The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“It’s money we’re putting into our own event”
The USA Pro Cycling Challenge Local Organizing Committee didn’t have to do much convincing to get the Mt. Crested Butte Town Council to grant them $35,000 for this year’s event.
For the third year in the race’s four-year history, the second stage of the race will roll through town and finish on the mountain in August.
Local Organizing Committee (LOC) co-chairman Aaron Huckstep told the council it would take at least $100,000 to put together all the pieces that went into successful stage finishes in 2011 and 2012, the first two years of the race.
“Mt. Crested Butte is a huge contributor,” Huckstep told the council on Tuesday, March 11, pointing to the $25,000 in cash the town contributed the first two years and “invaluable amounts of in-kind and substantial involvement in the Local Organizing Committee to makes sure the race can be pulled off.”
Huckstep pointed out that Aspen, which is the only town to have hosted the event every year so far, spends $250,000 annually to put on a good show for the crowds that come from around the state and across the country to see the growing race. But even in Aspen, people question the town’s decision to support the race at such a high level.
“[Aspen] held a public forum and the overwhelming response was ‘This is an awesome event and we want to see it continue,’” Huckstep said. “Aspen obviously has pretty different economics and budget compared to Mt. Crested Butte or Crested Butte, but those same issues are really at play here.”
This year the LOC expects to spend at least $55,000 on lodging for the racers and their crews, and $20,000 to $30,000 on catering to keep everyone fed. And just to provide the venue with enough bandwidth to get the pictures and video of the race out of the valley costs the LOC about $12,000 for one day.
The big sponsorships other towns land are hard to come by in the Gunnison Valley. “We are not Vail, we are not Breckenridge, we are not Aspen. So when you think about sponsorships we have a harder time obtaining those,” Huckstep said.
To answer any potential critics of the race preemptively, Huckstep showed the council pictures of crowds cheering along the town’s main thoroughfare, with the iconic backdrop of Crested Butte Mountain.
The council was convinced that the visitors and publicity coming to the town were worth the money and the in-kind contributions that can dwarf the cash the town contributes to the event.
“I have talked to I don’t know how many people who said we saw this race on TV, we loved the spot and we’re here. It’s not something you measure in sales tax the year of the race because it may be two years later that somebody finally comes here,” Clayton said. “I think the event is something we need to sponsor.”
Mayor William Buck gushed at the thought of giving money to the event. “I get chills thinking about the event and the benefit it provides to the town and the valley. It’s an experience that I’m so excited to have again this coming year,” he said. “I think the costs are minimal compared to the benefits and there’s no question in my mind it’s a good investment. I think it’s a no-brainer.”
But since the town doesn’t have the tax base Aspen has, Clayton suggested taking a relatively generous share of the $80,000 the council expects to grant during the summer admissions tax grant cycle, giving the LOC $35,000, which was at the high end of what the LOC had hoped for.
“The town puts its name on the dotted line and says yes, we will be involved in this when the application is put in. So it’s really our event. I don’t consider this to be admissions tax money granted directly to the LOC,” Clayton said. “It’s money we’re putting into our own event on the Mountain as well as in Crested Butte.”
The council voted unanimously to allocate the $35,000 for the race.
