USBC championships to roll into B.R. again

During the 2012 U.S. Bowling Congress Open Championships at the River Center, Mayor Kip Holden and tourism officials began negotiations with the USBC to get the annual participatory sporting event back to Baton Rouge. Today, Holden and other local officials announced the USBC has committed a return to the city in 2017 with the Women’s Championships and in 2025 with the Open Championships. Last year, the 151-day Open Championships brought $113.2 million in spending revenue to the city, according to a study commissioned by Visit Baton Rouge. “They have proven to be strong to our community,” says Holden, noting the city also hosted the Open Championships in 2005 and the Women’s Championships in 1993. The Women’s Championships is a 90- to 120-day tournament that last year accounted for $38 million in spending for host city Syracuse, N.Y., says Visit Baton Rouge. However, no studies were done on the Women’s Championship’s 1993 economic impact on Baton Rouge, notes Paul Arrigo, president and CEO of Visit Baton Rouge. The economic impact of the 2005 Open Championships in Baton Rouge was estimated at $70 million. For the tournaments, the city-parish will submit bid fees—$500,000 minimum for the Women’s event, and $1 million minimum for the Open Championships—that could max out at $2.1 million, based on the number of participating bowlers. “It’s $20 per actual tournament participant,” Arrigo says. For the 2012 championships, restaurants, casinos and other businesses contributed $400,000 to the bid fee, Arrigo says. The USBC, in turn, guarantees 25,000 lodging nights and 60,000 lodging nights for the Women’s and Open championships, respectively, with a $10 reimbursement fee for each room not used, Arrigo says. —Adam Pearson