Businesses Tally World Cup Receipts : Economy: Soccer fest was bonanza for some, a disappointment to others. Officials estimate event pumped $620 million into region.

The World Cup was supposed to be the financial catalyst that would finally lift scores of local businesses out of the recession.

But a day after the soccer tournament’s deciding game, Burbank and Glendale retailers were divided on whether their own final score lived up to the hype.

Though it is still too soon to measure the tournament’s economic impact on local cities, early reaction from merchants who had expected to reap tourism dollars from the world’s most popular sporting event ranged from “embarrassing” to “fabulous.”

World Cup officials estimated that more than $620 million will have been pumped into the Southland’s economy when final figures are tallied.

“We always knew the World Cup may not be what we thought it would be, and that actually turned out to be true,” said Donna Lum, a spokeswoman for the Media City Center shopping mall in Burbank. “We didn’t lose any money, but we didn’t make huge bonanzas.”

The number of visitors to the Media City Center increased since the World Cup started June 17. But retailers don’t know whether to attribute that to the soccer games or the traditional summer shopping season, Lum said.

Milene Ragan, who opened a kiosk in the Glendale Galleria in November selling World Cup soccer jerseys, flags, water bottles, T-shirts and caps, said: “My business has been fantastic.”

Ragan said her most popular wares have been items emblazoned with Mexico, Italy and Brazil.

“A lot of businesses, with the recession, weren’t willing to risk putting out the money for a lot of the merchandise and didn’t go out of their way for Nigeria or Bulgaria, which they thought might not do well,” said Ragan, who plans to keep her kiosk open through August. “Merchandisers couldn’t quite gauge what the response would be and didn’t order a lot and ordered late. Everyone was playing it safe. Sometimes it takes a little risk.”

No one in Burbank or Glendale knows for sure how many visiting soccer fans passed through the two cities during the monthlong tournament. But individual accounts from restaurateurs, merchants, hotel operators and law enforcement officials offer some evidence:

* On the streets of Glendale, more than 10,000 people partied to 1950s rock-and-roll music at a World Cup party Friday night.

* In the Burbank Village area, Fuddruckers restaurant reported a 38% increase in income over the weekend, with a higher than normal number of traveler’s checks being cashed.

* And farther west, at the Universal CityWalk, hundreds of soccer fans gathered at a giant outdoor television screen showing Sunday’s final match.

At the Glendale Galleria, merchants selling World Cup caps, T-shirts and other memorabilia say business from soccer fans has been strong since June.

“It’s been steady for darn near a whole month,” said Rusty DeWitt, manager of Foot Locker. “There isn’t a day that goes by where there isn’t World Cup traffic. It’s opened the eyes of some merchants, I’d say, to the potential, the need and demand for soccer year-round.”

But nationwide, many in the hotel industry have grumbled loudly over planning for the World Cup.

More than 600 hotels across the country had reserved rooms for the World Cup’s exclusive, for-profit contractor to resell.

But the army of fans never showed. So the contractor, the World Cup Accommodation Bureau, released the rooms back to the hotels.

The Burbank Airport Hilton, for example, initially reserved about 400 of its 500 rooms for World Cup visitors during the final week of games. By March 1, that number dropped to 200. By last week, only 10 rooms were booked through the World Cup Accommodation Bureau.

Nonetheless, the hotel sold all its rooms last week, mostly to soccer fans who made their own reservations, a hotel official said.

Fred Sarno, director of sales and marketing for the Los Angeles Hilton and Towers Downtown, said his hotel set aside most of its 900 rooms for World Cup fans between June 15 and July 17, but less than 10% were sold through the bureau.

Even though the hotel was full on Friday and Saturday, Sarno said he would have fared a lot better if his hotel had “a free hand in selling the rooms to our own potential customers.”

Jaime Byrom, head of the World Cup Accommodation Bureau, said that his firm booked half of the hotel rooms used by soccer fans during the tournament.

“No hotel can challenge the fact that thousands of people from all over the world came (because of the World Cup),” he said.

Burbank Police Chief Dave Newsham said, “I think a lot of people anticipated World Cup fans would come and spend the whole month.”

But, he added: “for a lot of these games, people blew into town, spent a night and left.”