The America's Cup: Economic Impacts of a Match - Bay Area Council

Executive Summary
The America's Cup is the world's third-largest sporting competition, after the Olympics and soccer's World Cup.
Securing hosting rights to the Cup is therefore a prestigious and economically significant prize for any community.
The economic benefits of bringing the America's Cup to San Francisco would come primarily through
expenditures by racing syndicates, and through spending on hotels, restaurants, and retail and other services
by both domestic and overseas visitors and Bay Area residents. If the competition were to run for three months,
this could lead to an additional 2.6 million spectators. While these impacts would be primarily concentrated in
San Francisco, nearby counties such as Alameda, Marin, Napa, Sonoma, and San Mateo would also benefit from
increased visitor and maritime activity.
This report endeavours to provide estimates of the economic impact of an America's Cup match on the San Francisco
Bay. Economists have paved the way by providing estimates of the economic impacts of previous America's
Cups, including an analysis of the economic impacts of the 32nd America's Cup of 2007 in Valencia, Spain. Starting
with that study as a rough guide, this analysis makes a number of assumptions: that infrastructure cost and
spending will be several billion dollars less; that spectator attendance will be considerably larger; that the media's
presence will be larger; and that the presence of super yachts will likely be smaller.
From this, we estimate that the increase in overall economic activity in San Francisco due to hosting an America's
Cup could be on the order of $1.4 billion. This is three times the estimated impact of hosting the Super Bowl
($300-$500 million). The potential increase in employment surrounding the event could be on the order of 8,840
jobs. This increase in output and employment would likely yield a benefit to state and local government coffers of
nearly $85 million. Additional taxes alone to the City's General Fund are expected to net more than $13 million,
based on more than $24 million in revenue, and an estimated $11 million in tourism related costs.
Looking beyond the Bay Area, California's economy would see increased economic activity of $1.4 billion. The
U.S. economy as a whole would see increased economic activity of $1.9 billion. This increase would support the
creation of 11,978 jobs.
The figures produced here are likely to be compared to previous estimates indicating that hosting the Cup on the
Bay would result in economic benefits to the region on the order of $9.9 billion. We have consciously made an
effort to be conservative in our analysis and to evaluate economic impacts for which there is a factual basis and
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