Posted on Mon, Aug. 27, 2007

2002 Games host still paying bills

ORGANIZER SAYS OPPORTUNITIES FOR PROFITS WERE NOT EXPLOITED

By Linda B. Blackford

LBLACKFORD@HERALD-LEADER.COM

JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA, Spain --

Even five years after he organized the World Equestrian Games in this southern Spanish town, Antonio Ortiz still has a job.

That is because he's still paying bills left from the 2002 Games in Jerez.

"The people were very happy during the Games," he said sadly as he toured their former venue. "But, after the Games, it was difficult because people relaxed and forgot the Games. In Spain, it's very difficult to do a horse event and make money."

Ortiz would not disclose how much money is still owed, but says he works nearly full-time on cleaning things up.

Besides bills, the other reminders of the Games include new stables that house a municipal riding school sitting in the 74-acre Chapin complex 2 miles from the city center.

But that's where the equestrian legacy ends. The 24,000-seat stadium, with an attached hotel, that served as the main arena for the Games is now used only for soccer, concerts and other public events. The echoing covered arena once used for reining and vaulting is a basketball court.

Five years later, Jerez has largely forgotten its Games and the economic benefits that were supposed to follow. Ortiz says that Lexington must start thinking now about harnessing the momentum of the enormous competition even though it's three years away.

"Our main mistake was that we did not think on the day after," he wrote in an e-mail. "We did not plan the opportunity of future profits that the WEG was giving us. Everything finished right after the closing ceremony."

Ortiz still shudders as he remembers the work that went into putting on the Games, which opened in a gala ceremony graced by the King and Queen of Spain and continued with two weeks of mostly well-reviewed equestrian sport.

But, as economists often predict with high-dollar sporting events, the long-term benefits of more than $56 million spent are elusive.

Yes, tourism continues to improve, but it's not clear whether that's because of the World Games or because of a proliferation of low-cost airlines in Europe that ferry millions of people to Spain's southern climes. Yes, there is new construction throughout the city, but much of it is connected to a renovation project of Jerez's old city.

The city did not conduct any economic impact studies, and Mayor Pilar Sanchez declined several requests by the Herald-Leader for an interview.

Like organizers in Aachen, Germany, which hosted the games in 2006, Jerez's boosters say that the actual numbers don't matter as much as the overall effect.

"Probably the economic impact wasn't that big, but the international impact at the time was huge," said Francisco Albuin of the Jerez tourist office. "Jerez was everywhere. A lot of people knew our name."

According to economist Victor Matheson, the city's experiences follow that of nearly every community, big or small, that holds a large sporting event.

"Most of the time what happens is that you're in the limelight for a while, but people forget host cities pretty quickly," said Matheson, a sports economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. "Just ask people where the Super Bowl was held two years ago."

The World Games in particular have not had a history of financial success. Aachen's were the first to break even. The Hague's Games in 1994 were considered an organizational and financial disaster. Ireland was supposed to hold them in 1998, but funding problems meant they had to be moved to Rome.

The same Games will come to Kentucky in 2010. Kentucky's organizers hope to make a profit off their $56 million operating budget but, given the Games' huge size and potential problems, none are holding their breath.

Sherry and horses

Jerez de la Frontera, a city of 200,000, has sometimes struggled for attention next to its neighbors that sit right on the Atlantic Ocean. Jerez is 40 minutes by train from the Atlantic Coast, its name recalling a time when it sat on the border between Christian and Moorish lands.

Many of the churches were built on mosque sites; Moorish-influenced courtyards filled with flowers hide their charms behind plain doors on old streets lined with orange trees.