The City of Victoria spent well over its original budget to host Touchdown Pacific, but maintains it got a big bang for its buck.
A report on the cost of hosting the event, which culminated in a game between the B.C. Lions and Ottawa Redblacks at Royal Athletic Park on Aug. 31, showed the city’s contributions totalled $491,500, much more than the original commitment of $350,000.
“By all accounts the event was a success and achieved the anticipated outcomes,” said deputy city manager Thomas Soulliere. “Council approved the partnership with the B.C. Lions for Touchdown Pacific with specific objectives in mind, including economic benefits and support for local businesses, family friendly entertainment for residents, and showcasing how Royal Athletic Park can be used for major events like this.”
The report noted that the city’s direct costs totalled $281,500, including upgrading turf at Royal Athletic Park, facility preparation, policing and traffic control.
It also provided $210,000 to the B.C. Lions, which managed the $2-million event, to reimburse the team for the cost of temporary grandstands and goalposts, which the city will retain for future use.
Some of the event budget — $93,430 — came from the parks department’s future budget, allowing the city to speed up some improvements to Royal Athletic Park before the event, including concession upgrades, pavement patching, electrical work, painting and carpentry.
The city did recoup just over $47,000 in food and concession sales during the game, so total city funding amounted to $443,000.
The event had an economic benefit to the region of about $16 million, according to Destination Greater Victoria’s calculations.
Soulliere told council Thursday the figure represents money spent on accommodation, jobs created, food and beverage sales and other impacts on businesses around Greater Victoria.
Mayor Marianne Alto said several small businesses, not just around Royal Athletic Park but downtown and elsewhere in the city, commented on the impact of the “volume of people that were here for those few days.”
The event wrapped up with the Lions’ 38-12 victory over the Ottawa Redblacks in front of an over-capacity crowd of about 14,000 at Royal Athletic Park and a national television audience.
The report suggested that if the city were to host such an event again, it would like a bit more notice — ideally, a year or more — as well as a well-defined scope and dedicated project team.
“Additional time and attention are particularly important when working with an aging facility like [Royal Athletic Park],” the report said.
Soulliere told council there were disruptions due to the event drawing so many people to the area and attempts were made to mitigate the impact.
“There will be impacts every time that we have a large event at the stadium,” he said. “One of the challenges that we have is mitigating those impact to the immediately adjacent residences and other stakeholders. I think overall, the planning was quite well done.”
Asked if there might be another Touchdown Pacific event, Soulliere said that’s in the hands of the B.C. Lions and the Canadian Football League.
“We haven’t received that request yet. If they make a request to the city, then we will certainly take that request under advisement and bring that to council,” he said.
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