As Baltimore anticipates the start of the 2013 Grand Prix, a well-known 2011 economic impact analysis by UMBC economics professor Dennis Coates is again making news. The Press Box Online article “What Is Best Way To Measure Grand Prix’s Economic Impact?” notes that race organizers believe the 2012 Grand Prix generated $42.3 million in economic impact for Baltimore and the 2011 event generated $48 million. Coates, however, contested the 2011 figure in a assessment following that year’s Grand Prix, which indicated the impact was approximately $20 million less than the race organizers claimed. The article notes, “Coates’ argument centered on the $10 million that his study found would have occurred in Baltimore anyway, without the race.”
SB Nation also recently referenced research by Coates and Brad Humphreys, now at the University of Alberta, on “The Novelty Effects of New Facilities on Attendance at Sporting Events” in an online story about stadium construction.
