Dollars & Sense - US Open Brings Big Money to Philadelphia Area

The 2013 US Open tees off from Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, P.A. this morning, but the impact has already begun to be felt.  With three days of practice rounds already in the books, the Philadelphia area has likely already seen a boost in the local economy.

Earlier this month, the Philadelphia Inquirer took a look at amount of money that the area is set to take in.  They pegged the figure between $100 and $120 million and about 190,000 spectators, volunteers and staff over the course of the week.  To set a standard for comparison, the article used the 2002 X Games, which brought in $40 million and 235,000 spectators over ten days.

This kind of eight to nine figure economic impact within a week to two week span is something that professional teams cannot offer.  Teams tout their impact on the local economy, but study after study shows that in most cases there is simply a shift in where the the impact is felt within a certain region, not necessarily resulting in an overall gain.

However, major events like a US Open bring in people from outside of the country and sometimes from outside of the United States.  Hotels have reported that they have seen reservations from foreign countries like Germany, Ireland, and Japan, according to the Inquirer.

With Monday's practice round a washout, it is uncertain how much the impact will be, well, impacted.  If you only had tickets to Monday's practice round, would you have left early, hung around and checked out the area, or hung around and tried to get tickets to another practice round?  Maybe the combination would result in no change to the overall estimated impact.

Either way, the pros are ready to take on one of the most historic courses in the country, Merion Golf Club.  Though short, Merion will prove to be a difficult test for many especially when it comes to making disciplined decisions and club selections.  The pros are ready to play, but are you ready to spend?


Follow Kevin Rossi on Twitter @kevin_rossi.

U.S. Open Week Television Coverage

As an avid golf fan, this time of year is exciting to me. It is U.S. Open Week! On Thursday the players will be teeing off on a quest to become the 113th winner of the U.S. Open (well, if the weather holds out...)

At the beginning of the week, coverage of the U.S. Open started. In total the Golf Channel and NBC will be delivering over 70 hours of coverage for the tournament. Included in the coverage is news, live chats, features, highlights, live coverage and more. The Golf Channel will have about 56 hours of coverage and NBC will have about 19 hours.

Included in the Golf Channel's coverage will be Live From the U.S. Open which will air before and after live coverage to show highlights and bring any breaking news stories. A popular Golf Channel show, The Golf Fix, will also be airing from the driving range of Merion. The Golf Channel will also be airing a feature titled "1971 U.S. Open: Lee Trevino an American Champion." This documentary will look at Trevino's shocking victory over Jack Nicklaus in the 1971 U.S. Open at Merion.

NBC's coverage will focus on live action. NBC plans to bring live U.S. Open coverage on Thursday and Friday from 3:00pm to 5:00pm. On Saturday and Sunday coverage is expected to take place from 12:00pm to 7:30pm. For NBC it will be interesting to see how many viewers tune in. Last year's U.S. Open saw final round coverage that earned a 6.6 overnight rating. This was up 29 percent from the final round of 2011. The increase in viewership last year can be somewhat contributed to the location of the tournament. The U.S. Open's that take place on the west coast (like last year) typically see higher television ratings because of the ability to broadcast in primetime on the east coast.

Final Thought
As a golf fan any major is exciting. This year brings a little extra excitement because they are playing so close to home. All I can ask for is an exciting tournament that has my eyes glued to the television on Sunday afternoon.... A Tiger victory would be nice too.

@dmrosen7

Padres Sold!

After three years of trying to sell the San Diego Padres, John Moores finally got approved to sell the franchise. The franchise was sold to Ron Fowler and his group for $800 million. Ron Fowler is a San Diego businessman, although he might not be well known his group already has connections to professional sports.

Professional golfer, Phil Mickelson, is apart of the group. The group also includes the O'Malley family. The O'Malley family was a large part of baseball for a long time. The O'Malley family owned the Los Angles Dodgers for 48 years until they sold them in 1998. Peter O'Malley's sons, Kevin and Brian will run the team with O'Malley's nephews, Tom and Peter Seidler. The O'Malley family tried to purchase the Dodgers back when they became available, but lost the bid.

John Moores owned the Padres for 18 years. In 2009 Moores' divorce forced him to put the Padres up for sale. In his 18 seasons of ownership, the Padres have made the playoffs four times and they won the National League pennant in 1998. The Padres have failed to make the playoffs since 2006.

New ownership hopes to excite the fan base. The fan base hopes that new ownership means money will be spent. The Padres are consistently at the bottom of the league for payroll. Peter Seidler talks optimistically about the future of the franchise. Seidler said, "We're a combination thrilled to be in this position, but also feel a great sense of responsibility to the game and the community of t San Diego. We really look forward to going to work and doing everything we can to make the city of San Diego happy with our leadership, particularly the fans. Bottom line, we're just happy to get going, work hard and take a bunch of good steps in the right direction."

Commissioner Selig also seemed optimistic about the sale. He said, "I think Padres fans have a right to be very happy today. Very happy. This group knows what it takes to compete. They're very optimistic. I'm optimistic. I've gone over their projections, gone over everything. I think their projections are optimistic, but realistic. This is a good day for baseball."

Final Thought
Although many say the price tag of the Padres was inflated by the recent sale of the Dodgers, I believe the deal is great for the city of San Diego. The Padres have been difficult to watch in most of the recent years due to bad play. Hopefully the new ownership will come in and look to spend some money to improve the product on the field. With the Padres sitting in 4th place in the NL West, the fans need something to be optimistic about and this could be it.


 @dmrosen7