Much has been said about the economic impact of ballot measure C, which proposes a world-class events center that would revitalize East Village downtown with expanded convention facilities and a modern, multi-use stadium.
The Conventional Wisdom Corp., convention center consultants to the Chargers that have worked on more than 250 convention centers over 20 years, partnered with Hunden Strategic Partners (HSP) to provide an objective analysis of the project.
On Wednesday, they announced the findings of their independent convention and meetings market analysis. The study objectively determined the demand as well as projecting the impacts and benefits associated with the project while refuting previously held notions based on inaccurate assumptions.
Rob Hunden admitted his firm was skeptical when first approached. However, after more than three months of in depth analysis and research, their findings led them to conclude the project would have resoundingly positive economic impact for America's Finest City.
"It's something that honestly, we were skeptical about,' Hunden stated. "The more we did our homework, the more we realized this is a great opportunity for (San Diego)…These are the headlines. It's a huge impact for the community. We think it's a two-fer. Most communities out there that have had to wrestle with the same thing have said, 'How can we get a convention center and a stadium done at the same time.' They figured out how to get them both done."
Some of the key findings, which you can find in full at www.VoteYesOnC.com, include:
- The Project will induce and retain more than 2 million new hotel room nights to City of San Diego hotels in the first ten years of operation and average approximately 225,000 room nights per year by stabilization. In total, San Diego hotel room revenue is expected to increase by more than $750 million over the first ten years.
- Strong demand that pushes occupancy and rates higher and ripples out to surrounding areas generated by large events will increase hotel room revenue by nearly $200 million over the first ten-year period.
- It is expected to have a hotel tax revenue of more than $125 million over the first ten years solely due to the Project.
- The new Project is expected to be available for non-NFL events 95 percent of days per year, leading to more than 100 events per year, nearly all of which will be new to the City of San Diego.
- It is estimated that the Project's events will attract more than 200,000 non-Sports and Entertainment attendees per year and more than 900,000 total attendees per year.
- The NFL and the Chargers are committed to establishing that during each season, one Sunday per month could be booked and blocked long term and more than a year in advance for conventions, along with every Monday and Thursday from mid-September through mid-November. The team and league will also enable three of these long-term bookings to be secured during the critical mid-September to mid-November eight-week time period (one each month), which is a busy time for conventions. This provides calendar availability and certainty for 67 percent or more of the days in this critical time period, as well as 100 percent availability from February through August.
While there have been other reports on the measure, Hunden firmly stated those findings are inherently flawed since they were undertaken with false assumptions in mind. Watch below to find out more about the inaccuracies, and log on to www.VoteYesOnC.com for a more in depth look at the findings.
Paid for by Vote Yes on C, with major funding by Chargers Football Company, LLC.
