit downtown Flooshing? It's a total Third World slum! Is there anyone left that does not realize that?

Anonymous said...

The problem, store owners say, is that the U.S. Open is self-contained.
----------------------------

No shiat. You think these yuppie scumbags from CT and the UWS are really going to go for a stroll around corona and flushing? No chance.

Queens is ignored for 50 weeks out of the year by these people, and the two weeks they have to deal with it, they make sure their experience is as yuppie as they can keep it.

Anonymous said...

Park the car or get off the LIRR, follow the crowd into the Tennis Center, enjoy your day and get back on the LIRR or in your limo, and don't even look out the windows until you get back to East Cupcake.

Anonymous said...

Every time I see the occasional tourist going off the beaten path through Downtown Flushing or along Roosevelt Avenue, they always have the same, confused, awward stupid look on their face, as if they were promised some multi-cultural utopia, and got third-world drudgery.

georgetheatheist said...

Same thing with the Air Train in Jamaica - self-contained. You wanna interrupt a European vacation or business trip to shop at the Sneaker Pimp?

[Then again maybe you do. Hey, why not emphasize and market these commode-like downtown areas. Eurotrash eggheads'll eat it up. Here's a beginning. A Slime and Vermin Parade. Whaddya think?]

Anonymous said...

It's like when you go to jamaica or DR on vaction - don't leave the resort!

Anonymous said...

I take the LIRR every day and I haven't seen an increase in ridership! Who gets that 750 mill? Out of state tennis companies? Chain concessions? Does anyone even know one person who travels here to watch the US Open? The Roosevelt Sports bar across from the Bland and Skyview - I have only ever day workers going in there....

Anonymous said...

"Does anyone even know one person who travels here to watch the US Open?" No, that doesn't mean people don't do it. I don't know one person who travels here to visit Times Sq, yet I have a suspicion that Times Sq generates significant economic activity.

If tourists come to NY to attend the open, stay in Manhattan, and eat and drink in Manhattan, do some sightseeing, and simply take the train to the event and back, this is still beneficial to the local economy of NYC.
How does this benefit Queens and the other boroughs? Who do you think works in these hotels and restaurants and tourist attractions?

Anonymous said...

Illegal aliens.

Anonymous said...

"The United States Tennis Association, the organization that runs the U.S. Open, claims that the event generates more than $750 million in annual revenue..."
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
I would think that most of this $$ goes to the USTA coffers from TV revenue, tickets sales, concessions, etc...

Jerry Rotondi said...

Today I happened to be riding the #7--ugh!
A very suburban "White" mother and her son were sitting opposite me on the way to the US Open from Manhattan.

They stuck out like a sore thumb amidst the variety of Queens folks.

Did they escape from the "Partridge Family" show?

They did look extremely befuddled as if they fell through a wormhole from outer Scarsdale.

The man seated next to them reassured mommy and son that they were indeed headed to the tennis stadium.

I'll bet they'll think twice about ever coming back without a safari guide.

So tell us some more tall tales about encouraging tourism in an uninspired borough.

Joe said...

Very well put.
Many Manhattan hotels are running free busses to and from the stadium, the rest are from Long Island and points east.
This Tennis BS does nothing for Queens.
I been really pissed not being able to get into Willets point to get car work done without a 1 hour cluster f*ck

Anonymous said...

Why would anyone even dream that there would be any local economic impact IN QUEENS?

The U.S. Open venues at Flushing Meadows are located literally in the middle of nowhere. You can hit all of your transportation options a lot faster than you can get to the first local store in the neighborhood (assuming the visitors weren't treating Queens as a flyover country anyway).

If the US Open was still held in Forest Hills, just maybe I can see some economic impact. (Granted, Austin St. & Queens Blvd. isn't THAT close...)

Anonymous said...

Gee, isn't it time we ask those Queens leaders about why they gave public park space to a private entity?

Anonymous said...

Uh, bub...those Queens leaders you speak of
DID speak up VERY LOUDLY years ago.

But Mayor Dinkins, CB#7 and Jeffrey Chester of Davidoff Malito & Partners sold you all out!

Ask Jack Bitterman if he's still getting his free tickets to the US Open.

If so...take them away!

Then he and his wife Marilyn will have to go to the movies instead.

Ooops...
there are no more movie theaters left in Flushing.
That was another CB# 7 assisted sellout.

With Marilyn's $120,000+ district manager's yearly salary, the Bittermans should be able to afford the opera and dinner at the Four Seasons!

Community Board 7 needs a enema!
CLEAN OUT THE CORRUPTION!

Jerry Rotondi said...

Good point--Joe.

I wonder who else might be reaping the "benefits"
from the US Open besides the USTA?

Maybe certain politicians already have.
Maybe a few officials are.

Very little of these "benefits" appear to benefit Queens--let alone--the surrounding community.

The big money goes back to Manhattan
along with the fans headed home--not into the local economy.

However, we do get "served" traffic congestion
and jet noise over our homes--"love" that!

So let's be humble and thankful for this genteel attraction which elevates the image of our otherwise forgotten borough.

Now, for those all those other broken USTA promises--let's all become philosophers and say, "Well, that's life--game--match"!

It's only for a short time.

Anonymous said...

Forest Hills benefiited from the US Open for nearly 60 years! Wonderful shops, restaurants,and the Forest Hills Inn. Every merchant in the area reaped huge benefits as spectators wandered through this lovely neighborhood.
Can't do that in the park. A shame it ever left FH.

Anonymous said...

FYI:
The same attorney that represented the USTA, back in the day they wanted to build their stadium,
had also once represented the notorious convicted criminal developer Tommy Huang.

His name is Jeffrey Chester.
He's still around.

The law firm that Chester worked for was,
Davidoff (as in Sid Davidoff...old political "kingmaker") Malito and Partners.

The sell out of that piece of parkland was one of the biggest gang bangs in its history.

And CB#7 just sat by and twiddled its thumbs
among other things!

Anonymous said...

Forest Hills
is an entirely different more upscale community.

For one thing...
it's not 3rd world like Corona...
which was always considered the dregs of the region!

The West Side Tennis Association which hosted the matches at the Forest Hills stadium
originally moved from Manhattan.

They came to Forest Hills (I believe) in the 1920s.

You really need to brush up
on your tennis history...bub!

Anonymous said...

These businesses think the U.S. Open will draw crowds to them as if it's the Olympics - that's funny.

Anonymous said...

Yes, it's a must-do to buy a sofa at Bob's Discount Furniture after a tennis match.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps after the matches, you can find a nice illegal basement Mah Jong game in Floo-shing.

Or you can treat yourself to a nice back rub in one of those Asiatic whore houses that advertises in the Queens Tribune.

Other than that....why would you go to Frushing?

Anonymous said...

The dichotomy of the clientele at the Open and the condition of the neighborhood around it has always fascinated me. When they announced Shea Stadium was being replaced, I immediately assumed they were finally replacing it with a stadium in a place where people would want to go if they didn't already happen to need auto body work. (The view from behind right-field at Citi Field is an urban deathscape.) I love tennis, but putting an upper-crust-targeted sport in an area like this is hardly a symbiotic relationship. And Manhattanites don't exactly see Queens as part of the city either; see also "After US Open, Manhattan to Return to Not Giving a Crap About Queens for 50 Weeks".