Tower running as an element of special event planning for Downtowns?

Reading a feature in the Wall Street Journal, "She's 75, and a step ahead of her competition," about 75-year-old Marsha O'Loughlin's taking up of the sport of tower running ...

... where people race up the stairs of skyscrapers and other structures like the Eiffel Tower and monuments, made me think that from the standpoint of sports and special events planning and programming, not unlike neighborhood house tours in historic districts, Downtown commercial district management entities should work to include tower running in their mix.

Have a locally focused event or two every year to generate publicity, and also participate in the national circuit if possible.

Sports mega-events as revitalization triggers.  I wrote about sports and mega-events as an element of city planning in this entry, Sadly, DC won't show so well during the Baseball All-Star Game."

Among the points made in the book Wish You Were Here: The Branding of Stockholm and Destinations, authored by Julian Stubbs, is that cities need to invest more money and time into the creation of events and festivals, but he also discusses mega events like the Olympics and the World Cup.

Unfortunately, for many countries--like South Africa for soccer, and Greece and Brazil for the Olympics--such events don't work out.

What about a scale smaller than mega events?  But it's not just about mega events.  Richmond, Virginia, Indianapolis, and other cities have focused on sports as a key element of city branding and economic development, in ways that can have more quantifiable and direct benefits than the focus on professional sports teams and funding stadiums and arenas.

-- "Should small city economic development over minor league baseball and other sports be treated differently from big city cases?," 2018
-- "More need for economic revitalization planning/linkage with sports stadiums: Las Vegas (+ Houston and the Super Bowl)," 2017

Richmond and Indianapolis as counter-examples.  Indianapolis is touted as an example of focusing on sports as economic development, both in terms of events, as well as hosting sports organizations, such as the NCAA ("Indianapolis' rise to a sports identity," Butler University).  Indianapolis has professional basketball and football teams as well.

Richmond has an organization called Sports Backers, which focuses on attracting various types of events, as well as organizing events that are participative ("Fitness: Adding physical activity to the workplace," Richmond Times-Dispatch), not merely spectator-focused. From the Richmond's Future: 2010-2015 report published by the RTD:

At one time, it was critical for a region to prove that it was really “big-time” by attracting a major league sports franchise. However, what is happening today is something very diff erent: “hot” regions are less likely to brand themselves by what spectator sports are available and instead market the outdoor and healthy lifestyle activities—bike trails, swimming facilities, hiking clubs, innovative youth programs—that the region supports and promotes. Our studies at Richmond’s Future indicated that RVA has the assets to develop such a reputation, although there remains substantial work to be done in this regard. 

It is not possible to speak about this issue without mentioning the pioneering and continuing contributions of Jon Lugbill and the Richmond Sports Backers, the driving force in this eff ort since 1992. The public vision of the Sports Backers has been to “transform greater Richmond into the most physically active community in the nation by leading the area in embracing and celebrating an active lifestyle.”

But not Charlotte.  What distinguishes Richmond and Indianapolis from Charlotte is a broader focus on multiple activities and elements.  Richmond is more focused on smaller events, and events that encourage public participation, and doesn't have major league professional sports--except for minor league baseball and soccer. 

Charlotte is more focused on big sports, mostly professional teams.  They made a big bet on a museum related to racing sports, and it hasn't panned out very well ("Nascar Hall of Fame Leaves Charlotte Home With Bank Debt," Bloomberg Businessweek).

And the Carolina Panthers football team's property tax obligations keep shrinking at the behest of their lobbying and challenges, including for their use of technically city-owned property under the stadium ("A bill that gives the Panthers a big tax break becomes law," Charlotte Observer), the value of their stadium ("Panthers stadium tax value assessed lower," CO), and and is moving their practice field and hq out of the state to further reduce tax obligations ("Carolina Panthers $115 million tax breaks pass SC Senate," Columbia State) and to scoop up public monies and financing.

If you're going to focus on sports, a broader approach is probably better, one that more directly links economic revitalization objectives from the standpoint of "building a local economy" which focuses on multiplier effects in substantive ways, rather than the typical economic development approach, which under-records the effect of capital outflows from the metropolitan economy that result from sports events.

Sports practice facilities are a bad bet.  Although they can make mistakes when it comes to practice facilities for professional teams.  Richmond's lost a lot of money on that score ("Sport team practice facilities and public subsidy (a practice facility for the Washington Wizards)," 2015).

The jury's out on the DC secondary arena, that serves as the Wizards basketball team practice facility, as well as the primary facility for the Washington Mystics women's basketball team and arena football.  Seemingly it's a good idea, but is probably under-sized from the outset for the Mystics, which won last year's title.

And Camden New Jersey has put out a lot of money for the Philadelphia 76ers practice facility and headquarters too ("76ers Camden facility won't be the boon we've been told it will be," WHYY/NPR; "New Jersey Task Force: Public 'Essentially Paid' For 76ers state fee for Camden practice facility," CBS Philly).  $82 million, which will be hard to recoup in terms of ROI greater than the initial outlay.