Communities Pursue Mega-Events For The Same Reasons There Are So Many “R” Rated Movies!

Why is it that 13 times as many “R” rated movies are made each year as there are “G” rated?

It isn’t about money. On average “G” rated movies rake in $47.6 million more per movie that “R” rated films according to recent studies both at Brigham Young University and the Dove Foundation.

In my opinion, the reason more “R” rated films are made, even though they make less money for investors, may have far more to do with ego and hubris.

It is the same reason some community-destination marketing organizations persuade or enable their respective communities to build mega-venues typically to host events requiring more in subsidies than the community reaps in tax revenue.

Or maybe in some cases, it is that DMOs fail to dissuade their communities and/or elected officials from falling under the spell of “big game hunters” for whom no mega-event is mega-enough.

Maybe it’s news reporters and editors who, if aware at all, find it just too complex to explain to residents in these communities that the more mega an event is in size, the more negligible the economic impact becomes.

Others, I’m sure, get caught up in the hype often steam-rolled by media business management because, well, mega-events are huge money makers for news media organizations.

Mega-events have long been shown to render even otherwise reliable input-output analysis ineffective because such events displace or disrupt normal economic patterns.

If aware, this hasn’t inhibited communities from using the data while making sure to never reveal that the events, while good for hotels, don’t live up to expectations for other types of businesses because they displace as much spending by residents and other types of visitors as they generate.

Post-event analysis has even long ago dispelled the notion that mega-sports or political events generate awareness for the host communities.

There are very astute communities, sometimes led by persistent destination marketing organizations, that have exceeded market-share and made out like bandits by precisely avoiding mega-events and, instead, going after events large and small that are more about impact than ego.

My adopted home, Durham North Carolina, is one of these but it isn’t immune.

These are the same communities that would be producing “G” rated films if they were in the movie business because they don’t let their egos or the egos of “big game hunters” distract them from the bottom-line.