2002: Olympic angst turns to profit

[Fiona]

There's no handbook on how to organize and run a Winter Olympics, and a key business leader during the 2002 Salt Lake Games said there was a high amount of anticipation and fear leading up to the event.

"We agonized over every decision," said Bill Malone, executive director of the Park City Chamber of Commerce.

"We worried over whether what we were doing was smart," Malone told hundreds of business leaders hoping to cash in on the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler.

Malone said they "naively believed" that corporate sponsors would pick up many expenses, when business in the U.S. had taken a downturn.

"There were companies that spent a lot of dollars to acquire those rings," he told the gathering. "Their stock prices were such in 2002 that it wasn't comfortable for them to spend a lot of money."

But Malone said opportunities exist for small business.

He cited the example of a man who introduced warming barrels, which drew large crowds attempting to ward off the cold.

Caterers, florists, dry cleaners and other services industries all benefited by the Games, he said.

And there was room for the inventive as a local Park City brewery sold its Polygamy Porter Ale to visitors, with the slogan "why just have one."

Malone said selling real estate at the time wasn't profitable.

"While it skyrocketed after the Games, in that period of time leading up to the Games, and through the Games, was not a time to be showing properties," he said.

Since the Olympics in Utah, Park City skier days have jumped 47 per cent, and restaurant profits and overnight hotel visits are up.

Because the Olympics were held only months after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, Malone said security concerns changed dramatically.

Thousands of security guards and police worked during the Games.

"We averaged 31 incidents a day in town. The interesting fact is on a normal day at that time of the year we averaged 53 incidents a day." he said.

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