The impact of Eugene 08: U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, beginning today and continuing through July 6, is expected to be felt far beyond Hayward Field, with visitors projected to spend millions of dollars in the Eugene area on food, lodging, and other goods and services.
The event will pump dollars into the local economy, and some Eugene-area business leaders are preparing with more staff. The area is seeing new or expanded services, including a flight to San Francisco in a larger jet, thanks in part to the trials. It’s hard to know exactly what to expect because Eugene last hosted the Olympic Trials in 1980.
The Convention and Visitors Association of Lane County Oregon estimates roughly 75,000 visitors will come from outside the area during Eugene 08, and the group expects residents and visitors to spend about $18 million on hotels, meals and tickets, and another $10 million on retail, food and other activities not directly related to the trials.
“The festival is open to non-ticketholders so we are anticipating will we have additional visitors who aren’t in the stands,” association spokesperson Lisa Lawton said.
Kari Westlund, president of the association, said the numbers are conservative.
“I think we’ll probably hit or exceed these numbers with no problem,” she said in March.
Local hotels and motels have been almost fully booked during the event since early this year, but last minute cancellations have freed up space for additional occupants.
“We’ve actually had some fallout lately, so we currently have a dozen rooms available,” Red Lion Hotel spokesperson Patrick Quinlan said. “We’ve been closed out since October … now we can accommodate more people that we were turning away a month ago.”
Westlund said she still expects all hotel rooms to be filled. She anticipates many people will be coming to the event who have not made prior housing arrangements or reservations.
Quinlan said that many of the Inn’s vacant rooms were reserved for trial athletes, officials, and media by the Local Organizing Committee of Eugene 08, which is acting as a go-between for individuals directly affiliated with the trials and the local hotels and motels.
“The way it works is Northwest Event Management, which is taking part in managing the event, part of their role is to secure housing” for athletes, officials and media, said Tom Driscoll, assistant director of University housing. “So they have secured hotel rooms around town and blocks in the (University) residence halls.”
Those affiliated with the trials can then call Northwest Event Management housing office directly to make reservations.
On-campus housing options are available solely for those with credentials, Driscoll said. University Housing reserved space for NW Event Management to fill in both the Living Learning Center and Carson Hall.
Housing is offering its normal services to these residents. They have the option of a meal plan and have access to meeting and classrooms in the facility.
Driscoll said on Thursday that by today both Carson and the LLC will be completely full.
Westlund said that the visitors association is offering assistance to spectators or other non-credentialed individuals in locating accommodations.
“We have just maintained an ongoing, updated list of housing in the area and whether they have availability,” said Westlund. “We have such close contact with hotels in the area” and there is still availability at a range of prices.
In March, the visitors association had filled all available rooms in Cottage Grove and Creswell, and Westlund said track and field fans will likely stay in hotels and motels in Albany, Corvallis, Salem and Roseburg during the event.
“We’ll start to feel some regional economic impacts,” she said.
Eugene 08 will test the service of local lodging businesses, most of which have long been filled from June 27 to July 6.
The Phoenix Inn Suites on Franklin Boulevard near campus has been booked for about two years, guest services manager Megan Miller said.
Kyle Brewster, a Phoenix Inn Suites employee, said most of the reservations have come from athletes and tourists.
“I believe we might have one room left,” Brewster said.
Miller said the hotel plans on adding more staff during the event.
“It’s always busy around that time, but this will just add to it. It’ll be a lot busier,” Miller said.
Crews remodeled the inside and outside of the hotel, replacing siding and adding fresh paint outside, and adding new lamps, beds and curtains inside, Miller said.
“We had planned on doing some remodeling, but the Olympic Trials gave us a push to get it done quicker,” Miller said.
Quinlan said that Red Lion will be adding additional entertainment options during the event in its restaurant and lounge in the form of live music.
“We are hosting a Habitat for Humanities concert on July 5,” he said.
Hotels aren’t the only businesses hoping to cash in on the lodging crunch. Local residents and property management companies are trying to rent their properties to visitors during the Trials.
Nancy Diane, who owns a vacation cottage in south Eugene, was able to increase her usual asking price of $65 a night to $100 per night during Eugene 08.
She recently checked online classifieds.
“When I look at the market now, it looks inundated,” she said. “Everyone is looking to get on the bandwagon, and they’re asking exuberant prices.”
Restaurants, retail outlets and services appealing to visitors also expect to see more business during the Trials.
The Duck Store will have a presence at the trials.
“We’re very much going to be there, because we’re the retailer on campus – where people come to visit,” said General Manager Jim Williams. He expects to see more sales during the event, but he did not have any specific projections.
The campus retailer is stocking plenty of track and field apparel, including “Eugene 08” T-shirts, said Alma Fumiko Hesus, marketing manager of The Duck Store.
Getting fans to walk from Hayward Field to The Duck Store could be a challenge, Hesus said.
“We’re not 100 percent sure what will happen. People could stay all the way down there (at Hayward), but I’m anticipating that there will be traffic all around campus,” Hesus said. “And once you come here (to The Duck Store), it’s hard not to buy anything.”
The Duck Store is working with other campus groups at a University booth at Hayward to create a scavenger hunt. Scavengers can get stamped at 16 locations around campus and return to the booth to receive a prize.
The idea is to get visitors to explore the area, Hesus said.
The Duck Store will be open from 7:45 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday.
With Eugene so busy, regular visitors could be turned away from the area.
“Because we are perhaps somewhat limited on hotel rooms, we might have summer visitors who come to see us every year who will have to displace themselves outside the area during that two week time frame and move their trip earlier or later,” Westlund said. “They may feel inconvenienced by that, but we hope they come anyway and shift their trip.”
This article originally appeared in the March 31, 2008 edition of the Oregon Daily Emerald. Additional reporting by Jessie Higgins.
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