Homecoming festivities create extra revenue

Monday, October 12, 2009

The University calls it homecoming — the Lawrence community calls it a “million-dollar weekend.”

But according to Susan Henderson, marketing director of Lawrence Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, that nickname is a low estimate of revenue the weekend brings each year. With the temporary population increase of parents and alumni, Homecoming Weekend is one of the most profitable times of the year for Lawrence businesses.

Video

Homecoming 2009 timelapse

This timelapse chronicles Homecoming events on Saturday, October 10, 2009. Events included the annual pancake feed, the Homecoming parade, a view of Campanile hill prior to kickoff, and the Homecoming football game against Iowa State.

Photo by Ryan Waggoner

The Marching Jayhawks perform at the 2009 Homecoming Parade Saturday morning. The parade traveled down a section of Jayhawk Boulevard prior to the kickoff of the football game at 11:30 a.m.

David Johnston, director of Internet services and marketing at the University of Kansas Alumni Association, said that homecoming brought thousands of alumni to campus each year. With a global network of an estimated 300,000 alumni, the largest concentration of them in Kansas City, he said he expected many to travel to Lawrence for homecoming. He said that the Adams Alumni Center would be bursting at the seams during festivities and that most alumni would stay at local hotels.

Both the Eldridge Hotel and Springhill Suites were booked for the weekend for months in advance.

Nancy Longhurst, manager at the Eldridge Hotel, 701 Massachusetts St., said each of the hotel’s 48 suites were booked nine to 10 months ago.

The suites on football game-day weekends and graduation weekend average $189. Regular weekend suite rates average $169. According to Longhurst, increasing the price was a standard move made by all hotels.

“It helps us tremendously,” Longhurst said of the weekend business. “To have that huge sales tax incoming in which parents stay at hotels, take their children out to eat or shop for clothes — it’s a good thing for the city.”

Steve Brunkan, economist of the Office of Policy and Research at the Topeka Department of Revenue, Hotels and motels in Lawrence collected $76,095 in sales tax in 2007 for October. After the football team’s successful 2007 season with its Orange Bowl Championship, the sales-tax collections last October went up to $89,637. The sales-tax collections for restaurants and drinking places increased about $50,000, from $611,480 in October of 2007 to $661,365 in October of 2008.

Longhurst said the hotel already had people looking to book suites for next year.

Brunkan said it was hard to determine exactly how much money came through during Homecoming Weekend because the numbers were determined monthly. However, according to the sales-tax collections for hotels, motels, restaurants and drinking establishments, the numbers generally peaked in October and May because of homecoming and graduation.

Greg Mann, manager at Quinton’s Bar and Deli, 615 Massachusetts St., said for weekends such as homecoming, the bar ordered extra inventory. Debbie Fey, manager at Free State Brewing Company, 636 Massachusetts St., said the homecoming football game was one of the restaurant’s busiest days of the year.

Henderson said the Lawrence Convention and Visitor Bureau advertised to encourage people to shop and dine in Lawrence to continue the success of the “million dollar weekend.”

Andover senior Jamie Padzensky’s father visited Lawrence this weekend to enjoy the game and the weekend with his children.

“He loves to come see the football games and this happens to be one that he was able to see because it was homecoming,” Padzensky said.

Padzensky lives close to the stadium, and tailgated with her father and brother. Les Padzensky, her father, said the weekend involved shopping for tailgating food as well as eating out several times.

Les said this weekend would probably be the only game he would attend this year.

— Edited by Abbey Strusz

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