SF City Hall Plots Bid For Next America's Cup, Hearings Focus On Previous Shortcomings
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— San Francisco supervisors and city officials held a hearing Wednesday to focus on lessons learned from the America's Cup race held last summer. While sailing enthusiasts and tourists may have found the race exciting, it was a major economic disappointment.
The supervisors' budget analyst told the board's budget committee that the economic benefits of the race was $1 billion short of projections and the race cost the City $11.5 million because private fundraising fell way short of the mark.
San Francisco Giants' organization attended the hearings along with Live Nation, shops, restaurants and other vendors. They were mostly positive about their experience with the race and the opportunity it provided them and said they'd like to see the race return in 2017.
Some vendors said America's Cup allowed them to keep more people on their staff. However, Supervisor Eric Mar said those successes don't overshadow the big picture failures.
"It's really difficult when there are tremendous commitments made," Mar said adding that the city's general fund is taking a hit because of the deficits from the race.
The city is planning to incorporate the long list of lessons learned in their next bid to host the sailing race.