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Sunday, October 31, 1999
Economic growth is a breeze
Pan Am sailing event offers huge potential
Sailing is more than a lark.
Consider that the more than 300 sailboats in the city marina range in value from about $3,000 to about $450,000, by marina superintendent Peter Davidson's estimate. Quite an investment.
And consider that Corpus Christi is likely to host the sailing races for the 2007 Pan American Games, which would be headquartered in San Antonio. That event would put Corpus Christi in an international spotlight.
That spotlight would emphasize the bay, the temperate climate, the abundance of wind that makes Corpus Christi ideal for sailing - all the postcard stuff that the city's promoters want out there on a world stage.
Sure, 2007 seems like a long way off. But that doesn't seem to bother the people who worked to lure these games.
"There's plenty of time to plan and make it effective," says Rudy Reyna, director of the committee that put together the bid for the San Antonio Sports Foundation. "You need that lead time because it is huge."
Thousands to attend
How huge? There will be more than 300 events and an estimated 300,000 people, including athletes, coaches, family and fans, coming to the games, Reyna says.
Dr. Mike McCutchon, a Corpus Christi Yacht Club official who has been working with San Antonio officials for more than six months, sees another, more personal benefit to the lag time. His sailing time is curtailed somewhat by his duties as a father of preschool-age children.
"The main benefit is my kids are going to be little bit older and my wife will allow me to get involved in it a little more."
The games aren't a done deal. The U.S. Olympic Committee on Oct. 23 chose San Antonio as its nominee to host the games. San Antonio chose Corpus Christi to host the sailing events, which Davidson says will involve 10 days of sailing and 150 boats. The Pan American Sports Organization, a division of the International Olympic Committee, will make the final selection among bidders in the Western Hemisphere in 2002.
Marketing bonanza
Reyna's not counting chickens yet, but people involved in the San Antonio effort have noted that any time in the past that there has been a U.S. bid for the games, the U.S. site has been chosen.
In the meantime, San Antonio officials already are working with the Texas Department of Economic Development to take full advantage of the games' marketing potential.
"These Pan American Games are huge," says Craig Morgan, tourism development director for the state agency. "They're just right below the Olympics and they're going to have a huge bleed-over effect throughout Texas."
Morgan foresees package deals for tourists to make side trips throughout Texas.
"You could have group packages that tour the area," he says. "You've got the King Ranch right there, which is pretty much internationally known. A lot's going to be up to the Convention and Visitors Bureau."
Lure for real estate
Visitors Bureau director Char Beltran already is thinking along those lines. She wants to do a media blitz, encourage package deals and work with the real estate sector. She figures that the people who can afford to sail will see Corpus Christi as a great place to do it, and they'll want property here.
"Those are people of means," she says. "People who are sailing fans are people of economic potential and those are the people we really want looking at Corpus Christi, so that they can bring their companies here and give our citizens some jobs and spread that wealth through the community."
Beltran went sailing Wednesday night for only the second time in her life, and now, as we bumpkins like to say, she's all 'et up with it.
"When you see the city at night from a sailboat, my God it's gorgeous."
Helping the city grow
McCutchon also sees the event's economic potential.
"People more and more like to live where their avocations are rather than their vocations these days. A lot of people moved here because of the windsurfing. If our reputation as a great place to live on the bay and sail improves, we can help Corpus Christi grow in that way."
But he and Davidson also see the event as a way to make sailing grow - beyond the people who can afford to dock their high-dollar sailing yachts at the marina.
Tom Whitehurst
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