A new study released on Tuesday confirms what you might have already guessed: sports are a big economic boon to Centre County.
Sporting events generate an annual economic impact of nearly $417 million in the county, supporting 4,315 jobs with $133 million in employee compensation, according to the results of the study commissioned by the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau and Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics.
Penn State Athletics produces an estimated $268 million in direct and indirect economic impact in Centre County, supporting 2,660 jobs and $87 million in employee
earnings, according to the study report.
The study, which was conducted by Philadelphia-based Econsult Solutions, Inc. following the creation of the Happy Valley Sports & Entertainment Alliance last fall, “quantified the aggregate impact of sports events and associated activity,” according to a news release.
It also found that sports events in Centre County generated a total statewide economic impact of $467 million.
“We knew going in to the study that sports was a tremendous driver of our local economy,” HVAB President and CEO Fritz Smith said in a statement. “But we wanted to benchmark this impact as a baseline for the Happy Valley Sports & Entertainment Alliance as it seeks to further grow the sports and entertainment sector.”
Econsult Solutions used “industry-standard economic modeling techniques to estimate the direct and indirect economic activity generated by sports events in Centre County, including Penn State University Athletics,” according to the release.
Some other key findings:
• Unsurprisingly, Penn State football home games are the biggest drivers of sports economic impact, generating $87 million in visitor spending and accounting for about 890,500 of Centre County’s 1.7 million annual sports events attendees.
• Other Penn State athletic events draw 666,500 attendee, while countywide events at venues such as Nittany Valley Sports Centre, C3 Sports, Centre Region Parks and Recreation facilities attract 150,000.
• Sporting event visitor spending totaled $102 million — $17 million of which came from non-campus events — and generated a total of $149 million in total economic impact for the county.
• Even though the university is largely exempt from taxes as a nonprofit institution, Penn State Athletics generates about $2.8 million in tax revenue for Pennsylvania directly through sales and business taxes by vendor and employee spending in the private economy.
• Ancillary benefits of local sports tourism included “revenue generation and image building resulting from licensing and merchandising; media exposure; and destination awareness and repeat visitation,” according to the release.
“It’s fantastic that we now have clear data to quantify the impact of sports events in Happy Valley,” Happy Valley Sports and Entertainment Alliance Chair Joe Battista said. “We know there are tremendous opportunities to grow that impact. We have first-class facilities. We have a desirable, recognizable destination.”
Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi said growing economic development is critical to Centre County’s future and athletics plays an important part in that.
“The university has a substantial economic impact on Happy Valley and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and sports and entertainment plays a significant role in our economy,” Bendapudi said. “We look forward to working with the Happy Valley Sports & Entertainment Alliance and our community partners to further enhance opportunities to bring visitors to our community on a year-round basis.”
