Houston’s Success With Sports Festival Helps North Carolina

The success of this summer’s United States Olympic Festival in Houston has lessened the event’s image problems and helped in North Carolina’s preparation for hosting it in 1987, local organizers said.

“Houston provided a very, very positive experience for the festival,” said Hill Carrow, executive director of North Carolina Amateur Sports, the host organization for 1987.

“The citizens of Houston were outstanding. I don’t think I’ve ever seen better spectator support,” said Carrow, who traveled to Texas to observe festival operations there. “I just hope we can live up to the kind of standard they set.”

Total ticket sales at this year’s event topped 350,000 and estimates of the Festival’s impact on Houston’s economy have ranged from $20 million to $50 million, Carrow said.

The Festival’s economic impact for North Carolina in 1987 could be as high as $20 million, he said, with ticket sales estimated to reach 300,000. Carrow said organizers already have raised $1.3 million of the desired $2.5 million in corporate sponsorships for the 1987 event.

Better attendance and corporate sponsorship in Houston helped dispell a poor image created when less than estimated ticket sales contributed to a financial loss for 1985 organizers in Baton Rouge, La., Carrow said.

“When we talked to people in the past about assistance, we had to start from below ground level, explaining what happened in Baton Rouge and why that won’t happen to North Carolina,” Carrow said. “Now, people have seen how Houston handled it and they have a warm, fuzzy feeling about the Festival.”

Carrow noted Baton Rouge organizers had less than nine months between the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles and the 1985 Festival. He said North Carolina, with more than 300 contests in 34 different sports scheduled for July 15-27, would benefit from both more planning time and the publicity surrounding the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.

“We feel very good that North Carolina can do a good job compared with what has been done before,” Carrow said. “We’ve hit the ground running after Houston, and I don’t think there’s any doubt we can do it right.”

Carrow said one of his largest concerns was ensuring transportation links between competition sites, spread 55 miles apart in the cities of Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Greensboro.

“That’s another place we’re so grateful for Houston’s experience,” Carrow said. “Having been in a place as big as there, people will look around here and say, ‘Oh, that’s not so far after all.’

“The bottom line right now is attending to details,” he said. “Providing the housing, feeding and transportation for 4,000 athletes and staff members for two weeks can be a logistical nightmare.”