Study says economic impact of Redskins training camp at $10.5 million

A newly released study says tax revenue for the City exceeded expectations.

January 7, 2014; 7:56 AM • by Nathan Cushing

The Washington Redskins Training Camp attracted 54,000 people — nearly half of whom traveled from outside the region–last summer and left an overall economic impact of $10.5 million, according to a study released yesterday (PDF) by the City of Richmond.

Nearly $8 million of that overall estimated impact derived from fan spending, with the remainder ($2.7 million) generated by the Washington Redskins themselves.

“Overnight visitors attending the Training Camp were responsible for significant economic impact, with average total spending of $887.89 during their stay,” said Sharon Judkins, the City’s Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Finance, in a statement.

The VCU Center for Sport Leadership and Richmond Region Tourism collected information from lodgers, restaurants, grocery stores, entertainment venues, gas stations, and other businesses to complete the analysis.

A preliminary tally pegs the City’s generated tax revenue at just over $230,000, which surpasses a 2012 estimate of $194,981, an increase of 27 percent.¹

“These are very positive numbers, especially considering that there are several amounts still outstanding that will count for this same period,” said Judkins. “Several businesses that we know were directly impacted by the Training Camp still have to report their meals taxes and it is our expectation that the total performance will keep trending upward as the data continues to be reported.”

But that data counters the sentiment of several business owners interviewed by RVANews following the training camp’s conclusion last August.

While there may be a disconnect between data and the perception of business owners, Mayor Dwight Jones expressed satisfaction with the findings nonetheless.

“The tax data that we’ve collected along with this survey information shows that the Training Camp’s impact on the city of Richmond and the surrounding area surpassed our early estimates,” Jones said. “Coupled with the tremendous earned media exposure for the city’s brand–valued in the tens of millions–we had a tremendous first year that we believe can only continue to get better.”

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