Getting it down cold

About a dozen people from Spokane will be watching closely this week in Portland as more than 250 of the world’s best skaters compete for medals and high-profile future careers. They’re the group of organizers who plan to do the same thing Portland’s doing, in Spokane, two years from now.

Along with about 100,000 fans, the Spokane contingent will hope the skate fest runs as planned. In the home of Tonya Harding – the skater who was banned from the sport for her role in an attack on Nancy Kerrigan 11 years ago – the last thing they want is a serious mishap.

What could go wrong? The list includes a judging controversy, any number of equipment failures or even serious injury to skaters Michelle Kwan, Sasha Cohen or any other rising rink star.

Organizers say if Portland’s event goes off well, it could keep the momentum going for Spokane’s turn in 2007.

“We’re going down there to be sponges and learn everything we can,” said Barb Beddor, part of the Spokane host committee that will run the event here. “Our goal is see the Portland group do a successful job, and then see how we can do it even better.”

If Portland has a mishap, there’s no way of predicting how it might affect Spokane’s chances. “Really, the events are in different cities so one off-year shouldn’t hurt the next ones,” said Doug Zeghibe, who’s already organized four previous U.S. Figure Skating championships.

“What might hurt the Spokane event would be something like a decline in national interest in the sport,” said Zeghibe, who’s heading up the 2006 championships in St. Louis.

Along with Zeghibe, the Spokane organizers will spend their stay in Portland taking notes on every detail of the complicated, eight-day operation.

Pulling off a successful U.S. Figure Skating championship offers cities such as Portland and Spokane more than just an immediate economic boost. Event officials say nailing a large, high-profile competition can be a springboard to hosting other mega-events. That, in turn, should pump up each city’s tourism and retail spending.

“This is an event with an international following,” said Bill Cloran, a Portland attorney who’s the volunteer chair of the committee running this year’s competition. “It’s like the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl rolled into one.”

In the past several years, the event has taken place in larger cities such as Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta. But when the U.S. Figure Skating Association gave the event to Portland this year, St. Louis in 2006 and Spokane in 2007, Cloran said the trend was clear: “They’re definitely expanding the (fan) base, bringing the sport to more cities and opening it up, which is a good thing.”

The high-water mark for U.S. Figure Skating was the 2001 Boston event, which drew 125,000 people and generated about $25 million in economic benefits to that city.

Portland skating officials expect to sell about 100,000 tickets during this week’s event, generating between $2 million and $3 million. The benefit to the city’s merchants, hotels, cab companies and other service providers should range from $2 million up to $20 million, according to estimates by civic leaders.

Portland hums

Whatever the long-term benefit turns out to be, the skating championship has Portland’s government and business officials smiling right now. In spite of the typical January gray skies and rain showers expected this week, Portland is humming with activity. About 70 percent of the tickets sold have been bought by people living within 100 miles of Portland and Vancouver, Wash., meaning roughly 15,000 to 20,000 fans will come from around the country and overseas.

The 800-room Portland Hilton Hotel is jammed for the entire week. As the official headquarters for the event, the hotel is operating at full staff at a time of year when business usually slumps.

“We (will) start serving food at 5:30 a.m. instead of 6:30. And we’re staying open in our restaurant and bar an hour later at night,” says Hilton manager Tracy Marks.

The hotel has also added extra security guards for the week. Similarly, the U.S. Figure Skating Association sought assistance from the federal Homeland Security Department to ensure that participants are safe.

“There is a freak factor, the concern about dealing with known stalkers who follow this event,” said Zeghibe, who was hired for the St. Louis event after organizing the championships in Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta. He has no hand in helping organize the Spokane competition, however.

Volunteer security guards and paid police officers will also be on hand at both the Portland Memorial Coliseum and Rose Garden, the two skating venues, Cloran said.

Inside the Hilton, Doug McDonnell of Bellevue-based Northwest Designs Inc. has set up one room to serve as the event’s merchandise center. Skating fans, he says, are not afraid to pay good money for event memorabilia. About 60 percent of them are women who tend to be well-traveled and educated.

Inside the merchandise room the company is selling bright crimson or turquoise U.S. Figure Skating logo-adorned fleece jackets for $65 and T-shirts for $9. There’s plenty else – coffee mugs, pins, hats, pullovers and slickers, all made by Northwest Designs, which obtained an exclusive contract to provide U.S. Figure Skating items for the event.

‘Priceless exposure’

The Portland business community sees the event as a needed infusion of cash as Oregon’s economy is trying to shake off a three-year-long recession. The state had the highest unemployment in the country most of that time, and Portland suffered through significant job losses in its key sectors of transportation and technology, said Sandra McDonough, president and CEO of the Portland Business Alliance.

Vickie Jubenville, manager of the downtown Portland Ben Bridge jewelry store, said the event “really comes at a time, in January, that’s typically a slow sales month. I can’t predict the boost, but it will give us a nice bump in business.”

Portlanders also know the event will draw a national audience who will see numerous camera shots of the downtown area as ABC Sports covers the skating.

McDonough wants those TV viewers, plus the thousands of first-time visitors, to get a good impression of the city.

As an economic development tool, that exposure is priceless, she said.

“We need to show that Portland is a great place to live and do business. We have a city featuring great dining, great beer, great wine and a great downtown,” she said.

On the first try

Beddor and her colleague and business partner, Toby Steward, drove to Portland on Friday in a snowstorm and quickly started calling their Portland counterparts.

While it took Portland three tries before it won the opportunity to host the championships, Beddor and Steward were successful on their first attempt. They learned last summer that U.S. Figure Skating officials chose Spokane over Boston and Hershey, Pa., for the 2007 site.

“We got it because of performance,” Beddor said. The couple had successfully hosted the 2002 Skate America competition in Spokane, selling more than 25,000 tickets.

That kind of record made a strong impression on the figure skating community, said Cloran, who previously served on the U.S. Figure Skating board. He was part of the group that selected Spokane over Boston.

The reason? “That’s something by policy we don’t talk about,” Cloran said. “But the moment Spokane was chosen, I called the local committee to congratulate them and offer any help they might need.”

‘A unique sport’

A coalition of Portland groups, headed by the nonprofit Oregon Sports Authority, received word in 2002 that they had won the 2005 event. What didn’t matter at all in the decision was that Portland had hosted the same event 27 years ago, said Drew Mahalic, CEO of the Oregon Sports Authority, whose mission is to develop and support sporting events that benefit Oregon’s cities and counties.

“The whole sport and the skating world were totally different then,” said Mahalic. Public attention then was a fraction of what it is today. TV showed almost no interest in skating. And, added Mahalic, the skills of most skaters then couldn’t come close to those of most skaters today.

Apart from being the largest winter sports event in Oregon history, the championships this week will help establish Portland as a great host city for other sports events, Mahalic said.

Like Mahalic, Cloran hopes that the audience base does expand and that more people discover ice skating during the week.

“To me it’s a unique sport,” Cloran said. “It’s the only major sport I know where you don’t have to know the rules to go and enjoy the performances.

“You can have no idea what the routines are supposed to include or what the judges look for, but still come away appreciating what’s going on.”