Spokane may bid for skating event in 2010

Two years after shattering attendance records for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Spokane leaders want to do it again.

Star USA, the Spokane sports promotion business that successfully landed the 2007 championships, is working on a bid to host the event in 2010, just a couple of weeks before the start of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C.

Barb Beddor, co-owner of Star USA, said she was concerned U.S. Figure Skating might frown on Spokane hosting again so soon, but the organization has assured her the city will be taken seriously.

“They emphatically told us that they would welcome our bid,” Beddor said.

The 2010 championships is more prestigious and likely would draw more people than the event in 2007 because it will decide who represents the United States 18 days later in the Olympics, Beddor said.

Beddor and her husband, Toby Steward, said they will decide this week if there is enough support and enthusiasm in Spokane for more skating.

And by support, they mean – at least in part – money.

Host cities pay U.S. Figure Skating for the right to hold the championships.

Steward said Spokane’s bid will be guarded closely, but that it will be in the seven figures.

“If they don’t see that commitment, you’re probably not going to win the bid,” he said.

Last week, the Spokane County Commission unanimously approved a pledge of $100,000 toward the effort.

County Commissioner Mark Richard said the championships give young people a chance to see role models in the form of Olympic athletes, not to mention the amount of tax revenue it could generate.

“This thing has the opportunity to be even bigger and better,” Richard said. On Monday, the Spokane City Council unanimously approved a pledge of $75,000.

Attendance in Spokane in 2007 was 154,893 – almost 30,000 more than the previous record set in Los Angeles. The figure was about 103,000 this year in St. Paul, Minn., Steward said.

Steward said he expects Detroit, Portland and San Jose to be among cities bidding for the 10-day event, some of which will be televised live on NBC.

U.S. Figure Skating will announce its selection in early May, Steward said.

After winning the bid for the 2007 U.S. championships, Spokane was beaten out by Los Angeles in an attempt to host the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships.

Beddor said Olympic fever generated in the Northwest by the Vancouver games would generate more enthusiasm and attention on a U.S. championship in Spokane.

“It’s going to have to be bigger and better in every way,” Beddor said.